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Steve Z(oso)

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Everything posted by Steve Z(oso)

  1. I was at the first day, July 23 (before the brawl!). Yes, the openers were Judas Priest & Derringer. But only Derringer was advertised, so when Judas Priest took the stage & were announced, everybody went, "Huh?" I'd never heard of them, and it didn't seem like anyone else had either. The only thing I remember them playing was 'Diamonds & Rust,' since I knew that one as a Joan Baez song. They didn't go over too well. Much more recently, a drummer in another band I was playing in, told me he was also at that show and stayed at the same hotel as Priest. He hung out with them a bit, and they told him they were recommended by Zep for the show because they were friends with Plant & Bonham from back in the UK. Derringer were fantastic, they had just put out the "Derringer Live" album, and played all that stuff. Full of energy. I remember it was the first time I'd seen wireless transmitters on guitars before, and at one point Rick Derringer & his other guitarist, Danny Johnson, tossed their guitars across the stage to each other! I also clearly remember Zep's opening of 'The Song Remains the Same' and the crowd just drowning them out for what seemed like a good couple of minutes. They were so pumped up! And then again, as you reported in your story, when they started Stairway, the crowd drowned them out again. What a day...
  2. Strider, that was an amazing & entertaining read! No matter how much is from solid memory, or refreshed from your journals & of course, the bootlegs, doesn't matter one bit. I tell you, I got to see 1 1977 Zep show (Oakland) at 14 years old, and I have a boot of the show, but it doesn't trigger my memory like that. Certain bits, I can clearly remember, and those were confirmed when I finally found the bootleg about 10 years ago ("Does anyone remember forests?"). But it was really great to read your account, it brought a real personal touch to a 1973 show that we all know so well through TSRTS film & album. Well done, and thanks for taking the time to write it!
  3. 3 pics from the 7/16/84 Pistoia Blues Festival, shot by yours truly. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! I was travelling around Europe, walking through a train station in Italy & saw a poster for this. When I saw that a: Jimmy Page was playing and b: it was the NEXT DAY, I couldn't believe it! To this day, I can still hear the screams of "Jeemay, Jeemay!" in those Italian accents!
  4. Ah well, the person I mentioned (or rather, didn't mention) says he is NOT doing this, so there, what do I know?! Still very curious to see who ends up doing this with Jason. Would be great if Mr Page would drop in from time to time & join them!
  5. The first 5 albums are fantastic, the first 2 & Carnegie Hall are some of my favorite albums of all time. Truly groundbreaking stuff. Too bad they got sucked into the pop hits routine. And of course, Terry Kath was a huge loss to the music world. I never got to see them in the 70's, and once he was gone, I had no interest. Great band for a topic!
  6. If it's who I hear it is, it will be fantastic, and well worth seeing. I know him personally (and no, it's not me!). Sorry I can't say who before it's confirmed & announced. I understand people's reluctance concerning this, but I think if it's something Jason wants to do in honor of his dad and what he accomplished, than that's his business. I'm certainly not gonna miss it. I do hope the formerly Black Country band doesn't just fizzle out, though. That lineup shows a lot of promise.
  7. There's not much more I can add to the defense of ALS than what's already been posted, but I will just say that to call it a "song" does it a complete disservice. It is an epic in every sense of the word! Grand, majestic, experimental, unpredictable, with master performances from all 4. And Jimmy's guitar work and arrangement, pure genius. It's not to everyone's taste, that's fine, but it looks like there are far more "yays" than "nays" here.
  8. 2bizzy, ah yes, those were the days, eh?! Boy, I sure remember stepping over all the drunk people to get a good place in line for those Day on the Greens, and this was at 6am! ZeppFanForever, great stories! We had fifths of vodka stuffed down our pants, and froze a couple of gallon jugs of fruit punch, or something like that, the night before so it would stay cold throughout the day. Then we spiked them with the booze and passed them around! Damn, and I wasn't even 15 yet, what the hell were my parents thinking, letting me go to that?! Are you still there in Sac?
  9. Ah, fellow Bay Area concert go'er's from the 70's on here, nice! From the recordings of the 2 shows, the only differences are that they played a 2nd encore of Black Dog on the first day, and a bit of Mystery Train in the acoustic set on the 2nd day. Otherwise, they were identical, and about the same length, well over 2 hours. But don't worry, I wouldn't have remembered without the bootlegs either! I have no doubt it took them a long time to start, and that the crowd got restless. Crowds used to always get restless, even when there was only 1/2 hour between 2 bands. Hell, they got restless at the first show, and they weren't even that late! I remember hearing it was something like 3 hours for the second show, but I was not there, so I don't know for sure. Our impression of Graham was just that he was a hardline business guy, and you didn't mess around with him. He competely owned the concert business in the Bay Area, so if you wanted to play out there, you dealt with him. Again, my experiences at the shows were generally good, and he always seemed to have a good relationship with artists. But I'm sure not every one of his employees was so nice. That does suck that you got roughed up at that show. And yes, Cow Palace crowds could be pretty unruly! But I'm sure there are some people on here from other parts of the country who could tell us much worse stories of security at concerts, riot police, massive arrests, etc. We used to hear about them, and be glad we didn't see that crap at the shows we went to.
  10. I was also at the first Oakland show, not that that gives me any insight into what happened. But I will say, from growing up in the Bay Area and going to Bill Graham produced concerts as a kid through the 70's, I don't believe his staff would have acted heavy handed, or that they would have provoked any artist's crew. Graham himself may have been a hard nosed business guy, but the staff was always a very calm & smooth operation. They always dealt with the public very professionally, and never as police. Back then, drugs were the norm at these shows, and their aim was always to make sure everyone was safe, never to bust anyone or give anyone a hard time. Comparing this type of staff to Grant, Cole & Bindon, it's a no-brainer to me to see who provoked who in this incident. Graham's account of it in his autobiography is very compelling, and worth reading, as is his whole story. And the fact that Grant regretted it in his later life says a lot. I also think the statements that Page sat down through most of the second day are an exaggeration. Remember, the '77 show included a fairly lengthy acoustic set as well as White Summer/Black Mountain Side, which he would be seated for. I've never seen any photos from that day of Page sitting down playing the Les Paul or the Doubleneck.
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