1974

[nahu]

Ok. The question, haha: why they didn´t tour on 1974? Why they were doing, apart from the recording of PG?

 

[jsj]

because they were having some time off after touring extensively from their forming through to 73. Jonesy in particular is cited as being fed up with the non stop schedule and wanting some time off. Planty had an operation on his throat as well which presumably would have meant time off for healing

[kingzoso]

1 hour ago, nahu said:

Ok. The question, haha: why they didn´t tour on 1974? Why they were doing, apart from the recording of PG?

 

Jonesy wanted to leave the band because he was missing a lot of his daughters school events and the rest of Led Zeppelin were doing a lot of Cocaine and have drinking parties telling themselves that they could "wipe the lot" when it came to who was in the same league as Them (Led Zeppelin). 

And don't forget that Led Zeppelin, Peter Grant and Steven Weiss were in the stages of the formation of Swan Song Records. 

[Crimson Avenger]

I'd guess that Plant's throat surgery is the biggest reason. That would have prevented any major plans for touring for quite a while. We know he had the surgery, but I don't think it's ever been confirmed exactly when.

Other than that, the 1973 US tour took it out of all them mentally and physically. This was the tour where the band really became big, and I suppose that, like many bands, they didn't feel as much pressure to tour again and promote themselves as they had before 73. A UK/European tour in 74 would have been nice, but maybe the management wasn't into doing 'small' tours any more by that point. Everything had to be bigger and better than before, or not at all. You can argue that's still Jimmy's approach today, which is what keeps him off the road.

Of course, if you want to see Led Zeppelin on stage in 1974, just watch The Song Remains The Same!

 

[Disco Duck]

On 4/29/2016 at 7:41 AM, Crimson Avenger said:

I'd guess that Plant's throat surgery is the biggest reason. That would have prevented any major plans for touring for quite a while. We know he had the surgery, but I don't think it's ever been confirmed exactly when.

Other than that, the 1973 US tour took it out of all them mentally and physically. This was the tour where the band really became big, and I suppose that, like many bands, they didn't feel as much pressure to tour again and promote themselves as they had before 73. A UK/European tour in 74 would have been nice, but maybe the management wasn't into doing 'small' tours any more by that point. Everything had to be bigger and better than before, or not at all. You can argue that's still Jimmy's approach today, which is what keeps him off the road.

Of course, if you want to see Led Zeppelin on stage in 1974, just watch The Song Remains The Same!

 

Everything you wrote above makes sense; except for one thing:  Has Jimmy Page ever stated on the record that he is only interested in doing gigs, recordings, etc that are bigger and better than anything he's done in the past?"  You aren't the only poster who has remarked that Page is only interested in doing big tours or playing in big venues but I question if this is an accurate perception.  Has the man himself ever said this outright or even implied it during the past 15 years?

[Crimson Avenger]

16 hours ago, Disco Duck said:

Everything you wrote above makes sense; except for one thing:  Has Jimmy Page ever stated on the record that he is only interested in doing gigs, recordings, etc that are bigger and better than anything he's done in the past?"  You aren't the only poster who has remarked that Page is only interested in doing big tours or playing in big venues but I question if this is an accurate perception.  Has the man himself ever said this outright or even implied it during the past 15 years?

He hasn't, but then he's never really engaged with interviewers about his lack of activity. All he ever says is that next year is the year. I don't want to derail the OP's thread too much here, but Jimmy has played one full gig in the last 15 years. And that was a big one, you have to admit! There are clearly various reasons for this, but if Jimmy had wanted to go out and do some fairly low key stuff, he'd surely have done so by now.

Anyway, my main point was that after their 1973 tours, the band couldn't or wouldn't do things on a smaller scale, and this played a part in the lack of activity in 74 and after. Because big stuff took planning and a high degree of certainty. They started 1973 playing small provincial theatres around the UK... very un-sexy. By July 1973 and beyond, that was unthinkable. Part of that was due to Robert's ailments/injuries and the tax laws of the time, but I also think it's clear that Page and Grant were only interested in big events in the 1974-79 period. Hence Earls Court, hence the 77 US tour when they weren't ready for it, hence Knebworth. Come 1980, they did change their minds,  principally because Robert wouldn't do anything on a big scale at that point. We'll never know how the US tour that year would have played out.

 

[Jukkin]

I think the Ipswich, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Leicester gigs in 71 or perhaps Liverpool, Southampton, Oxford, Stoke, Preston in 73 were some of the 'small hall' tour dates. The demand for tickets was far greater than the venues could handle and so there was a lot of unhappy punters. I think it was Jimmy who said it was a mistake to do the tour and that because of demand for tickets they would have to play large venues from then on. After 73 they only played two more gigs in the UK - Earls Court and Knebworth.

I still can't understand though why on May 25th at Earls Court Robert said that it was their last date in the UK "for some considerable time". This was before his injuries so it's always puzzled me about why he would say that.

[No Quota]

I think taxes had a lot to do with it. 

Check the Denis Healy quote by Plant. 

[Colonial]

Yup, it's a tax exile reference.