drowan
-
Posts
362 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Everything posted by drowan
-
LED ZEPPELIN OFFICIAL ILLUSTRATED BOOK - COMING 2018
drowan replied to sam_webmaster's topic in News
C'mon, it's been 50 years since the band came together -many of those years performing tirelessly on the road. It's time to celebrate their accomplishments and cut them a little slack. Their work is enduring and the legacy of their recordings, videos, interviews and other insightful commentary is huge, not just for us but hopefully for many future generations. I'm thankful for their creativity and energy. Today, Robert is still on the road playing, Jimmy contributes in important ways as an archivist and John Paul continues to explore a few things on his own. Please note, for those planning to buy the 50th Anniversary illustrated book, the publisher are offering free shipping to those who order it before April 1. And there is no VAT if you're ordering it from the US. -
While we are waiting for something more substantive to take shape with respect to a 50th celebration in the UK or elsewhere, at least they're having a great 50th celebration tribute to Led Zeppelin at Carnegie Hall (NYC) on March 7, 2018 featuring 21 artists playing a wide variety of their music. What's also nice is that it's a benefit with the evening's proceeds funding music education for underprivileged children - our next generation of musicians! See the link below: https://musicof.org/ Also, photos of Led Zeppelin's original Carnegie Hall concert in October 1969 (almost 50 years ago) have now been posted on the Forums:
-
Steve: As a personal thanks for your appreciation, here is an unpublished photo that was not posted to the LZ Forums website. I believe this also shows Jimmy playing his Black Beauty Les Paul guitar at the 1969 Carnegie Hall concert. Regards, DRowan
-
And thanks to all of you for your appreciative and insightful comments. Zep fans are the best. Keep your comments coming! For those Zep fans who'd like to review a readable copy of the Chris Welch October 25, 1969 review of that October 17 Carnegie Hall performance in Melody Maker, LZ Webmaster, Sam Rapallo, has kindly provided a higher resolution image. See the link below: http://www.ledzeppelin.com/sites/g/files/g2000006376/f/201802/1969-10-25--Carnegie-Hall-review---c-welch---mmaker.jpg Thank you Sam! Enjoy. Also it is definitely worth watching the Chris Welch video interview of his impressions from that night featured in the earlier comments above!
-
Robert Plant played the Orpheum in Boston Friday night (2/16/18) and capped the evening with a another high energy rendition of "Bring in on Home": http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2018/02/17/wide-ranging-explorations-and-rock-explosions-from-robert-plant/odTbBaFAAcabCJoM10ayrO/story.html
-
And thanks to all of you for your appreciative and insightful comments. Zep fans are the best! Keep your comments coming.
-
It is hard to believe that almost 50 years after that 1969 Carnegie Hall triumph, Robert Plant is still hard at work taking his music on the road to the US. Robert played at the Orpheum Theater in Boston last night (Feb 16, 2018) to a sell out crowd. Here is a recent video of him playing one of his new releases, "Carry Fire". Rock on Robert! You still inspire us:
-
Agreed! But while you're waiting, take a look at this January 9, 1970 Albert Hall recording of LZ playing "Bring it on Home" and featuring Robert's harmonica playing and Jimmy Page playing his Black Beauty Les Paul guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX5yhpO52AA This captures some of the energy and spirit of the Carnegie Hall concert with the fans rocking on with the band at the edge of the stage! You also get a sense of why Robert simply had to have Chris Welch fetch his harmonica he had left behind at his hotel room before the Carnegie Hall show started!! This was also captured just a few months before Jimmy Page's cherished Black Beauty guitar was stolen at a US airport!!
-
Yes, fingers are crossed that one will surface - hopefully sooner than later! At least for now there are a few more visual images to add to the mix.
-
Here is a fascinating interview with rock music critic, Chris Welch, in which he describes the Carnegie Hall Led Zeppelin concert as one of the most inspiring concerts he had ever witnessed during his 50 year writing career. (One of Jimi Hendrix's club shows in London was the other high impact experience he cites.) Chris mentions that he traveled from London to the US with the band on TWA "first class" and about an hour before the concert started, Robert Plant realized that he had left his harmonica in his NYC hotel room (NY Hilton). Chris was sent in a limo by Robert to fetch it only to return realizing there were no tickets left for this sold out performance. So, he watched from the side of the stage. Chris also mentions the influence of Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall recording recording (with Gene Krupa) on Bonham's inspiration for playing with such intensity at Carnegie Hall. The commentary on Carnegie Hall starts in minute 42 of this almost 53 minute Vimeo interview and includes some great insight on the impact of this US concert in shaping his thoughts about how US fans helped propel the band to stardom:
-
For the backstory on Chris Welch's review of his first Led Zeppelin concert in the US at Carnegie Hall, see the excerpt of an interview with Welch below: Q - I wouldn't know. I've never been able to interview Charlie Watts. You went on tour with Led Zeppelin? What year was that? A - 1970. The first time I saw them in America was in Carnegie Hall in 1969, October of 1969. Q - You got around! Did Melody Maker send you to Carnegie Hall? A - Yeah, that's right. I was invited. Peter Grant (Led Zeppelin's manager) invited me over. It was an amazing event. It was terrific. In fact, it was the first 'live' Rock show I saw in the States. I was amazed at the reaction. People screaming, cheering, jumping on the stage. The funny thing was, when I got there, they'd forgotten to get me a ticket. So I had to stand on the stage, which was no hardship. I just stood in the wings and watched the band from there. I remember Chris Wood from Traffic was standing there watching as well. Screaming Lord Sutch was there. The whole stage was full of people, (laughs) watching the band. I went on tour with Led Zeppelin later in Germany in 1970. That was great stuff. Fantastic tour. A whole week. It was Berlin, Cologne and Essen. They were playing to crowds of 7,000 to 8,000 people every night. Maybe even more I think. They were playing like three hour shows. You really got to feel how exhausting it was to be on the road with a band and then partyin' afterwards after each show.
-
Hope you enjoyed them. And together with the excerpts of commentary and other insight from the performance, we all now have a better opportunity to "re-live" the amazing energy surrounding that special night!
-
Here's some fascinating insight on the Bonham childhood connection at age 15 with Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman and historic Carnegie Hall - In the book excerpt above, Bonzo recalls his first LP bought at age 15 featuring Benny Goodman and drummer Gene Krupa recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 1938 as he stands on the side of the stage gazing out at the house audience just before the start of the 8:30 pm show on October 17. Here is the backstory on that Benny Goodman 1938 show and LP vinyl recording that inspired Bonham to put together the performance of his career that night in 1969: Benny Goodman was at the absolute height of his legendary career when his publicist first suggested they book Carnegie Hall. He was a star on radio, on stage and on film, and the label “King of Swing” was already attached permanently to his name. So outlandish was the suggestion that a jazz band might play inside the citadel of American high culture, however, that Goodman is said to have laughed the idea off at first. Once he warmed to the notion, however, Goodman threw himself into the task with characteristic passion. In addition to numbers from the regular repertoire of his own band—which included the legendary Harry James on trumpet, Lionel Hampton on vibraphone and Gene Krupa on drums—Goodman planned a program featuring a brand-new “Twenty Years of Jazz” piece and an extended jam session featuring stars of the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. The concert sold out weeks in advance, with the best seats fetching $2.75. It would be another decade before anyone who was not in the audience or listening on the radio that night would hear the famed concert. All recordings of the show were presumed lost until Goodman’s sister-in-law came across a set of acetates in 1950. By then, the performance had already become the stuff of legend—particularly the stunning, unplanned piano solo by Jess Stacy on “Sing, Sing, Sing,” the evening’s final number. The album made from the recovered acetates became one of the first 33 1/3 LPs to sell over a million copies. The eventual discovery of the aluminum studio master recordings led to high-quality CD reissues in 1998, 2002 and 2006 of the legendary Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. Also, here is the link to a great You Tube video featuring the groundbreaking 1938 Carnegie Hall performance and the tremendous buzz it generated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8aEVY9lONk After watching this video, you can't help but imagine the impact Bonham's first Benny Goodman album (with renown drummer Gene Krupa) had on his own desire and burning ambitions to become an accomplished drummer. There are even some impressive Krupa drum solos on this You Tube clip. This could well have propelled Bonzo to greatness that night at Carnegie Hall in 1969!! The parallels between the 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall concert and the Led Zeppelin concert are remarkable! Now all we need to do is to discover a long lost recording from that incredible night at Carnegie Hall in 1969!!!
-
Here are some "backstage" impressions of that Carnegie Hall 8:30 pm first set captured by Chris Welch in Lewis and Pallett's book:
-
Yes, according to Lewis and Pallatt's book, Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, Eddie Kramer was there:
-
Here is "Melody Maker" writer Chris Welch's take on Bonham's Carnegie Hall drum performance: On Moby Dick at the Carnegie Hall gig:- "When it came to his full-scale workout, Bonham made good on his promise to be in top form. He summoned a demonic drum solo and flew around the kit with a speed and brute strength that was astounding. I saw Bonham play many more solos over the years but never with quite the same sustained attack." Chris Welch.
-
Your passionate comments like these are what propelled me in 2014 to find my then 45 year old B&W photos from that October 1969 concert and last month to finally have LZ Webmaster, Sam Rapallo, post them in the LZ Forum for all to enjoy. Check out the link: Once again, thank you Sam for your generous effort to give these photos wide exposure to the LZ community fans. DCR
-
Another fan in the audience that night commented: "Page swinging the bow, and Bonham's bare handed playing stand out." I myself remember him mid-solo ditching the sticks and taking on the tom-toms with his bare hands in sweeping fashion methodically moving back and forth across the drum set with increasing intensity. We were all in awe of the raw energy and sustained intensity of his solo.
-
Your response to these photos has been fantastic. Love the comments and welcome more!!
-
For a great description of the energy of a Led Zeppelin concert, read the comments of Germaine Greer after watching the Royal Albert Hall Concert on January 9, 1970 (2 months and 23 days following the Carnegie Hall concert): https://classicrockreview.wordpress.com/category/germain-greer-the-night-led-zeppelin-blew-my-mind/ Bravo for capturing in words the incredible energy of the band at that time in their early history! Chris Welch wrote a great review piece on Led Zeppelin's 10/17/69 Carnegie Hall concert in the October 25, 1969 issue of Melody Maker. It's a great read for true fans of LZ. DCR
-
For those making comparisons of Carnegie Hall with that of Royal Albert Hall as a venue, here are a few shots of Royal Albert Hall:
-
Setlist included: Good Times Bad Times (intro), Communication Breakdown, I Can't Quit You Baby, Heartbreaker, Dazed and Confused, White Summer / Black Mountainside, Moby Dick, What Is and What Should Never Be, How Many More Times, Bring It On Home, Summertime Blues.
-
There is a nice reference to the 1969 Carnegie Hall concert in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_North_American_Tour_Autumn_1969 Led Zeppelin's second album (Led Zeppelin II) was released five days after the Carnegie Hall concert on October 22, 1969.
-
Though Carnegie Hall is not quite at the scale of Albert Hall, this New York venue has a grand scale and impressive look to it - see the link above and pictures below! The hall has very high ceilings with numerous balconies climbing the side and rear walls. Picture that night with the crowd standing on the arms of the chairs, roaring approval from both the floor and the four balconies above...Plant whipping the crowd into a frenzy with his raw energy and soaring, relentless singing... Jimmy Page executing riff after riff and then pulling out his bow for an eerie surprise!! And Bonham was amazing - with his forceful energy and driving intensity! Jones too kept pace with those signature pulsating base lines. The scene was electric! You could sense everyone during this scorching, melodic frenzy thinking to themselves - can you believe what we just heard? Wow!!!!
