achillestand Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Some years ago I heard a radio special on LZ. They said that Stairway to heaven´s live debut was in Belfast, in march 1971. They also said that after performing it, the crowd remained in absolute silence, so Plant said to the rest of the band "I don´t think this song is suitable for a live show" but immediately after the crowd exploded in applause and demanded to be performed again. Is this a legend or is true indeed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieshoes Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Some years ago I heard a radio special on LZ. They said that Stairway to heaven´s live debut was in Belfast, in march 1971. They also said that after performing it, the crowd remained in absolute silence, so Plant said to the rest of the band "I don´t think this song is suitable for a live show" but immediately after the crowd exploded in applause and demanded to be performed again. Is this a legend or is true indeed? It's a legend. On the recording from Belfast the crowd erupts into applause immediately after the song concludes. So does the crowd the night afterwards in Dublin. There's a similar legend that John Paul Jones has said in an interview about how the audience at the Forum later that year gave them a five minute standing ovation after they performed it there. The boot of both shows say otherwise. As do the boots from all of the other shows from the 71-72 tours. What can you say, it's the band embellishing on their own "legend", I think. This sort of stuff is up there with the four-hour Boston Tea Party legend and the story about how during their first tour the PA broke and everyone in the audience could still hear Robert singing over the band's instruments, all the way to the back of the auditorium. Sounds great on paper or in an interview, but in reality it's highly unlikely that it actually happened that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibh23 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 I don't know if it's just the recording (which is quite crowd noise heavy), but at the first 71 forum show the ovation though short is just amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
achillestand Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 What is the legend of the four hour Boston Tea party? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibh23 Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 What is the legend of the four hour Boston Tea party? Here we go again..... Legend has it that on January 26th 1969, the band played their normal set, lasting about 1:30 hours maybe, then they left the stage but the crowd kept cheering for an encore, and so they gave it but the crowd wouldn't stop cheering, so they came back and it was like they allegedly played for more than 4 hours with only 1 album worth of material...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyPageZoSo56 Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I don't know if it's just the recording (which is quite crowd noise heavy), but at the first 71 forum show the ovation though short is just amazing. Yea it does sounds like an huge ovation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Here we go again..... Legend has it that on January 26th 1969, the band played their normal set, lasting about 1:30 hours maybe, then they left the stage but the crowd kept cheering for an encore, and so they gave it but the crowd wouldn't stop cheering, so they came back and it was like they allegedly played for more than 4 hours with only 1 album worth of material...... John Paul Jones: “As far as I’m concerned, the key Zeppelin gig, the one that put everything into focus, was one that we played on our first American tour at the Boston Tea Party. We’d played our usual one hour set, using all the material for the first album and Page’s White Summer guitar piece and by the end, the audience just wouldn’t let us offstage. It was in such a state that we had to start throwing ideas around, just thinking of songs that we might all know or that some of us knew a part of and work it out from there. So we’d go back on and play things like “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Please Please Me”, old Beatles favorites. I mean, just anything that would come into our head and the response was quite amazing. There were kids actually bashing their heads against the stage – I’ve never seen that a gig before or since, and when we finally left the stage, we’d played for four plus hours. Peter (Grant) was absolutely ecstatic. He was crying, if you can imagine that, and hugging us all. You know with this grizzly bear hug. I suppose it was then that we realized just what Led Zeppelin was going to become.” – (NME, Feb. 1973) --------------------- It's also worth noting they did have the next four days off, as opposed to having to perform again the next night. I believe JJ Jackson also recalled attending this gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlanetPage Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Peter (Grant) was absolutely ecstatic. He was crying, if you can imagine that, and hugging us all. You know with this grizzly bear hug. I suppose it was then that we realized just what Led Zeppelin was going to become.” – (NME, Feb. 1973) --------------------- It's also worth noting they did have the next four days off, as opposed to having to perform again the next night. I believe JJ Jackson also recalled attending this gig. ...Thank you SAJ for this "classic" piece...I think Steven Tyler was also at the Boston Tea Party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickZepp Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I'll have to listen against but the first time Stairway was played I don't remember the crowd being that enthusiastic compared to how it was later on. But the recording was pretty lousy also. JPJ in interviews claimed the first time they played it the crowd seemed bored also. Jimmy said there was a gig early on and may have even said it was in LA that he thought the crowd reaction was amazing. But it seemed like he was not sure on the date. And knowing his history on dates he's usually a little off on that kind of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieshoes Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Peter (Grant) was absolutely ecstatic. He was crying, if you can imagine that, and hugging us all. You know with this grizzly bear hug. I suppose it was then that we realized just what Led Zeppelin was going to become.” – (NME, Feb. 1973) But that's the myth-killer right there, isn't it? Because Peter Grant didn't accompany the band on their first US tour. Only Richard Cole did. So, the hours and hours long Boston Tea Party gig, as many have suggested, was in fact really the one they played in May, on the 2nd US tour, when Grant did come along, and not the one they did in January. I read that there was also a journalist there taking notes of the band's 2nd US tour, who recalled that it was at Boston in May that they ran out of songs to play and came back to play covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgeholder Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I like that one about Robert Plant still being audible without the PA - you know in '69, in a club, I can almost buy that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgeholder Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 oops, inadverdant post, carry on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieshoes Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I like that one about Robert Plant still being audible without the PA - you know in '69, in a club, I can almost buy that one! What's funny about that one is that even if it did happen, how would they have known? If the band were onstage playing when the PA went out, how would they have been able to hear how loud Plant's vocals were at the back of the venue? Only an audience member would've been able to tell, because that's where the sound was going. Another story, I'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirchzep27 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 ^Great info everyone,very interesting. i only remember the story from -jpj, with the promotion of the -led zep box set/mtv, the question: -do you remember what it was like when you wrote -stairway to heaven? he says: as if there were three wisemen going by and asking, are you writing stairway to heaven here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortuna Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I like that one about Robert Plant still being audible without the PA - you know in '69, in a club, I can almost buy that one! It's brought up in this interview at 02.38. http://www.robertplant.com/multimedia/inte...interview-1984/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgeholder Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Thanks for that, interesting interview (dangerously close to a mullet there, Robert!) He doesn't say it DIDN'T happen, wisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortuna Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Thanks for that, interesting interview (dangerously close to a mullet there, Robert!) He doesn't say it DIDN'T happen, wisely. You're welcome. I had just listened to the interview before I read your post. I think he's being very modest. Back to Stairway to Heaven..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibh23 Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 John Paul Jones: “As far as I’m concerned, the key Zeppelin gig, the one that put everything into focus, was one that we played on our first American tour at the Boston Tea Party. We’d played our usual one hour set, using all the material for the first album and Page’s White Summer guitar piece and by the end, the audience just wouldn’t let us offstage. It was in such a state that we had to start throwing ideas around, just thinking of songs that we might all know or that some of us knew a part of and work it out from there. So we’d go back on and play things like “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Please Please Me”, old Beatles favorites. I mean, just anything that would come into our head and the response was quite amazing. There were kids actually bashing their heads against the stage – I’ve never seen that a gig before or since, and when we finally left the stage, we’d played for four plus hours. Peter (Grant) was absolutely ecstatic. He was crying, if you can imagine that, and hugging us all. You know with this grizzly bear hug. I suppose it was then that we realized just what Led Zeppelin was going to become.” – (NME, Feb. 1973) --------------------- It's also worth noting they did have the next four days off, as opposed to having to perform again the next night. I believe JJ Jackson also recalled attending this gig. Mmmmh, interesting, I thought he had only mentioned it once in that chat session, if someone can find a transcript of that it'd be welcomed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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