He sure did attend Art school, and has mentioned it countless times in interviews, but as it turns out, the details are still not at all clear, so I often wonder about this too. Steve, have you been able to find any actual confirmation of the basic facts - where exactly was he enrolled and precisely when?

Great story and pics. Thanks for posting!

1975.

1977.

New scans. Being interviewed in May, 1982. A couple from 1973.

New scans.

A couple of new scans of Jonesy.

I first heard Led Zeppelin and became a fan in 1975, and I was 10 then. Bootlegs were just about impossible to find in this country, and the first time I heard a Zeppelin live recording that hadn't been officially released was in 1986. That was the Paris theater gig from 1971 that was later released on the BBC recordings, alas incomplete. I got that boot on tape and listened to it endlessly - it was amazing. A couple of years later I got the June 23, 1977 show on two cassettes, with the order of the songs completely mixed up, so the first thing I heard was Jimmy playing Black Mountain Side and then the band coming on like an explosion....Kashmir. It sounded so devastatingly heavy, I was stunned, even if the performance wasn't particularly good. This of course was the show where Keith Moon joined them on stage, and that was fun to hear. Then in 1995 I got two boxed sets, 5 CDs each, called Through the Years and Another Trip. Together they form like a 10 CDs worth of live selections, spanning the band's entire career, and a good introduction to all the boots. Here they are: In later years I've accumulated bootlegs from friends in the fan community, and via the internet - for free.

The night of Blueberry Hill. Dave Pegg took part in the drinking contest as well. He and Bonzo were mates, as both were part of the scene in the midlands in the 1960's. Actually, Bonzo may have lost that contest. He was found the next morning lying naked, sleeping next to the hotel swimming pool. The question about the jam with Fairport is what happened to it when Peter Grant died, because he had the tapes. Jimmy is likely to have them now, but may not be too pleased with them, as he was playing a borrowed guitar from Fairport, and it gave him some trouble.

I'm hoping to get tickets to see Jethro Tull on September 12.

Yeah, and come to think of it, that's been the case for a very long time now. I saw a Stones concert in a cinema here in 1982 I believe, probably the same tour as Still Life, and I think Keith was already preferring Teles by then.

Yeah - wasn't it that guy with the '59 Les Paul?

Kat, you can rest assured that I am ever ready to defend your honor against your unfair allegations against yourself.

You too!

I'm fine, thanks - lovely weather here now. It's been a really good summer here. You?

That's interesting. What you say about the effects of Robert's illness seems very convincing to me. I never could understand why Jimmy didn't touch the guitar for weeks under the circumstances, it just seemed really odd. But I guess in a different way it makes sense. And otherwise, your response just goes to show that if we disagree at all on the tour as such, it's more a matter of degree and emphasis than of really opposed points of view. Of course it wasn't all just awful. I agree with you about Dazed and the sonic experiment thing - and with what you say about the Seattle show. If you compare that show with the 1973 gig in Hamburg - where Jimmy and Bonzo are both on top form - you get a really stark contrast. Thanks!

The Ledded Archive - gosh, that sounds heavy! Those pictures are simply amazing - thanks!

Sorry, I went away from the computer for a moment.... Let me introduce you: aen, JAL, Spacewoman, Lena - Meet the ocean. One BADASS Pagette.

Nice to see you!

Nice to see you, Chicago! Make no mistake, I envy you a LOT! It's been so long since they quit, and even many of us who have been fans since the 1970's have never had the opportunity to see them live, and I'm one of these people. I wouldn't really dispute what you are saying, and in a way it's impossible to dispute. It's just that I think there is more to this than what you have stated here. They were reaching huge audiences on that tour, and it must have been inspiring to a lot of people, not only because it was great shows (magnificent lights and all that), but also because they still sounded unlike anybody else. I mean, to me, listening to these bootlegs and official live releases, LZ, even on a bad night, sound like an almost impossibly great band having an off night. So I'm not doubting that. I'm also not doubting what you and others who experienced their 1977 shows first hand are saying either - I realize there really is no substitute for having actually been at a show. Even a good quality DVD only ever gives you a faint glimpse of that - you hear what they played, see how they moved onstage, you see the lighting, and it's all kind of muffled by comparison with the first hand experience. You rely on your imagination a lot when you watch these things, I find, and that's a poor substitute. But the thing is, it kind of works both ways... I can't dispute what you experienced at a concert, and, on the other hand, your experience isn't mine, so it can't convince me as such. I still have to go from descriptions by people like yourself who were there, and then add to that bootlegs, existing video footage, photos, etc. and then make up my own mind. My opinion on 1977 is basically that relatively speaking it was a period where real problems were coming to the surface, in various ways, and that you can hear it in the live performances. It was Led Zeppelin, and one expects a lot.

Glad you liked it, Aqua!

I was a kid up here in Iceland in the 1970's, so I didn't see these bands live. But as already pointed out they didn't ever share a bill. Skynyrd were however generally acknowledged as one of the best live bands around, and you can get at least some sense of that by watching this DVD: Excellent playing, great songs, immense presence, even if none of them really moved around a lot - including Ronnie Van Zant. But it's hardly the kind of show that would have blown Zeppelin off stage, is it? I'm thinking The Who maybe could have, but not many others. They stopped appearing on the same bill in 1969, even if they loved hanging out together. Probably it was a bit much for both bands appearing together on the same bill!! It would be interesting to see some thoughts on that by some of the people that did actually experience their shows.

I can't judge the sexiness, but to me he simply doesn't look at all healthy. Some of his expressions look strangely out of character in this period, too (like in many of the Oakland pics), partly no doubt because his frame was practically reduced to a skeleton. I guess the stormtrooper outfit he famously wore at the April 10, 1977 gig in Chicago sums it up for me, because there always was a certain level of control of meaning about Jimmy and the band more generally, which made the whole thing quite intriguing and fascinating, down to smaller details even. The stormtrooper may have been rock and roll to some people, but to me it smacks of empty sensationalism - and hence, of things spiralling out of control. It didn't signify anything at all - it was just "Hey, is this outrageous or what?"

Cheers Ev! Yeah, that's how it works here, basically, but nah, I wouldn't give a special name to my archive. Not that there's anything wrong with that per se. But all I've ever done is to put my initials into many of the file names. Of course people then give them different file names, and that doesn't really matter. They do travel, these things, and I always knew they would. - And hey, if I have a reason to create a special archive, then so do you, Ev, because you made a BUNCH of them - great quality as well! I do find it a good idea to remind people where they came from now and then, because there's a chance I might get thanks for having done the bloody things, and that's what makes it worth the trouble in the first place - knowing that your fellow fans appreciate it.

Here's an edited version of a photo that I scanned from Creem, the famed 1973 issue.