On this day 06 January

 Band banned in Boston

1975 06 January On This Day Led Zeppelin caused a riot and they weren't even there

1975:
"Banned in Boston" describes works of art (painting and sculpture, literature, music, theater, etc.) that were prohibited from distribution or exhibition in Boston because of , "objectionable content", including but not limited to works with sexual content or foul language. Remember, Boston was founded by Puritans, and artwork was banned in Boston as early as 1651. The city was still banning art in the twentieth century.

On this day in 1975, events in Boston led to the band's being banned there for five years. Led Zeppelin wasn't even in the USA at that time, but it didn't matter. 

It all started when Led Zeppelin was booked to play a show at Boston Garden on 04 February 1975.  The announcement of the concert, the “first monster rock show of the new year”, was made on December 31, 1974, and stated that tickets would go on sale the following Tuesday (07 January, 1975), with the show expected to be sold out immediately.

By that time in the USA fans often would line up the night before concert tickets went on sale. That wasn't uncommon. But on the night of 06 January, Boston police (including a few from Boston's Tactical Patrol Force) were sent to Boston Garden to deal with a reported 3000 fans who had arrived in advance for the box office to open at 10 a.m. the next day - and who were trashing the place.  Because of the cold, the doors had been opened to allow freezing fans to wait inside.  Somehow that act of mercy resulted in the fans running amok, vandalizing the building to the tune of about $30,000.  Police confiscated knives and martial arts implements from some of the rioters. The estimated average age of fans was reported to be 14, but since no one was actually arrested it's hard to know how accurate that was.

And then, in spite of the fact that Led Zeppelin had been booked for the show, somehow the concert had not actually been licensed by the Boston Licensing Board. That was all the excuse that Mayor Kevin White, reportedly a Stones fan, needed to refuse the permit for Led Zeppelin's show, and on top of it the band was banned in Boston for five years. 

1972 busted in Rhode Island but saved by Boston's mayor

Fair? Hardly. Mayor White didn't make a fuss when fans who were waiting at Boston Garden rioted in 1972 when the band didn't show up on time. No, instead White personally got Keith Richards and Mick Jagger out of assault busts in Rhode Island so they could get back to Boston for the gig. No banned in Boston for them.

Meanwhile in 1975 Led Zeppelin fans in Boston who never got the tickets for Led Zeppelin because now the band was banned there were offered tickets by mail for a newly scheduled show in Uniondale NY on 04 February. Those who showed up with an envelope bearing a Massachusetts postmark  got preferential seating.

2012 January Classic Rock Magazine (Ross Halfin cover photo)

By the way, Boston seems to be a bit proud of their place in Led Zeppelin history. On their "Celebrate Boston" website (albeit in the Crime folder) there's a more detailed account of the Led Zeppelin Riot.

Another article on iHeart Radio's website claims that JP didn't know why the show was cancelled in Boston or why they didn't play Boston in 1977 until he did some research for his own website more than thirty years later.

♪

On this day 05 January

A stairway but not THE Stairway

1977 05 January On This Day Jimmy Page traveling to Mexico & South America

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go (day 4 of 4)

1969 Led Zeppelin at Whisky a Go Go

1977
Led Zeppelin spent January and February 1977 at Manticore Studios preparing for the next US Tour. The band's first show was to be Ft. Worth TX on February 27 but Plant came down with laryngitis.  The tour's actual start was in April. But then on 26 July 1977, Robert Plant's son Karac died, and Led Zeppelin did not perform again until 23 July 1979 in Copenhagen for a warmup for Knebworth.

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (Los Angeles CA at Whisky A Go-Go, 05 January 1969) 

On this day 04 January

Jamming to nowhere, dammit.

1981 04 January On This Day Jimmy Page XYZ sessions

1969 Led Zeppelin - Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go (day 3 of 4)

1981 Jimmy Page with Alan White & Chris Squire   XYZ Sessions 

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Whisky a Go Go

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Whisky a Go Go

1981:
Called by some the "supergroup that never happened", it was more the "musicians who recorded while messing around and never released the tapes". Jimmy Page, Chris Squire and Alan White jammed at Jimmy Page's Sol Studios and recorded the demos but it went no further. Jimmy Page went on to record his soundtrack for Death Wish II in 1982 and toured in 1983 for the ARMS concert series.  The band Yes reformed itself in 1983.

1995 Jimmy Page

♪

♪  XYZ Sessions demo (Jimmy Page / Chris Squire / Alan White 1981)

On this day 02 January

 The show must go on... please!!!

1963 02 January On This Day Diamonds, featuring Jimmy Page acoustic guitar, released
AUDIO: Diamonds (Jet Harris, feat. Jimmy Page acoustic guitar, John Baldwin bass guitar 1963) 

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go (day 1 of 4)
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Sheffield England at Sheffield City Hall

1963

"Diamonds" was the first record that Jimmy Page played on (acoustic guitar), and also was the first time he recorded with John Paul Jones (then still John Baldwin). The song hit Number One in the U.K. just a month later, where it stayed for three weeks, and almost overnight JP became a hot item as a session guitarist.

1969:
Led Zeppelin opened for Alice Cooper, and was promoted as “featuring Jimmy Page, formerly of the Yardbirds". Jimmy Page was sick with the flu but went onstage anyway with a raging fever. The band could only perform one set and were docked in pay. Alice Cooper recalled that there were only about 100 people in the audience, since no one had heard of either him or Led Zeppelin at that point. Cooper also recalls tossing a coin to see which act would perform first.

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go 

1973:
According to Dave Lewis, John Bonham and Robert Plant drove together to the Sheffield gig in Bonzo’s Bentley, which broke down. The two were forced to hitchhike in the rain the rest of the way to the show. Unfortunately – and coincidentally, given the 1969 show on this day - Robert took sick from the adventure and had a rough time singing. The next two days’ shows were cancelled while he recovered.

02 January 2017 (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

♪ Diamonds (Jet Harris, feat. Jimmy Page acoustic guitar, John Baldwin [not yet John Paul Jones] bass guitar] released 02 January 1963)
♪  Led Zeppelin (Sheffield England at Sheffield City Hall, 02 January 1973)

Posted by Lif Strand at 12:30 AM 

On this day 01 January

 Mage Music wishes you a Zoso New Year

2024

2018

2016

2012
Audio: The One That Got Away

2013

2014

2015

1970

1998

2015 Classic Rock Awards (John McMurtrie photo)

♪

♪ Happy New Year (Beverley Martyn, feat. Nicky Hopkins & Jimmy Page, released 31 Dec 1965)

On this day 31 December

 Happy New Year!

1968 31 December On This Day Jimmy Page on the road on New Year's Eve

2015 Classic Rock "Best of the Year" cover

2009 March Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

♫  BBC 2 Johnnie Walker interviews Jimmy Page 12/30/15 (MP3)

On this day 30 December

 Dazed thinking 2023 is about over

1968 30 December On This Day Led Zeppelin at Gonzaga University, Spokane WA
AUDIO: a minute and a half of Dazed and Confused (MP3)

• 1968 Led Zeppelin - Spokane, WA at Gonzaga University 

1968

The House of Gonzaga was the ruling family of Mantua, in Northern Italy, from 1328 to 1708. The most famous son was Aloysius Gonzaga, who was canonized in 1726. In 1729 Pope Benedict declared Aloysius to be the patron saint of young students. 

Gonzaga University is a private Jesuit university located in Spokane, Washington, founded in 1887.

As noted in today's post: The audience recording of Dazed and Confused from Gonzaga (9 minutes and 42 seconds long) was training for a number that would run much, much longer in later years.  According to Jimmy Page, the song had "all the movements of a classical symphony".  Note that Led Zeppelin performed Dazed and Confused  more than 200 times over the years, with the longest being nearly 45 minutes at The Forum in LA, 27 March 1975.

Also in 1968

Not on this day but interesting: In 1964 Jimmy Page, along with Big Jim Sullivan, had worked with PJ Proby on Proby's first studio album, I Am P. J. Proby. Four years later all four members of Led Zeppelin recorded together for the very first time -- but not on a Led Zeppelin album, on PJ Proby's final album Three Week Hero. The recording sessions took place starting August 1968 and the album was released in April 1969. Read more... 

According to Proby in a 2012 interview by Corbin of Finding Zoso:

"...we recorded that album, I think it was in two days. We even undershot, we recorded it with about thirty-five minutes left over, and so Roland yelled down, “Why don’t you all busket*? We shouldn’t waste the studio time.” I told the boys, “Y’all start picking and I’ll write as you pick.” So the three last numbers on the album, It's So Hard to Be a Nigger/Jim's Blues/George Wallace is Rollin' in This Mornin’, I just made up as the boys played."

Jimmy Page - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar

John Paul Jones - Bass guitar, keyboards, arrangements

John Bonham - Drums, conga

Robert Plant - Harmonica

* Re: "busket": Roland must have said "busk it", meaning improvise.

2008 Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin (Spokane WA at Gonzaga University, 30 December 1968) 

♪  Jim's Blues (PJ Proby with Jimmy Page guitar recorded 1968 released 1969) 
Note: PJ's first name was Jim
♪  Mery Hopkins medley (PJ Proby with "The New Yardbirds" released 1994) 
Note: Proby calls out each member of the band, who then plays a little solo