On this day 23 September

 JIMMY PAGE - the new kid on the block

1966 23 September On This DayYardbirds at Royal Albert Hall

• 1966 Yardbirds - City of Westminster, London, England at Royal Albert Hall
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Tokyo, Japan at Budokan Hall (day 1 of 2)
• 1988 Jimmy Page/Outrider - Dallas, Texas at Starplex Amphitheatre
• 1995 Page & Plant - Mexico City, Mexico at City El Palacio de Los Deportes Arena (day 1 of 2)
• 1998 Page & Plant - Las Vegas, Nevada at MGM Grand Garden Arena 

1966 Yardbirds at Royal Albert Hall

1966 Yardbirds promo photo

1971:
The Japanese idolized Led Zeppelin and seemed to be a refreshing change from the loud and disruptive US audiences the band had been experiencing. Robert Plant was probably pretty sick and tired of having to ask the crowds to quiet down, to stop throwing firecrackers and other objects, and to back away from the stage so people wouldn't get crushed. Not that Japanese audiences didn't want a piece of the boys - the band had to stop during Communication Breakdown because fans were crawling onto the stage.

1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Tokyo, Japan at Budokan Hall (day 1 of 2)

1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Tokyo, Japan at Budokan Hall (day 1 of 2)

1998 Page & Plant - Las Vegas, Nevada at MGM Grand Garden Arena

2012 Jimmy Page Artwork for Anthony Nolan 2013 charity auction

2012:
Anthony Nolan is a charity dedicated to saving the lives of people with blood cancer and blood disorders. The organization maintains a registry to match individuals willing to donate their blood stem cells or bone marrow to people with blood cancer and blood disorders who need transplants. In February 2013 Anthony Nolan held the "Bone Idol" auction of celebrities' drawings of bones on eBay to raise funds. Jimmy Page's drawing is in black ink on a blank postcard. It was autographed and dated on the front and came with a note from Jimmy Page's accountant. It sold for £205.00 ($250.90 today in US dollars).

♪

♪ Led Zeppelin (Tokyo Japan at Budokan Hall - day 1 of 2, 23 September 1971) 
♪  8mm footage of Led Zeppelin, Tokyo 23 September 1971) 

♪  Jimmy Page Outrider Tour (Dallas TX at Starplex Ampitheatre,, 23 September 1988) 

♪  Page & Plant (Mexico City at City El Palacio de Los Deportes Arena - day 1 of 2, 23 September 1995)
♪  Page & Plant (Las Vegas NV at MGM Grand Garden Arena, 23 September 1998) 

On this day 22 September

 Blues. Ya gotta love the blues. Unless it's Kashmir.  You can love Kashmir, too.

1965 22 September On This Day John Mayall single produced by Jimmy Page

• 1965 John Mayall single produced by Jimmy Page released
• 2012 Jimmy Page at Jesters’ Care for Kids Gala 

I'm Your Witchdoctor & Telephone Blues singles produced by Jimmy Page

1965:

By this time, Jimmy Page had been around the block for a while. He was no pushover. Can you imagine his voice when he made his "suggestions" to the recording engineer? 

Jimmy Page's website has referred to his stint with Immediate Records a few times in the past couple of months. I posted about that on this blog HERE, HERE and HERE.

2012:

Different year, same event: The Jesters Care for Kids Gala. I posted about the 2013 event yesterday. In 2012 Jimmy Page donated a guitar that he had himself videoed playing to authenticate its provenance. The guitar sold for 423,000 Thai Baht (nearly $12,000 or  £7600 at today's exchange rate) in the auction at the annual Jesters Gala held in the tourist resort of Pattaya, Thailand on this day in 2012. I posted about this donation in another post earlier, and got the year wrong. Sorry.

2012 Jimmy Page plays Jesters Care For Kids Gala donation guitar

2012 Jimmy Page in Thailand signing guitar to be donated to Jesters

Happy birthday David Coverdale, born this day in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, United Kingdom (72 years old in 2023)

Happy birthday David Coverdale

♪

♪  I'm Your Witchdoctor (John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers) 
♪  Telephone Blues  (John Mayall and the Blues Breakers) 
♪  On Top of the World (John Mayall and the Blues Breakers) 
♪  Double Crossing Time (John Mayall and the Blues Breakers) 
♪  Kashmir (Jimmy Page on guitar donated to Jester's auction, 2012) 

On this day 21 September

On this day 20 September

 A call to ARMS

1983 20 September On This Day Jimmy Page at Royal Albert Hall, ARMS benefit

• 1968 Led Zeppelin begins recording first album at Olympic Studios
• 1983 Jimmy Page - Royal Albert Hall, London for ARMS Concert

1971

Led Zeppelin in Japan. Great audiences, lots of sightseeing, a benefit for Hiroshima, and a relaxed and happy Jimmy Page.

Jimmy Page, Japan September 1971
Photo credit:  Koh Hasebe-Shinko Music/Getty Images

1983:
The ARMS Charity Concert started out with the idea for a single performance at Royal Albert Hall in London in support of Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS).  The concert was the brainchild of Ronnie Lane, former bassist for The Small Faces and The Faces, who had himself been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The concert was such a success that it was decided to perform a further nine concerts in the US. These performances included Joe Cocker, with Paul Rodgers replacing Steve Winwood in Jimmy Page's set. 

There are a lot of nay-sayers out there who have decided that Jimmy Page was no good at the ARMS concerts. I simply say perhaps these people are "listening" with their eyes or their prejudices - and not their ears.

1983 20 September On This Day text

1983 Royal Albert Hall ARMS benefit musicians

1983 Jimmy Page, Royal Albert Hall ARMS benefit

1983 Jimmy Page, Royal Albert Hall ARMS benefit

1983 Jimmy Page, ARMS benefit

♪

♪  Prelude/City Sirens/Who's To Blame/Stairway to Heaven (Jimmy Page, ARMS RAH 1983) YouTube
♪   Layla (finale with all musicians, ARMS RAH 1983) YouTube
♪  Full concert with Ronnie Lane footage (ARMS RAH1983) YouTube

On this day 19 September

 Jimmy Page, from sea to shining sea

1998 19 September On This Day Page & Plant at Hollywood Bowl

♪  The Window (Page & Plant 1998) Soundcloud

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - New York, NY at Madison Square Garden- 2 Shows
• 1998 Page & Plant - Hollywood, CA at Hollywood Bowl

1970:

A little over one year from their first concert, Led Zeppelin not only was the only act on the bill, the band was booked for two shows in a row at Madison Square Garden.  At both shows Robert Plant spoke about the death of Jimi Hendrix on the previous day.

Jimi Hendrix death announcement by Robert Plant at MSG 

Today many consider the MSG performance to be one of the band's very best. Yet a reviewer back then said, "I found the group flashy but dull, somewhat contrived and certainly  not high energy excitement." Do reviewers ever acknowledge how far off they were in their assessment?

1970 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at MSG

Led Zeppelin MSG 19 Sept 1970

Led Zeppelin MSG 19 Sept 1970

1998:

Most High is from the studio album Walking into Clarksdale, released through Atlantic Records in 1998. By May 1998 it reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. In 1999, the song won a Grammy for Page and Plant for Best Hard Rock Performance. 

Most High was released as a single. To me the real winner is the song on the B side, The Window.

Text from 19 September On This Day

1998 Hollywood Bowl setlist

2015:

A little fun at jimmypage.com today, with an interactive image. I've posted a few views from it for you, though none of them contain Jimmy Page or Robert Plant.

♪

♪  Led Zeppelin, New York NY at Madison Square Garden - 2nd show, 19 September 1970) 

♪  Page & Plant (Hollywood CA at Hollywood Bowl, 19 September 1998) 

♪  Most High (Page & Plant, Walking Into Clarksdale) 

♪  The Window (Page & Plant, B-side of Most High single 1998) 

On this day 18 September

 FIRMly under control and Satisfaction Guaranteed

1984 18 September On This Day Jimmy Page with The Firm, Sol Studios

• 1970 Page/Plant press conference New York, Savoy Hotel
• 1984 Jimmy Page recording at Sol Studio with The Firm
• 1998 Page & Plant - Laguna Hills, CA at Irving Meadows Amphitheatre

1970:

In New York for the two Madison Square Garden sets the next day, on this day Jimmy Page and Robert Plant sat down for a press conference at their hotel.  

Interviewer: How does it feel to be number one?
Plant: A shock...
Page: We knew we were appreciated by the fact that people were coming to along to see us in such great vast numbers all over the place - England and the continent and wherever... but no one expected this.

Perhaps Robert Plant was shocked, but somehow I've got a suspicion that Jimmy Page had vast numbers of appreciative audience in mind all along.

On this day in 1970 - likely unbeknownst yet to Jimmy Page or Robert Plant or anyone at the conference given all the laughter - Jimi Hendrix, the extraordinary left-handed guitarist and musician, had died. Led Zeppelin never played more than a few phrases of any of Jimi Hendrix's body of work other than The Killing Floor (below). It's extraordinary how uniquely different the two takes are. For Led Zeppelin, that song morphed into The Lemon Song. For Jimi Hendrix The Killing Floor is one of many monuments to his incredible talent.  The original, of course, was by Howlin' Wolf, in 1964.

RIP Jimi Hendrix (27 November 1942 - 18 September 1970)

1984:
One of the fun things for me in doing the Mage Music blog is the research involved with each On This Day post. I enjoy the challenge of searching the internet and my many books and magazines to find what I'm looking for. The research requires sifting out facts from all the copy/paste inaccuracies and fuzzy memories, hunting down obscure references, and learning new tidbits that I hadn't come across before, which I then share with you, my readers.

Most of all, though, this labor of love means I get to listen to lots of music every day.

In seeking out the various songs and their live performance versions I'm forced to listen to music I might otherwise pass over. That's not an onerous task mind you.  Far from it, in fact.

For instance, I tend to relegate The Firm and Mean Business to the background of my musical preferences, rarely calling them up to listen to - but that's a mistake on my part. Listening only to absolute favorites means always listening to the same stuff. As wonderful as that seems, doing so reduces contrast - the light and shade that Jimmy Page has so often referred to over the years. It means losing the perception of musical nuances.

The funny thing about listening to less-favorite music, though, is that I wind up with new appreciation for it because of the greater listening experience that I bring to it. And like Magick, what was not-so-interesting is transformed to very cool stuff after all.

So yeah, I'm hearing both of the albums and The Firm's live performances with new ears. And I'm liking it.

Why shouldn't I? After all, it's Jimmy Page: Satisfaction's guaranteed.

1986 Jimmy Page with The Firm, New Orleans (Mark Bowman photo) 

2013

Jimmy Page with a fan in Bangkok 

♪

♪  The Killing Floor (Jimi Hendrix, Stockholm 1969)  YouTube
♪  The Killing Floor (Led Zeppelin, LA 1969) YouTube
♪  Full set (The Firm, Hammersmith Odeon 1984) YouTube
♪  Satisfaction Guaranteed (The Firm, promo video 1984) YouTube
Les Paul appearing as The Bartender; May Pang (John Lennon's former girlfriend) making a 2-second cameo appearance; and Jimmy Page hamming it up for the camera.
♪  Page & Plant (Laguna Hills CA at Irving Meadows Amphitheatre, 18 September 1998)

On this day 17 September

 "This is my invitation, I want to change your destination..."

~ Cadillac, from The Firm's Mean Business album

1984 17 September On This Day 

• 1968 Led Zeppelin - Malmo, Sweden at Folkets Park 
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Honolulu, HI at Honolulu Civic Auditorium
• 1984 Jimmy Page with The Firm – finished recording Long Black Cadillac at The Sol
• 1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - Mesa, AZ at Mesa Amphitheatre
• 2013 Jimmy Page attends Queens of the Stone Age concert

1971

Hard to imagine this show isn't available to hear today. Somebody's got to be hoarding a tape!

1971 Led Zeppelin - Honolulu, HI at Honolulu Civic Auditorium (day 2)

1971

1975

Melody Maker Awards

1984
Given the experience of all the members of Jimmy Page's band, The Firm, it's no wonder they were able to record songs in one take. Recorded and mixed at Jimmy Page's Sol Studios in Berkshire, England, Cadillac appeared on The Firm's second album released in 1986, Mean Business.  There, it is just plain Cadillac, not to be confused with various versions of The Long Black Cadillac performed by other artists, light-years different from The Firm's song. Jimmy Page's Cadillac is dark and dirty. Magick oozes from his guitar.

As far as that version of "Cadillac" goes, we were lucky to get it. Because it was a live number and you can't do that in a room with a couple of takes because it has to be alive...
~ Jimmy Page, Guitar World July 1986, page 87

The Firm and Mean Business never did take off, though they were decently high on the charts. People still were expecting the Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, when in fact there was - and is - much more to Jimmy Page than that. 

Sad so many are so blind to that lovely musical Magick.

1988

2013 Jimmy Page backstage at Queens of the Stone Age (Ross Halfin photo)

2013 Jimmy Page with Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen backstage at
Queens of the Stone Age concert (Ross Halfin photo)

2013 Jimmy Page and Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age

♪

♪  Cadillac (Jimmy Page The Firm, Mean Business 1986) 
♪  Cadillac (Jimmy Page The Firm, Birmingham England 1985) 
♪  Jimmy Page Outrider Tour (Mesa AZ at Mesa Amphitheatre, 17 September 1988)