Am I the only person deeply troubled by the cat's eyes in the first picture?

Good spot, I was too busy looking at Bonham to notice what Page was up to.

Here's another interesting one, looks like Bonham is using traditional grip here. Although there are a few pictures of him using the grip down the years, this is maybe the only one I've seen of him live with Zeppelin...

Amazing, thanks.

Aye, just about surviving. You too Porgie, strange times for us all.

I had a feeling you may have seen it. I'd go along with the Trixon theory, those ride cymbal stands look like an accident waiting to happen. Good to (cyber) speak to you again, it's been too long. Not much happening in Zeppelin world these days unfortunately although I still watch your YouTube videos (which are always amazing).

Thanks, I was over the moon to see it as I've been looking for a pre-Zeppelin drumming picture for years.

@porgie66 Thought you would be interested in this.

It was on a 'Remembering John Bonham' Facebook page.

Apparently the earliest known picture of John Bonham playing drums at the Red Lion pub in Worcestershire. This is with Terry Webb & the Spiders & Bonham was 16 at the time.

There is a Bonham quote about Palmer somewhere. He said something along the lines of 'Carl went for lessons' when he was discussing his early days of drumming. Not much to go on but he was well aware of Carl Palmer. Palmer is also a Bonham fan, when asked about Bonham around the time DVD came out, he said something like 'Words are meaningless, just watch Moby Dick at RAH'.

What Jason said hardly means that John was unaware of Peart. I don't think Bonham was a huge rock fan so unlikely to have bought any Rush albums & I doubt he had conversations with his Son about every drummer he ever heard of. Most likely he was aware of Rush & Peart but not a huge fan of either in my opinion.

That'd be great, thanks. I'm kinda done buying Zeppelin literature, I've got books & magazines coming out my ears.

Agreed. I'm tempted to buy the magazine just for that photograph.

My mistake, Bonham is wearing an ITTOD sweater so it is a warm up or pre-show photograph for the 1980 interview.

Thanks, Steve. I'll scan the picture in the next day or so for you to see. It's really thrown me.

Steve, have you seen the new MOJO Zeppelin 'latter days' special? There's a picture in there of Bonham with Billy Connolly circa '77, it's definitely not from the televised 1980 interview. I can't for the life of me figure out where it's from but it really looks like an interview in a TV studio, Bonham is wearing a great looking brown leather jacket.

Can't believe they asked him about Lori Maddox, I was wincing when I read that.

Most of us are desperate to see more footage. Music & visuals can say a lot more than mere words can. I'm hoping the Bath footage is included in this, the timing sounds spot on.

Exciting.

I too thoroughly enjoy the video. Used to have it on VHS for years before it came out on DVD. I never watch it now but it was brilliantly put together.

There's nothing serious coming from Led Zeppelin or Jimmy Page, unless you're counting trainers & snowboards.

That's a great picture, thanks for sharing.

I think a lot of it was late 60s macho, showing off, especially live. Most rock drummers were at it then. There's an interview with one of Bonham's old bandmates in a book I've got, he says Bonham turned up at his house with a copy of the first album & when he played it, the other guy said to him, 'Where are all your fills, John?". When you look back on that album now, it's pretty heavy on the fills as well, so you can only imagine what Bonham's playing was like in the mid 60s.

This is correct, Page had Grant tell Bonham to calm it down a bit or he would be out on his ear. I think time has proved Page right as well, Bonham's drumming has aged better than the likes of Mitch Mitchell, who did overplay a lot in the studio.