Am I the only person deeply troubled by the cat's eyes in the first picture?

Good spot, I was too busy looking at Bonham to notice what Page was up to.

Here's another interesting one, looks like Bonham is using traditional grip here. Although there are a few pictures of him using the grip down the years, this is maybe the only one I've seen of him live with Zeppelin...

Amazing, thanks.

Aye, just about surviving. You too Porgie, strange times for us all.

I had a feeling you may have seen it. I'd go along with the Trixon theory, those ride cymbal stands look like an accident waiting to happen. Good to (cyber) speak to you again, it's been too long. Not much happening in Zeppelin world these days unfortunately although I still watch your YouTube videos (which are always amazing).

Thanks, I was over the moon to see it as I've been looking for a pre-Zeppelin drumming picture for years.

@porgie66 Thought you would be interested in this.

It was on a 'Remembering John Bonham' Facebook page.

Apparently the earliest known picture of John Bonham playing drums at the Red Lion pub in Worcestershire. This is with Terry Webb & the Spiders & Bonham was 16 at the time.

There is a Bonham quote about Palmer somewhere. He said something along the lines of 'Carl went for lessons' when he was discussing his early days of drumming. Not much to go on but he was well aware of Carl Palmer. Palmer is also a Bonham fan, when asked about Bonham around the time DVD came out, he said something like 'Words are meaningless, just watch Moby Dick at RAH'.

What Jason said hardly means that John was unaware of Peart. I don't think Bonham was a huge rock fan so unlikely to have bought any Rush albums & I doubt he had conversations with his Son about every drummer he ever heard of. Most likely he was aware of Rush & Peart but not a huge fan of either in my opinion.

That'd be great, thanks. I'm kinda done buying Zeppelin literature, I've got books & magazines coming out my ears.

Agreed. I'm tempted to buy the magazine just for that photograph.

My mistake, Bonham is wearing an ITTOD sweater so it is a warm up or pre-show photograph for the 1980 interview.