On this day 02 July

 The guitar is the primary event, at least when it's Jimmy Page's guitar.

1988 02 July On This Day Outrider hits the Billboard charts

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Brixton, London, at Ram Jam Club
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Mannheim, Germany at Eisstadion am Friedrichspark
• 1988 02 July On This Day Outrider hits the Billboard charts
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Munich, Germany at Munich Festival
• 2000 Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Mansfield, MA at Tweeter Center

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin Mannheim (Photo Affendaddy)

1980 Led Zeppelin Mannheim

1988:
Released on 19 June 1988, within two weeks Outrider reached #26 on Billboard's Billboard 200 chart and #27 on the UK Album Chart. This album is highly underrated, even by Jimmy Page himself, who said, "Outrider's all right. It's demo-like compared with those overproduced albums that came out at the time. It didn't do very well - doesn't matter..." (Uncut Magazine, January 2009, p. 47).  

But there's more to the story, of course.

It's no surprise that Rolling Stone didn't like the album much. Reviewer David Fricke apparently didn't do any homework at all. The album was recorded at Jimmy Page's personal studio The Sol so there was no need for demo tracks. What was recorded could be used directly for the album. Fricke didn't bother mentioning that the tracks that appear on Outrider were all that was left after the theft of tapes from Jimmy Page's home. 

In a Guitar World interview in 1988, Jimmy Page said that the stolen tracks were very different from what ended up on the Outrider album.  He also talks about the recording process.

Interviewer: One of the more unorthodox aspects of your process was the fact that -- on the rock tracks, at least -- the vocals are part of the overlay rather than part of the nucleus of the song. In your work, the guitar is the primary element, and everything else is subordinate to it. 

"John Miles was the first vocalist to come in, and I had the tracks actually done when he came in. So it was quite easy, really, to hear it, to gauge the feel of what everything was about. And then we just discussed the lyrical content and such. And away we went. 'Cause I don't sing, so I think if a guy's doing the lyrics, he's gonna sing them with more conviction than if he's doing yours, so to speak. That was the concept there, anyway, with two rock 'n' roll tracks and rock 'n' roll lyrics. Whereas you 've got the other end of the scale, where Chris Farlow just made up the lyrics as he went along on the blues, just as I'll make it up when I'm playing, at the same time. That's totally spontaneous, and it's great."
~ Jimmy Page, Guitar World 1988

1988 Jimmy Page; Outrider promo photo shoot

1988 Lid Magazine #11 cover (Photo Peter Ashworth)

♪  Led Zeppelin (Mannheim Germany at Eisstadion am Friedrichspark, 02 July 1980) 

♪  Outrider (Jimmy Page, release date 02 July 1988) playlist

♪ Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes (Mansfield MA at Tweter Center for the Performing Arts, 02 July 2000)

On this day 01 July

 Train just kept a-rollin'

The Yardbirds 01 July 1967

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Chislehurst, England at Chislehurst Caves
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Chalk Farm, London, England at Roundhouse
• 1980 Jimmy Page with Santana - Frankfurt, Germany at Festhalle 
• 1998 Page and Plant - Pittsburgh, PA at Pittsburgh Civic Arena

1967:
The Roundhouse is a former railway engine shed built in 1847 in Chalk Farm, London, England. It was only used as a railway turntable for 10 years. It fell into disuse but has been used since 1964 as a performing arts venue.

1980 Jimmy Page jams with Carlos Santana in Frankfurt - bootleg album cover

1980:

Carlos Santana had been in the audience for Led Zeppelin's show the night before, and on July 1, Santana dedicated one of the songs to "all the members of Led Zeppelin".  Jimmy Page joined Santana on the stage for the encore. The story goes that staying late at the Santana concert made Jimmy Page late to get to the Led Zeppelin venue in Mannheim on July 2.

1998 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page rehearse for Pittsburgh show

♪ Jimmy Page with Carlos Santana (Frankfurt Germany at Festhalle, 01 July 1980)
♪ Page and Plant (Pittsburgh PA at Pittsburgh Civic Arena, 01 July 1998)

On this day June 30

 "Please give us a chance..." 

 

Plant & Page, Nordoff Robins Silver Clef concert 1990

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Shrewsbury, Shrops, England at Shrewsbury Music Hall
• 1979 Led  Zeppelin visit Knebworth House 
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Frankfurt, Germany at Festhalle Frankfurt
• 1990 Page & Plant - Knebworth for Nordoff  Robbins Silver Clef Winners Charity Concert 
• 2000 Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Holmdel, NJ at PNC Bank Arts Center

1979:

"Led Zeppelin, arguably the world's most popular hard rock band, came down before the (1979) festival to meet us and look around Knebworth House. Guitarist Jimmy Page was a fan of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who lived in the House in the early 1800's. They shared an interest in the occult, and Jimmy wanted to see all our Bulwer Lytton memorabilia. He used to have a resident medium living at Knebworth and we have his crystal ball and books on magic and witchcraft. It is his ghost that roams the passages at night!

"Drummer John Bonham was more interested in the gardens and singer Robert Plant nearly took a swim in our pool but decided his hairdresser wouldn't be happy about it if he did."
--Chryssie Lytton Cobbold, Knebworth Rock Festivals

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He wrote a number of bestselling novels that were very popular in his day. If you've come across any of the following phrases, you've read some of his words: "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", and yes, "It was a dark and stormy night".

Zanoni is a story of love and occult aspiration.
A Strange Story, with its supernatural theme, was an influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula 

1980:
The Frankfurt audience was so loud that Jimmy Page had to stop playing White Summer when he couldn't hear himself and had to ask the audience to please give them a chance. Those were the days before in-ear monitors.

Phil Carson, then senior vice president at Atlantic Records, joined Led Zeppelin for an encore version of Money.  Carson started out his musical career with Dusty Springfield.

1980 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Frankfurt (Photo Hans P Kirsch)

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Frankfurt

1990:

The Knebworth Festival is held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in England. The Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Award Winners Concert was held there in 1990. The awards recognize outstanding talent across the music industry. Nordoff Robbins is a music therapy charity dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable children and adults.  

Robert Plant, who was awarded a Silver Clef that year (Jimmy Page received it in 2014), did a set for that show and Jimmy Page joined him on stage for three songs. As one person said who was there, when Jimmy walked on the stage the volume of the audience went up 1000%. The concert is available on DVD Live at Knebworth.

 

1990 Jimmy Page with Robert Plant at Knebworth

1990 Robert Plant, Jimmy Page at Knebworth

Knebworth House

♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Frankfurt Germany 1980) YouTube

♪  Led Zeppelin (Frankfurt Germany 30 June 1980) 

♪  Wearing and Tearing (Page with Plant, Knebworth 1990) YouTube

♪  Rock and Roll (Page with Plant, Knebworth 1990) YouTube

♪  Full show (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Holmdel NJ 2000) YouTube

On this day 29 June

The Thing.

1995 29 June On This Day Page & Plant in Denmark

• 1966 The Yardbirds- Bromley, England at Bromel Club ,Bromley Court Hotel
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - City of Westminster, London, England at Royal Albert Hall (two shows in one night!)
• 1969 BBC Radio 1 broadcast of the 24 June Maida Vale session
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Zurich Switzerland at Hallenstadion
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Roskilde, Denmark at Festivalpladsen - Roskilde Festival
• 1998 Page & Plant - Grand Rapids, MI at Van Andel Arena
• 2000 Jimmy Page - The Black Crowes - Milwaukee, WI at Marcus Amphitheatre

1969:

"...it is boggling that in a matter of months they have achieved such a high degree of musicianship and become one of the biggest crowd pullers around."
~ (NME, July ’69)

Led Zeppelin performed at two "Pop Proms" shows in one night at Royal Albert Hall, appearing with the sax players from The Liverpool Scene and Mick Abraham's Blodwyn Pigs for the final jam Long Tall Sally.  The performance was wild, with the audience dancing in the aisles and throwing flowers and paper airplanes onto the stage.

"Prom" is short for promenade concert.  The term was originally used for the concerts in the pleasure gardens of London, where the audience could stroll about while listening to the music. The BBC's eight-week summer seasons of daily orchestral classical music and other concerts and other events take place primarily in the Royal Albert Hall in London. "Pop Prom" refers to the popular music offerings. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones performed at a Pop Prom in 1963, the first of only two times when they appeared on the same bill.

Long Tall Sally was a song originally recorded by Little Richard (Richard Penniman) and released in 1956. It has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Elvis and the Beatles, though of course some of us know that Led Zeppelin did it best. The band used Long Tall Sally for encores in 1969 and 1970.

  

1969 Led Zeppelin - Westminster, London at Royal Albert Hall "Pop Proms" shows

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Westminster, London at Royal Albert Hall
(Photo Peter Sanders)

1980 Led Zeppelin in Zurich (Photo L Viti)

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin Zurich (Photo Chris Turner)

♪ Led Zeppelin (Zurich Switzerland at Hallenstadion, 29 June 1980) 
♪ Page & Plant (Grand Rapids, MI at Van Andel Arena, 29 June 1998) 

On this day 28 June

Splish splash takin' a Bath

1969 and 1970 28 June On This Day - Led Zeppelin at Bath Festivals

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Bath, England at Bath Pavilion Recreation Ground
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Shepton Mallet, England at Royal Bath & West Showground
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Tucson, AZ at Tucson Community Theatre
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Stockholm Sweden at Maritime Museum
• 2000 Jimmy Page - The Black Crowes - Pittsburgh, PA at  Star Lake Amphitheatre

1969:
The Bath Festival of Blues was held at the Bath Pavilion Recreational Ground in Bath, Somerset, England, on 28 June 1969. The headline act was Fleetwood Mac. The festival was produced by Wendy and Freddy Bannister, London club show promoters. All 30,000 tickets were sold out in the first week. Led Zeppelin had only played their first show nine months before, and this was the band's biggest UK audience to date. As we know, things would be drastically different very quickly.
Bath got its name from the hot springs that were shrines in prehistoric times and later developed by the Romans and others into public baths. Bath is said to have been where King Arthur's defeated the Anglo-Saxons.

1970:
The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music was held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England on 27–29 June 1970. Led Zeppelin was the headline act. This location, about 20 mi (32 km) south of Bath, allowed for a much larger crowd. The logistics were not so great - some of the bands' equipment trucks couldn't get to the site due to the country lanes being blocked by cars. Donovan showed up on the stage on Sunday morning, providing an unscheduled 2½ hour performance because the scheduled band wasn't there yet.

Peter Grant had arranged for Led Zeppelin to hit the stage as the sun was setting. They played to an audience estimated at 200,000 for three hours and performed five encores. The show is considered one of the most important performances of their career.

Plastic bags and raincoats were de rigueur in the audience. A bearded Jimmy Page wore a rain hat and his long overcoat during the show.

"ANOTHER ENCORE – at 10:50pm Zeppelin had won. They had made all the hang-ups worthwhile and given the crowd a night to remember – whatever else happened."
~ MelodyMaker, July 1970

1970 Bath Festival (Photo Terry Farebrother)

1970 28 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Bath Festival (Photo Michael Putland)

1972 28 June Led Zeppelin at Tucson (Photo D. Ford)

2000:
The venue for this show has changed names over the years.  Originally it was the Star Lake Amphitheater and it was called the Post-Gazette Pavilion when the Page/Black Crowes show took place.  It is currently named the First Niagara Pavilion.  Burgettstown is a suburb of Pittsburgh.

2000 28 June Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes at Pittsburgh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv23iF6jusM&list=PLf62FjbXtD1JSD82WQeT-kGBisk_S49_V&index=28

♪ Led Zeppelin (Tucson AZ at Tucson Community Theatre, 28 June 1972)

♪ Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes (Pittsburgh, PA at  Star Lake Amphitheatre, 28 June 2000) PART 1

♪ Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes (Pittsburgh, PA at  Star Lake Amphitheatre, 28 June 2000) PART 2

On this day 27 June

 When Jimmy Page calls...

1999 27 June On This Day Jimmy Page with Black Crowes at Scream charity event

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Provins, France at Tour de Cesar - Provins Rock Festival
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Westminster, London  at Playhouse Theatre - BBC Radio Session 
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Long Beach, CA at Long Beach Arena
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Nuremberg, Germany at Nuremberg Messehalle
• 1998 Page & Plant - Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills
• 1999 27 June On This Day Jimmy Page with the Black Crowes at  charity event in London for Task Brazil / ABC Trust

1980:

Only three songs played and then the show was cancelled. Plant warned the audience before they started playing that two of the band members weren't feeling well. Bonzo had gorged on bananas prior to the show for some reason, and suffered the inevitable consequences. The show was abandoned.

 

1999:

Task Brasil Trust was established in the UK in 1992. Its mission is to improve the lives and support the needs of children and pregnant girls living on the streets in Brasil. In 1997 Jimmy Page made a major donation to Task Brasil after having seen the plight of children in Rio de Janeiro when he was there performing. The donation was used to buy the land and house for "Casa Jimmy", which provides a home for abandoned street kids and pregnant teens.

Action for Brazil’s Children Trust (ABC Trust) is is also a UK based charity dedicated to helping children and young people in cities across Brazil. ABC was founded by Jimena Pratcha, with Jimmy Page as the founding patron. Other patrons include Brian May, Jeremy Irons and Pelé.

1977 27 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin final night at LA Forum (Photo Paul Dahbour)

1980 27 June Led Zeppelin at Nuremberg Germany

♪ Led Zeppelin (Long Beach CA at Long Beach Arena, 27 June 1972) 

♪ Led Zeppelin (Inglewood CA at The Forum, 27 June 1977) 

♪ Led Zeppelin (Nuremberg Germany atNuremberg Messehalle [Bonham collapses, show stopped], 27 June 1980)

Chris Robinson:  "When Jimmy Page gives a call and wants us to be his band... you don't turn it down."

♫  Scream 99 Cafe De Paris ABC Trust (Tommy Vance for VH-1, 1999) YouTube

On This Day 26 June

 Will somebody please explain the firecrackers to me?  What's with that?

1998 & 2000 On This Day Jimmy Page at Auburn Hills MI

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Paris, France at Le Weekend Club
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Portsmouth, London  at Portsmouth Guildhall
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
• 1980 Led Zeppelin - Vienna, Austria at Weiner Stadthalle
• 1998 On This Day Page & Plant - Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills
• 2000 On This Day Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills

1977 26 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin LA Forum

1977 26 June Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin LA Forum (Redfern)

1980:
It's hard for me to fathom why people kept throwing firecrackers at the band. Jimmy Page was hit in the face with with one in the middle of White Summer.  The band walked off the stage and there was a long wait for anything else to happen. An announcer came on stage and said the following (translated from German):

 "We have a group here that is giving their best but they can't be disturbed by idiots who throw something onto the stage! Jimmy Page has been injured by a firecracker that landed on his eyes! I can only ask for one thing: if someone is standing next to you who does this kind of nonsense, give him a smart rap over the knuckles! I can't set up concerts in vienna - and i'm setting up concerts since 15 years - if I can't guarantee for the safety of my acts (or performers). And now I must request your patience in order for us to clear this situation. We can't just forget what just happened, that's why we want the person who threw this to come up here on stage, or to be brought here by his neighbors. We want to meet him, we want to talk to him. And if he himself doesn't have the guts to come up here - because we can't continue with the concert until we talked to him - his neighbors should get him on the stage. Then the concert will continue. We'll have to talk to this man. I want him here because this idiot is messing up the show for everyone." 

What's amazing to me is that the band did come out and finish the show.  It boggles my mind to think about being on stage,giving yourself to the music while being a moving target for the weirdos.

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Vienna Austria

1980 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Vienna Austria

♪  Led Zeppelin (Inglewood, CA at The Forum, 26 June 1977)

♪  Led Zeppelin (Vienna, 26 June 1980)

♪  Led Zeppelin - White Summer - Vienna 1980 (incl. Firecracker Incident)

♪  Page & Plant (Auburn Hills MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills, 26 June 1998)

♪ Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes ( Auburn Hills, MI at The Palace at Auburn Hills, 26 June 2000)