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The Firm Thread

Bong-Man

By Bong-Man
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ledded1

ledded1

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Posted (edited)

Anybody know where can I veiw some live video of the Firms 2nd tour of America for the Mean Business album?

Can't seem to find anything except the '84 Royal Albert Hall concert on YouTube.

Thanks

Do you mean the Hammersmith Odeon & not the RAH?

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SteveAJones

SteveAJones

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Posted (edited)

Anybody know where can I veiw some live video of the Firm's 2nd tour of America for the Mean Business album?

Can't seem to find anything except the '84 Royal Albert Hall concert on YouTube. Thanks

It was a short tour (35 dates); I know of no pro-shot concert videos and just two audience-filmed videos:

Broome County Veteran's Memorial Arena in Binghampton, NY (3/25/86)

Joe Louis Arena in Detroit (5/28/86)

Edited by SteveAJones
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FireOpal

FireOpal

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Posted

May Pang, John Lennon's former lover, is the Asian woman in this video.

Holy crap, I thought it looked exactly like her but couldn't possibly be her! She's a cool lady, I loved her book.

What a beautiful, atmospheric video. Page is a feckin' superstah.

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SteveAJones

SteveAJones

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Holy crap, I thought it looked exactly like her but couldn't possibly be her! She's a cool lady, I loved her book.

What a beautiful, atmospheric video. Page is a feckin' superstah.

It was filmed in New York City the afternoon of May 11th 1985 before the band returned to England. Jimmy had been seeing Les quite a bit that week, having attended one of his gigs and then introducing him from the stage at The Firm's Meadowlands (Brendan Byrne Arena) gig in East Rutherford, NJ on May 9th. I don't know for certain if having Les cast to play the part of the bartender had come about as a result of those encounters or not but it's wonderful to have this tangible connection between them, especially now that Les is gone. I'm sure I've mentioned Aubrey Powell (of Hipgnosis fame) produced all five of The Firm's videos (as well as the cover art for Houses of

the Holy).

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Dr Death

Dr Death

Posted
Posted

Thought some people might find this of interest... on iTunes they have had the debut album by The Firm minus Midnight Moonlight. This omission has caused some very heated comments on The Firm's iTunes page... people want this song. Well, I just went to iTunes and they now have Midnight Moonlight. So you can now D/L the entire first Firm album for $8.91

They still don't have Mean Business... and I hope they add it someday. I loaned my two Firm CD's to a "friend." Bastard never returned them and then moved away!

PS - You can purchase Midnight Moonlight individually too... they are not making you buy the whole album for this song.

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rogerthat

rogerthat

Posted
Posted

The Firm

Purdue University - Elliott Hall of Music

West Lafayette, Indiana

April 29, 1986

ElliottHallofMusic.jpg

Hey. That's the Hall of Music.

And I was at that show, seventh row center (more or less).

GREAT SHOW. FANTASTIC SHOW.

Ideal venue for The Firm. Acoustically warm and an enormous stage (90 ft proscenium) for prowling rock stars. Very intimate, even with 6,000 seats. The place was designed by the same folks that designed Radio City Music Hall. Very similar in many ways.

I was living in sin (and I mean SIN) with my (now) wife. She wasn't interested in Zeppelin/Jimmy, but she humored me on my various excursions to concerts, ha! She was on the Dean's List, I went to class.....sometimes.

BIG night for the local Jimmy Page-Led Zeppelin Appreciation Society. We had dinner and drinks (LOTS of drinks, boy could we sink 'em back then) and off to the show.

My recollection (somewhat unreliable, I will easily admit) was that it did eventually sell out, or very nearly so. Selling out ANY show at Purdue is unusual, even today.

They flew a private jet into the Purdue Airport (less than five minz from the venue by car) where they were met by the varsity cheerleaders, which got a sincere "THANKS FOR THE GREAT WELCOME" from Paul during the show. WOOT!

Chris Slade did a KILLER drum solo and stood up at the end with a Purdue football jersey on. Yay!

Tony Franklin obviously was the young, hip, unknown dude - who happened to drive the older gents in the band all night.

Paul Rodgers was.....well, Paul Rodgers. What an amazing, effortless voice.

And Jimmy was AMAZING. I dunno if he would say that it was a "magic" night for him, but it was for us. He worked the stage so fucking hard. Thrilling to see/hear him in that venue.

There is a bootleg of that show, BTW. I know someone that did have a copy, don't know if they still do. I'll look into that.

I "knew people" and we were offstage when the band finished the last encore. To me they acted like real friends, they were having a lot of fun. They teased each other, made fun of each other, laughed about mistakes, etc. VERY British. We didn't get close to them at all, just distant observers.

Jimmy was clearly inebriated, and was chain smoking Marlboro Reds. Never without one it seemed. He kept the company of a ... girl, his "date" we decided, but also his coach and nurse. She toweled him down and allowed him hits off an oxygen (??) tank-like thing. That was surreal.

He was drinking...something I didn't recognize (Absinthe, we speculated later) and brother, he could put it away. Holy cow. His girl would tell him how great he was, how fantastic he sounded, etc. "Thanks luv, thanks. Yer sweet".

He didn't seem to know where he was when off stage, but on stage he was clearly focused and knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

His playing was otherworldly, that's what I kept thinking, that's what comes to mind now. He had TONE, and his sound just cut right thru everything without overpowering the band. I've seen him play several times since, but never in the same kind of environment (the Hall of Music is NOT and arena, Jimmy should play more of these places., If he ever plays anywhere ever again, dammit).

Anyway, killer show.

I have long meant to post something about it, but never had. Steve's picture pushed me over the edge. I dropped my caffeine-free soda (my Absinthe days are long done) when I saw it with the clippings from the Exponent, as I sat in my chair at the mixing board, here.....at the Hall of Music, Purdue University.

Cheers

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SteveAJones

SteveAJones

Posted
Posted

The Firm

Purdue University - Elliott Hall of Music

West Lafayette, Indiana

April 29, 1986

Hey. That's the Hall of Music.

And I was at that show, seventh row center (more or less).

Awesome anecdotes Roger and THAT's the kind of thing I'm looking for around here! It's always a thrill to post

a little something about a long-forgotten concert and find out it's remembered quite well. You've taken us back

to a simpler time with cheerleaders meeting rockers at the airport and Jimmy Page playin' university campuses.

If you could be of any assistance in obtaining copies of the concert photos published in the school paper it would

be much appreciated. Perhaps an alumni still has a ticket stub or their own anecdotes to share - here's hoping.

I have one such person who may have a copy of the audience recording and said if so they'd be willing to share

it with us.

PurdueUniversityAirport.jpg

Purdue University Airport

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leddy

leddy

Posted
Posted

I heard radioactive on the radio today, it must be a good few years since I heard that as my Firm albums are on vinyl and no record player. have to say it sounded even better than I remember, love Jimmy's off the wall solo..typical Page..Am thinking of getting a record player and getting some new vinyl as lots seem to be released on the old format still. It had a warm sound which I miss .

Saw The Firm In 85 at Wembley.

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Dr Death

Dr Death

Posted
Posted

I happen to have Mean Business on vinyl. Bought it a while ago, have only given it one listen and it didn't sound that impressive :D

Mean Business is one of those albums that takes a bit of time to grow on you. Fortune Hunter is a great, up-tempo opener and Cadillac just sounds all sleazy and bloozy. All The Kings Horses is a Rodgers song and one I could do w/ out. Live In Peace is a good number, allowing Jimmy to rip away while Rodgers sends an important message.

Tear Down The Walls is maybe the best track and just rocks with trademark Page riffing. Dreaming is a very underrated song which, if memory serves, was written by Tony Franklin. Free To Live and Spirit Of Love are... meh... not the best representation of this band.

So basically, you get some really good stuff w/ Fortune Hunter, Cadillac, Live In Peace, Tear Down The Walls and Dreaming. Those five tracks standout and are quite good.

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Deborah J

Deborah J

Posted
Posted

Mean Business is one of those albums that takes a bit of time to grow on you. Fortune Hunter is a great, up-tempo opener and Cadillac just sounds all sleazy and bloozy. All The Kings Horses is a Rodgers song and one I could do w/ out. Live In Peace is a good number, allowing Jimmy to rip away while Rodgers sends an important message.

Tear Down The Walls is maybe the best track and just rocks with trademark Page riffing. Dreaming is a very underrated song which, if memory serves, was written by Tony Franklin. Free To Live and Spirit Of Love are... meh... not the best representation of this band.

So basically, you get some really good stuff w/ Fortune Hunter, Cadillac, Live In Peace, Tear Down The Walls and Dreaming. Those five tracks standout and are quite good.

I enjoy both albums/cd's... Enjoy :yesnod:

Live In Peace - The Firm Live 1984

The Firm. Cadillac. Hammersmith Odeon, 12-09-1984

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rogerthat

rogerthat

Posted
Posted

Awesome anecdotes Roger and THAT's the kind of thing I'm looking for around here! It's always a thrill to post

a little something about a long-forgotten concert and find out it's remembered quite well. You've taken us back

to a simpler time with cheerleaders meeting rockers at the airport and Jimmy Page playin' university campuses.

If you could be of any assistance in obtaining copies of the concert photos published in the school paper it would

be much appreciated. Perhaps an alumni still has a ticket stub or their own anecdotes to share - here's hoping.

I have one such person who may have a copy of the audience recording and said if so they'd be willing to share

it with us.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve.

It was..... really strange for all of us Led Heads to have The Man here in town, flying in and getting cheerleaders to greet the band and all that. Jeez, we couldn't believe he was here AT ALL.

I believe that - somewhere - I have the ticket. I'll keep up the hunt.

I do know of one person with an audience recording - or he USED to have the audience recording. I've contacted him, and I'll post an update as events warrant.

And a thanks to you for being a great resource over the years, especially since the official site came on line. Love to see yer posts here and on RO. I've enjoyed the videos of you guys here and elsewhere. NICE STUFF!!

BTW, Boiler Up:

post-2435-12594686769_thumb.jpg

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PhxHorn

PhxHorn

Posted
Posted

I've finished up converting the audience recording of the Purdue show to CD. There were a number of mishaps, such as my wife unplugging the digital recorder I was using to capture the audio while it was running, so she could use the vacuum cleaner! Then the next try I had the volume too high and it distorted. But I got it on the third try, such as it is. The audio is pretty rough, and the audience is going nuts most of the time and drowning out the music. I applied a little bit of EQ, but there was only so much that could be done.

The set list:

The Firm

Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana 4/29/86

1. Fortune Hunter

2. Closer

3. Someone to Love

4. Make or Break

5. Prelude/Money Can't Buy

6. Satisfaction Guaranteed

7. Drum Solo

8. Radioactive

9. Live in Peace

10. All the King's Horses

11. Bass and Guitar Solo

12. Cadillac

13. Midnight Moonlight

14. You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling

15. Spirit of Love

16. I Just Wanna Make Love to You

17. Somebody to Love

I read earlier in this thread that the guitar solo was incorporated into The Chase from the Deathwish 2 soundtrack, but it's been a long time since I've heard that album and I wouldn't recognize that tune.

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