On This Day 07 April

Shut up and listen...

1977 07 April On This Day Led Zeppelin in Chicago

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Stockholm Sweden at Radiohuset
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Charlotte NC at The Coliseum
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Chicago at Chicago Stadium (day 2 of 4)
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - East Rutherford NJ at Brendan Byrne Arena (day 2 of 2)

1970 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Charlotte NC

1970:
Totally amazing that the audience could be so bad that Robert Plant would tell them to shut up. Can you imagine these days going to a Led Zeppelin concert and not being 110% focused on the show?

The show must not go on...
1977:
Chicago provided its challenges. This second of four days of shows had a time limit, tough for a band that played long shows. Because the Chicago Black Hawks had to use the arena the next night, the union that worked this arena demanded that the band be done by 11:00 P.M.  The Showco sound system had to be torn down and then after the hockey game, reassembled for Saturday's show. In My Time Of Dying and Trampled Under Foot were dropped from the set that night.

Note that the Stormtrooper outfit was  not worn on this day - in spite of the photo used for today's post on Jimmy Page's website.  The outfit was only worn on the final night in Chicago and then only for part of the show.

1977 Jimmy Page / Led  Zeppelin, Chicago

1995 Jimmy Page & Michael Lee (drums) / Page & Plant, East Rutherford NJ

♪

♪  Shapes of Things / Heartful of Soul / Mr. Your a Better Man Than I (The Yardbirds, Sweden 1967) YouTube
♪   You Go Your Way I Go Mine / Over Under Sideways Down / Little Game (The Yardbirds, Sweden 1967) YouTube
♪  My Baby (The Yardbirds, Sweden 1967) YouTube
♪  I'm A Man (The Yardbirds, Sweden 1967) YouTube
♪  What Is And What Should Never Be (Led Zeppelin, Charlotte 1970) YouTube
♪ The Song Remains the Same/The Rover/Sick Again (Led Zeppelin, Chicago 07 April 1977) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 06 April

Jimmy Page may have studied a lot of biology over the years, but his heart has always been with music.

1958 06 April On This Day, Jimmy Page & skiffle group on BBC TV

• 1958 Jimmy Page – London at BBC’s All Your Own hosted by Sir Huw Wheldon
• 1968 The Yardbirds - Amherst MA at University of Massachusetts 
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Nottingham England at Nottingham Boat Club
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Chicago IL at Chicago Stadium (day 1 of 4)
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - East Rutherford NJ at Brendan Byrne Arena (day 1 of 2)

1958 Jimmy Page & skiffle group on BBC TV

1969:
The Nottingham Boat Club's capacity was 250. Led Zeppelin was paid 60% of the door and advance sales. Their contract called for them to play two 30 minute spots.

1977:
Eight years after the Nottingham Boat Club gig, Led Zeppelin drew a crowd of more than 20,000 for the first of four shows at the Chicago Stadium. The band played basically non-stop for over three hours.

 

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Chicago

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Chicago

1995:
WARNING: OPINION FOLLOWS  I think one of the more irritating things is how the Page & Plant shows started over the course of their collaborations. This one's no exception. Whether it's the Tale of Bran or a recording of an Egyptian orchestra - it's just a holding place. It's not what we came for. Forget the artsy, give me the music!

You can skip to about 1:50 in the video below if you agree. Or even if you don't. I won't tell anyone.

♪

♫  Skiffle group & brief interview, BBC All You Know show 1958 (with commentary by Jimmy Page, 2008) YouTube
♪  Opening medleys (Page & Plant, East Rutherford 1995) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 05 April

Remembering Peter Grant, who would have made mincemeat of Peter M.

1999 05 April On This Day Jimmy Page recorded at Depot Studios, London
AUDIO (Soundcloud)

• 1935 Peter Grant born
• 1968 The Yardbirds-Flushing Meadows,Queens,NY  at Queens College,Golden Center
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Dagenham,London,England  at Village Blues Club,Dagenham Roadhouse
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Baltimore,MD  at Baltimore Civic Center

1970 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Baltimore MD

1980 Peter Grant (1935-1995) and Jimmy Page in a pub in the UK 

2013 Jimmy Page in NYC (Ross Halfin photo)

♪

♪ Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin, Baltimore 1970) YouTube
♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 04 April

Pals

2009 04 April On This Day Jimmy Page inducts Jeff Beck into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

• 1967 The Yardbirds - London England at BBC Radio, The Saturday Club
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Indianapolis IN at Indiana State Fairgrounds
• 1986 The Firm - East Rutherford NJ at Brendan Bryne Arena
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour-Philadelphia PA at The Spectrum
• 2009 Jimmy Page with Jeff Beck - Cleveland OH at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

1973:

Only days after its release, Houses of the Holy Atlantic Records announced that the album had already reached gold .

2009:
Jimmy Page inducted Jeff Beck into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on this day.  The music played that night doesn't give us much of Jimmy Page, but Jimmy Page's being there gave a lot to Jeff Beck.  A beautiful and generous tribute.

2009 Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood, Hall of Fame practice

2009 Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2009 Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck & Ronnie Wood, Rock and Roll Hall of  Fame

♪

♪  Make or Break (The Firm, The Firm 1985) YouTube
♪  Train Kept A-Rollin' (Beck Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2009) Rolling Stone article with video
♪  Beck's Bolero & Immigrant Song (Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2009) YouTube
♫  Jimmy Page's induction of Jeff Beck into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2009
♪  Since I've Been Loving You (Page & Plant, Philadelphia 1995) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 03 April

It started long ago. It's not over yet.

1968 03 April On This Day The Yardbirds' last studio recording session

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Macon GA at Macon Coliseum
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Oklahoma City at The Myriad
• 1979 Bonham, Page & Plant encore with Bad Company - Birmingham England at Odeon at Theatre 
• 1986 The Firm - Uniondale NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Philadelphia PA at The Spectrum (day 1 of 2) 

1968:
The five tracks recorded by The Yardbirds on this day were not released immediately. Avron Knows, Hold On Me, Spanish Blood, and My Baby appeared on The Yardbirds' 2000 album, Cumular Limit, while Knowing That I'm Losing You reappeared as Tangerine on Led Zeppelin III.

If you don't listen to anything else linked below, listen to Jimmy Page's guitar work in Spanish Blood.  Um... PG rated at the end, but that's not why I'm recommending it.

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Oklahoma City

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Oklahoma City

1979:
John Bonham, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant jammed with Bad Company at Bad Company's Birmingham Odeon gig on this day for the encore numbers, Long Tall Sally (featuring Page and Bonham) and Going Down (featuring Plant, Page and Bonham). You would think that someone would have recorded this, but apparently not.

1995 Jimmy Page / Page & Plant, Philadelphia

2013:
Gene Simmons, his wife Shannon and son Nick happened to be at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York when Ross Halfin walked over to say hello. When Gene saw that Jimmy Page was with Ross he grabbed his phone to take photos.  When the photos were posted by Gene, his comment was, "Hail the RiffMaster of them all"

2013 Jimmy Page with Gene Simmons & Nick Simmons, NYC

♪

♪  Avron Knows (The Yardbirds, Cumular Limit 1968/2000) YouTube
♪  Taking A Hold On Me (The Yardbirds, Cumular Limit 1968/2000) YouTube
♪  Spanish Blood (The Yardbirds, Cumular Limit 1968/2000) YouTube
♪  My Baby (The Yardbirds, Cumular Limit 1968/2000) YouTube
♪  Tangerine (Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin III 1970) YouTube
♪  Full set (Led Zeppelin, Oklahoma City 1977) YouTube
♪  Since I've Been Loving You  (Page & Plant, Philadelphia 1995) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 02 April

Did those journalists really think Led Zeppelin needed to play France?

1973 02 April On This Day Led Zeppelin, Paris (day 2 of 2)

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Cardiff Wales atTop Rank Ballroom
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Charleston WV at Charleston Civic Center Coliseum
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Paris at Centre Sportif (day 2 of 2)
• 1986 The Firm- Mean Business album released

1969:

This show was a benefit in for the Biafran Relief Organisation. Led Zeppelin did their part, but in the middle of How Many More Times the revolving stage was engaged and cables suddenly were jerked out of the amps' sockets, some broken off. That was the end of that.

1973:

The band had already cancelled two shows in France because of the audiences. They came back to Paris (actually a suburb to the north of the city) to play the Palais des Sports de Saint Ouen. Roy Hollingworth of Melody Maker reported:  "Zeppelin kicked a great hole in the night..."  But it was too late for France. Led Zeppelin was done with that country.

1973 Led Zeppelin get more gold discs

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Paris

1986 Mean Business, by The Firm

1986:

You're probably tired of my whining about The Firm, but tough. It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to. And here I go:

The problem with The Firm is there's too much of Paul Rodgers and not enough Jimmy Page. Hey, I'm not putting down Mr. Rodgers. He's a great singer. But, as I've described elsewhere in this blog probably too many time, Paul Rodgers isn't giving it up to the muse that Jimmy Page answers to. Unfortunate for The Firm, because Jimmy Page is the one channeling the magick.

Cadillac, from The Firm's 1986 Mean Business, is a good example of when Jimmy Page gets to open to that channel and let it flow. Paul Rodgers comes through in this one to deliver lyrics and melody that match the setting Jimmy Page has provided. But then on the same album we get Free To Live, which doesn't come up to those standards. 

Cadillac roils with Jimmy Page's dark twisty tones, gasping pauses, and shocking thrusts of high notes. Free To Live starts out with promise: Slade's thumping and the growly guitar in the intro really work nicely together to hint of... well, we never find out, because Paul Rodgers starts singing and the other members of the band just back off and support him. At 2:00 Jimmy Page comes back in and takes over and we get some good stuff working - and then the song recedes to that old band-supports-the-vocalist format, where the singer is making lyrics the music instead of letting words serve the music. That's traditional but it's also boring. And unfortunately, as good as the quartet was, traditional was too typical of The Firm's work. The band was very good, but it was not innovative. We had already heard it all before. And what a shame. It didn't have to be that way.

So I, for one, don't love The Firm as much as I might. That's why I'm hoping that Jimmy Page will soon put out new music that leaves him free of the anchor of a traditional vocalist and rather lets his guitar do the singing.

♪

♪  Dancing Days (Led Zeppelin, Paris 02 April 1973) YouTube
♪  Cadillac (The Firm, Mean Business 1986) YouTube
♪  Free To Live (The Firm, Mean Business 1986) YouTube
♫  Mean Business MTV promo 1986usiness 1986) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 01 April

Remembering Ronnie

1947-1997 On This Day Ronnie Lane's birthday

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - London at Klooks Kleek
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - John Peel’s BBC Radio One, London at Paris Theatre
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Paris at Centre Sportif (day 1 of 2)
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Dallas TX at Dallas Memorial Auditorium
• 1986 The Firm - Boston MA at Boston Garden
• 1995 Page & Plant  Unledded Tour - Auburn Hills MI at The Palace Of Auburn Hills 

Ronnie Lane (1947-1997) was an English musician, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the bands, Small Faces and the Faces. Taking up a solo career, in 1977 he toured the UK with The Passing Show, a wandering carnival complete with Gypsy costumes and tents. He worked on musical projects with Pete Townshend, Ronnie Wood and Eric Clapton, continuing his musical career in the US even after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1976. Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood helped to pay for Lane's medical expenses because Lane was not receiving royalties from the Small Faces' albums.

A two-night benefit concert and subsequent US tour in 1983 raised money for Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS) for MS research. The ARMS Charity Concerts marked Jimmy Page's return to the world of music.

1971:
The BBC recording of Led Zeppelin, filmed on this day and aired on 04 April 1971, is one of the most bootlegged BBC recordings ever.  It marked the first time Stairway To Heaven was broadcast on the radio. Two months later, on 11 May, Jimmy Page returned to the BBC studios to remix the recording for stereo with a different lineup of songs, including the encore song Communication Breakdown that wasn't in the performance aired on 04 April.  In 1997 Jimmy Page remixed the original tapes of the show and this came out as Disc 2 of the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions.

1971 Led Zeppelin at John Peel's BBC Radio One, London

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Paris.  Jimmy's helping Robert out with Bron Yr Aur Stomp

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Dallas TX

1977:
The Dallas show on this day marked the return of Led Zeppelin to live performing after the layoff due to Robert Plant's car accident.  Many wondered if they'd be as good as before.  They were.

2004 April Guitar World

♪

♪  Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin, John Peel’s Radio One 1971) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!