Nutrocker Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I agree that Graham would not have necessarily ruled out working with them in '80. No question about it, Steve. Above all, Bill Graham liked to make money. I reckon if Bonham and Grant were contrite enough (and maybe even if they weren't) damn right Bill Graham would have worked with Zeppelin again. The 1980/81 U.S. tour would have been the biggest thing going, no way in hell BG would have passed up that opportunity. The Oakland performances were bad for a lot of obvious reasons, just like Seattle and Tempe were. I would bet you a million dollars that had the Graham fight never happened that Oakland 77 would've sounded exactly the same. As it is, it was 1 day in a 10 year career. A blip that half of the group either didn't know about or bothered to care about. Stage > Limo > Airplane > New City. Besides, didn't the band buy thousands of dollars worth of drugs while they were in San Francisco? If that was true, there's your answer right there. Jimmy was probably too smacked out of his mind to even notice what city they were in. I think this gets to heart of the matter regarding the mediocrity of the Oakland gigs more than any backstage shenanigans or fears of arrest ever could. Based on Page's smacked out performances in Seattle, Tempe and Oakland I'd be willing to bet he spent the first week of the third leg of the tour in a total heroin daze...or withdrawals. "Sleeping sickness" indeed. The big San Fran deal was probably done to replenish their depleted supplies...I wonder if Page had the same rule that Keith Richards had in those days: "No smack, no show." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 By 1977 Peter Grant and the band thought they were invincible. Grant's son's act of taking down a concert poster and being struck by Graham's staff had to be avenged by the Gods of rock and there manager. How dare anyone even dare to put a finger on us or our siblings. Hitler had the same reaction when someone in Yugoslavia in 1941 spit on the Foreign Ministers Mercedes car during a demonstration. He then declared war on Yugoslavia. Maybe drugs also had something to do with it too. Just a theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 By 1977 Peter Grant and the band thought they were invincible. Grant's son's act of taking down a concert poster and being struck by Graham's staff had to be avenged by the Gods of rock and there manager. How dare anyone even dare to put a finger on us or our siblings. Hitler had the same reaction when someone in Yugoslavia in 1941 spit on the Foreign Ministers Mercedes car during a demonstration. He then declared war on Yugoslavia. Maybe drugs also had something to do with it too. Just a theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgeholder Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 The second show is also the only one I have heard where both Page and Jones play mandolins during Going to California; a bit odd that their last performance of it featured a unique presentation. Huh? I'm listening now, Page is playing guitar, like always Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 By 1977 Peter Grant and the band thought they were invincible. Grant's son's act of taking down a concert poster and being struck by Graham's staff had to be avenged by the Gods of rock and there manager. How dare anyone even dare to put a finger on us or our siblings. Hitler had the same reaction when someone in Yugoslavia in 1941 spit on the Foreign Ministers Mercedes car during a demonstration. He then declared war on Yugoslavia. Maybe drugs also had something to do with it too. Just a theory. We can quibble over if a child belongs backstage at the Oakland Coliseum during a 1977 rock concert in the first place, but when someone puts their hands on someone else's child they'd better have a damn good reason for doing so or suffer the consequences. As a by the way, that's a cute story about the Foreign Minister's Mercedes, but Germany's invasion of Yugoslavia was motivated by strategic military objectives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Yugoslavia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeboy Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 The boy was taking down a poster when Graham's man told him to stop because there was a concert the next day. The boy then probably said "My father owns you, Graham, and the popcorn seller while were here in the building". Graham's man then grabbed the boy's arm again telling him to stop. The boy then hurled insults at the man which Graham's man found hard to take and pulled the boy away maybe giving him a shove. The boy ran off and told his dad and the rest is history. How Bonham got involved I can't figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluribus Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 How Bonham got involved I can't figure out. There's nothing to figure out. It was a bunch of people in a fist fight. Where is the mystery here? It's like the food poisoning "incident" in Chicago. "What was really wrong with Jimmy?" "Was it drugs, or was it really food poisoning?" "Did you see how he took the stage the next night in a STORM TROOPER'S outfit????" Heroin addict gets sick onstage one night and it becomes the stuff of legend. "What really happened?????!?" With the amount of drugs they supposedly did, I'm more surprised that the band weren't puking on stage and getting in fights with people every other night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IpMan Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 There's nothing to figure out. It was a bunch of people in a fist fight. Where is the mystery here? It's like the food poisoning "incident" in Chicago. "What was really wrong with Jimmy?" "Was it drugs, or was it really food poisoning?" "Did you see how he took the stage the next night in a STORM TROOPER'S outfit????" Heroin addict gets sick onstage one night and it becomes the stuff of legend. "What really happened?????!?" With the amount of drugs they supposedly did, I'm more surprised that the band weren't puking on stage and getting in fights with people every other night. That would be the Eagles or Skynard, onstage fighting that is. Think of it this way, pay for a concert and get a boxing match as a bonus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutrocker Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 The boy ran off and told his dad and the rest is history. How Bonham got involved I can't figure out. Actually it was Bonham who told Peter Grant...Bonzo was backstage for a minute (probably during "White Summer" or something) and witnessed the guy giving Grant's kid grief. Bonham went up to the guy and kicked him in the balls, along with a few choice words of his own, then told Grant and Cole what had happened. It sort of escalated from there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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