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CARNEGIE HALL, NY 10-17-69 - Never Before Seen Fan Photos! First use of Black Beauty Les Paul


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This is an excerpt from a review filed by Cash Box news wire on November 1, 1969 that includes a review of the Carnegie Hall Friday, October 17, 1969 concert:

CARNEGIE HALL, NEW YORK— In

conjunction with the release of their

second Atlantic album, “Led Zeppelin

II,” guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist

Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham,

and bassist John Paul Jones are cur-

rently making their U.S. tour in one

year. At this moment, they are the

hottest act to come from England in

some time. Friday night (17), it was

easy to see why.

 

Robert Plant has become one of the

sex deities of rock. His lion’s mane of

thick, curly, blond hair, his powerful

throaty singing form an image that

reaches the audience. There were act-

ually some screams from the girls as

he stalked his way around the stage,

swiveling his hips, writhing his body

in time to the music. Jimmy Page is

one of the great guitarists in modern

 

 

music. Not only is he a master of rock-

blues, but in his brilliant performance

of the instrumental “White Summer”

(an old track from the Yardbirds),

Page proved himself able to do any-

thing on the guitar. Many rock guitar-

ists play fast, but Page, while playing

super fast, actually manages to hit

the right notes. At the same time, he

is a demon on stage, running about

with his head down, playing his leads

off of Plant’s vocals, or working his

guitar strings with a violin bow that

he keeps with him at all times.

 

Drummer Bonham and bassist

Jones are also masters of their instru-

ments and stunned the audience with

the driving sound that they create to-

gether as a backup for Page and

Plant. Led Zeppelin has landed!

 

b.h.

Edited by drowan
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On 1/26/2018 at 5:00 PM, porgie66 said:

Incredible! Thank you so much for sharing these. This was supposed to be a legendary performance by Bonham of Moby Dick. Any recollection of his playing on the drum solo? He was supposed to have been extraordinary that night .  I thought I read somewhere that Eddie Kramer was at this show. 

Here is an excerpt from Keith Shadwick's 2005 book, "Led Zeppelin: The Story of a Band and Their Music, 1968-1980" that focuses on John Bonham's legendary playing at Carnegie Hall the night of October 17, 1969:

image.png.deaf73f484b6107702ec9a0bd3f75ef1.png

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In Rolling Stone magazine's 2016 article, "Led Zeppelin II:  How the Band Came into its Own on Raunchy 1969 Classic", writer Patrick Doyle talks about the several month from July to September 1969  before the Carnegie Hall 10/17/69 concert during which time they completed the recording of their second album and finished mixing it at Atlantic Records studio in New York City:

image.png.6633cdcaeed9a5cdebe16e59c502d4c4.png

image.png.1ef2bd8b161d8600db1d1a1ce4a3fa5f.png

 

Edited by drowan
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Mick Wall's captivating 2014 article, "The Making of Led Zeppelin I"  sets the stage for just how timely and significant the October 1969 concert at Carnegie Hall was:

"Led Zeppelin’s debut album was already on its way to becoming a sizable hit on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as changing the face of rock music completely. The brainchild of Page, a 24-year-old session guitarist who, somewhat astonishingly, had played on more than half of all the hit singles made in Britain from 1962-66 but who had only recently come to public attention via his late entry into The Yardbirds, the release of the first Zeppelin album could be said to have ushered in the 1970s a year early."

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Rock critic Chris Welch was one of the earliest admirers of Led Zeppelin.  Chris got it right when John Mendelssohn of Rolling Stone got it completely wrong!  Mick Wall provides great insight on why Welch insisted on flying to the US with the band to witness firsthand (and write about) the now famous Carnegie Hall concert: 

"In 1969, Chris Welch was the star writer for Melody Maker, then the most influential and prestigious music paper in Britain. He’d been there when Hendrix first set fire to his guitar at the Speakeasy, hung out in the studio while The Who wrestled with Tommy, kept Dylan waiting in reception for an interview while he finished his lunch, driven Rod Stewart home from gigs in the days when Rod was too poor to afford his own wheels. But Chris says he never – ever – heard anything like this. One of the younger writers brought an early, pre-release copy of the album in, and played it on the office stereo – and it just leapt out at you; it really did feel like a great leap forward in terms of the sound you could actually get on a record. And that was just the first track.”  

Edited by drowan
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  • 4 weeks later...

Given the fact that I Can't Get Next to You by the Temptations was the #1 Top 40 hit in the US the night of the Carnegie Hall Led Zeppelin concert, I couldn't resist giving this great song and band a little air time of their own.  Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were huge fans of the American Blues scene and this song is a "pop" version of that music tradition and style.

Edited by drowan
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The poster from the Led Zeppelin Carnegie Hall concert was very understated, but offered a "classic image" of the band:

image.thumb.png.6beebcdf95c0d26ef94f8b899303515c.png

Promoter Howard Stein was "all about the music" and a key driving force in convincing Carnegie Hall management to let him proceed with the concert.  And tickets were only $5.50!!

image.png.1281a62f84c07b5dfd2a38a977159d3a.png

Edited by drowan
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Here's a photo taken at the Led Zeppelin tribute concert on March 7, 2018 at Carnegie Hall taken from the same seats in the 10th row of the Hall as our photos taken that night on October 17, 1969.  Very nostalgic.  Most of Carnegie Hall's interior remains the same 49 years later.

 

IMG_20180307_224803167.jpg

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On 3/12/2018 at 7:27 PM, drowan said:

A vintage photo of Led Zeppelin captured around the time of the Carnegie Hall October 1969 concert:

image.png.000acf52f507660c046619a358c4c335.png

The concert poster has a different arrangement of band members but a very similar look for each musician:image.thumb.png.6beebcdf95c0d26ef94f8b899303515c.png

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8 hours ago, drowan said:

Here's a photo taken at the Led Zeppelin tribute concert on March 7, 2018 at Carnegie Hall taken from the same seats in the 10th row of the Hall as our photos taken that night on October 17, 1969.  Very nostalgic.  Most of Carnegie Hall's interior remains the same 49 years later.

 

IMG_20180307_224803167.jpg

Great perspective!

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On 3/12/2018 at 3:15 PM, drowan said:

This is an excerpt from a review filed by Cash Box news wire on November 1, 1969 that includes a review of the Carnegie Hall Friday, October 17, 1969 concert:

CARNEGIE HALL, NEW YORK— In

conjunction with the release of their

second Atlantic album, “Led Zeppelin

II,” guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist

Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham,

and bassist John Paul Jones are cur-

rently making their U.S. tour in one

year. At this moment, they are the

hottest act to come from England in

some time. Friday night (17), it was

easy to see why.

 

Robert Plant has become one of the

sex deities of rock. His lion’s mane of

thick, curly, blond hair, his powerful

throaty singing form an image that

reaches the audience. There were act-

ually some screams from the girls as

he stalked his way around the stage,

swiveling his hips, writhing his body

in time to the music. Jimmy Page is

one of the great guitarists in modern

 

 

music. Not only is he a master of rock-

blues, but in his brilliant performance

of the instrumental “White Summer”

(an old track from the Yardbirds),

Page proved himself able to do any-

thing on the guitar. Many rock guitar-

ists play fast, but Page, while playing

super fast, actually manages to hit

the right notes. At the same time, he

is a demon on stage, running about

with his head down, playing his leads

off of Plant’s vocals, or working his

guitar strings with a violin bow that

he keeps with him at all times.

 

Drummer Bonham and bassist

Jones are also masters of their instru-

ments and stunned the audience with

the driving sound that they create to-

gether as a backup for Page and

Plant. Led Zeppelin has landed!

 

b.h.

I believe Bruce Harris ("b.h."), Associate Editor of Cash Box, was the music critic who wrote this review of the Led Zeppelin Concert at Carnegie Hall in October 1969:

image.png.61821ca1655c3c47070133edf7564bee.png

 

Edited by drowan
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This brief article from the October 18, 1969 issue of Cash Box (page 28) provides a little insight on Zeppelin's high energy impact that was soon to unfold as the band was to return to the US in the Fall of 1969, starting with the Carnegie Hall concert on October 17:

image.png.d6bf28304c624ff08a0443330398462b.png

Edited by drowan
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I really enjoy the bands growth in musical maturity during these early years. Between the sets in 1968 - 1970 the band really evolved into an absolute powerhouse. I don't really care for the early shows at the Fillmore or Winterland but by mid and especially late 1969 I'm ALL IN! 

I really can't understand why and how a great music paper like Rolling Stone could get it SO wrong. I mean just listen to any of these shows between the first two LP's (and LP's themselves). Was  there just way too much hype at the beginning resulting in a lot of haters?

What they were doing was entirely different than any other band out there at the time. Shame RS would continue to get it wrong for nearly their entire career.  

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In the December 27, 1969 issue of Cash Box, the magazine published a list of the top artists of 1969.  The article interestingly, focused more on Jimmy Page's roots and background as a musician formerly with the Yardbirds, than the unique and powerful sound of Zeppelin and the manner in which the band captured the interest of rock music fans across the US and in Europe.

 

Cash Box Year End 1969.JPG

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Here's a fascinating 1969 music video "collage" of Led Zeppelin called Travelling Reverside Blues that includes video clips of the band during its travels across the US (including a few shots of NYC) during that transformational year:

https://archive.org/details/LED_ZEPPELIN_Travelling_Reverside_Blues_1969

This helps put the October 1969 Carnegie Hall concert into a visual and spritiual context!

 

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Here's a quality, no-hype video recording of Zeppelin done by Danmark Radio broadcasting from 1969 to give you a little sense of the music presentation at Carnegie Hall (minus the intense frenzy of the crowd and the high impact setting of Carnegie's famous hall):

 

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8 hours ago, anniemouse said:

Did they ever give interviews to Rolling Stone?. Was the luke warm feelings personal by the magazine (RS) I have never understood the reason myself.

As noted by Tom Hawking in the November 12, 2012 issue of Flavorwire, after John Mendelsohn's highly critical if not brutal review of Led Zeppelin's first album, he basically refused to talk to the magazine's writers for the next decade:

image.png.661f2ff774195e6b546a15b228e26faa.png

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