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Posted

Are there any photos of Led Zeppelin's later stage setup that are not concert shots?

For example, there is a clean picture of The Who's stage set up but I can't seem to find something similar for Zeppelin.

 

 

 

stage_zep.jpg

stage_who.jpg

Posted

I'd love to see the miniature stage set-up for the planned October/November 1980 U.S. tour that Dave Lewis was shown by Jimmy Page himself whilst visiting the Swan Song office just a week before Bonzo's fatal bender... was there any photos taken of it, or has anyone ever asked Dave Lewis to draw it from memory?

Apparently they were working with Iggy Knight again (who designed the lighting for the 1973 tour)... would just love to see how the stage set-up would have looked had that tour actually taken place, alas...

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 8/4/2019 at 10:20 AM, The Old Hermit said:

I'd love to see the miniature stage set-up for the planned October/November 1980 U.S. tour that Dave Lewis was shown by Jimmy Page himself whilst visiting the Swan Song office just a week before Bonzo's fatal bender... was there any photos taken of it, or has anyone ever asked Dave Lewis to draw it from memory?

Apparently they were working with Iggy Knight again (who designed the lighting for the 1973 tour)... would just love to see how the stage set-up would have looked had that tour actually taken place, alas...

Be interesting to know if Showco have any formal archives where the drawings for such might be. And did any Swan Song employees take anything as a keepsake when the office was shut in 1983 or thereabouts? Still feel there's (a little )stuff of that nature out there...

Posted

Having seen/HEARD Zeppelin twice, I never noticed a huge bank of amplifiers like I did seeing other bands (Skynyrd, Purple, Aerosmith, Sabbath, Foghat Ramones, etc.) yet Zep's loudness was overwhelming. Where did all this electricity/decibels come from? These pictures don't show an AC/DC wall of Marshall's or even a Grateful Dead PA system.

2nd row Deep Purple @Radio City(Tommy Bolin tour) and Lynyrd Skynyrd, also 2nd row, but @Beacon Theater were the 2 shows as loud. Zeppelin @MSG upper upper deck/nose bleeds still had my ears ringing for 5 days, at least, no exaggeration. Any acoustic experts, or Zeppelin sound system afficianado's out there willing to explain?

Posted (edited)

That wall of back line amps and speakers as per ACDC and many metal bands -is purely for show and are not even on-just standby lights. The real volume comes from one amp per instrument that is then sent via the mixing desk to the out front PA speakers, the ones that are forward of the band -otherwise their hearing would be completely shot within 20 mins. The real volume depends on how powerful this system is and has no relationship to number of “dummy” amps/speakers on stage.

Hope this helps .

Edited by Paganini
Posted
4 hours ago, bishlap said:

so it's all about the "Hall/room's" PA system?

It's all about the PA the band brings with them.

In the Beatles' day (Shea stadium for example), they'd use the 'house' PA, which was generally a piece of shit used for announcements.  But that didn't last long.
After that, for a while anyway, big amps were used, with the vocalist having a PA and the drummer having to bash the shit out of his kit.
Then, finally, everything went through the PA, and that's where we are today.

There are generally two PA's in use at a gig - the front of house that blasts the audience, and the monitoring/foldback/sidefill system that the band get to hear, with their own separate mix.

Nowadays most guitarists will play big gigs with (relatively) small amps or combos (even if they've got a wall of, usually dummy, amps), and rely on their foldback sound so they don't have to stay close to their amp to hear themselves properly.  It also means there are less completely deaf guitarists nowadays!

Posted (edited)
On 8/16/2019 at 12:50 PM, bishlap said:

so it's all about the "Hall/room's" PA system?

No ..it’s about the PA that the band bring with them ..along with the monitoring system on stage. As I said above, the back line is usually just for show and consists of amps on stand by mode only .

Edited by Paganini
Posted
On 8/14/2019 at 10:39 PM, bishlap said:

2nd row Deep Purple @Radio City(Tommy Bolin tour)

Wow- any memories? Was it one of the few US gigs where Tommy & Glenn were ok an played fine?

Jimmy Page & Tommy Bolin always have been my favourite guitarists.

Posted
16 hours ago, Autumn Moon said:

Wow- any memories? Was it one of the few US gigs where Tommy & Glenn were ok an played fine?

Jimmy Page & Tommy Bolin always have been my favourite guitarists.

Memories; I was deaf for a week... Tommy was pretty wasted, but got off some good runs when he was able, Glenn Hughes was fine as was the rest of the band - good show, not great, and very Zeppelin-esque in that two great players (Page & Bolin) could make or break a show. Coverdale was strong as always.

Opening act was Nazareth, who were coming off the Love hurts release, they played real well, very well in fact, but maybe 30 minutes, 35 tops.

Traveled to radio city by car in a driving snowstorm, was a great night!! Any night hearing good bands play loud and live is a great night.

Posted
8 hours ago, bishlap said:

Memories; I was deaf for a week... Tommy was pretty wasted, but got off some good runs when he was able, Glenn Hughes was fine as was the rest of the band - good show, not great, and very Zeppelin-esque in that two great players (Page & Bolin) could make or break a show. Coverdale was strong as always.

Opening act was Nazareth, who were coming off the Love hurts release, they played real well, very well in fact, but maybe 30 minutes, 35 tops.

Traveled to radio city by car in a driving snowstorm, was a great night!! Any night hearing good bands play loud and live is a great night.

Thanks for your reply. Did you attend a concert of the Tommy Bolin band in 1976? I know he played in NY in May/June and later in the fall of 1976.

Posted
53 minutes ago, Autumn Moon said:

Thanks for your reply. Did you attend a concert of the Tommy Bolin band in 1976? I know he played in NY in May/June and later in the fall of 1976.

I did not see Bolin other than w/ DP, unfortunately. Friends and I were very particular w/ our Rock tastes and loved Bolin w/ Zephyr and James Gang. Discovered /heard him on late night FM radio out of Briarcliff Manor, upstate NY. I was  in the city, anyway, this station wouldn't play the Bands you heard over and over every fifteen minutes, (Zep, Boston, Grand Funk R.,Stones, etc) and instead were way ahead of the curve w/ bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Nils Lofgren, Montrose, Mahogany Rush and Tommy Bolin. We loved his playing but he hit NY once in 76 I believe and I/we never made it. When he joined Purple and they released, Come Taste The Band, we knew we were gonna see them/him no matter what. So long story short, Loved Bolin's playing, but, never saw him at his best, but saw a damn good show at Radio City. That's my Bolin experience - played well enough, show was good, but we wanted to see him really show his true gift, he did not. Much like the Page heroin years- could be good, could be great, could SUCK!!!

P.S. I remember hearing very little when he died, was something like, Rock guitarist... blah blah, found dead. Then in Creem magazine(maybe) I read the autopsy showed he had a drug store in his system, not surprised. The Guy had it all, Looks, Talent, youth, but that doesn't mean a person is happy.

Peace

RIP Tommy Bolin

Posted
1 hour ago, bishlap said:

I did not see Bolin other than w/ DP, unfortunately. Friends and I were very particular w/ our Rock tastes and loved Bolin w/ Zephyr and James Gang. Discovered /heard him on late night FM radio out of Briarcliff Manor, upstate NY. I was  in the city, anyway, this station wouldn't play the Bands you heard over and over every fifteen minutes, (Zep, Boston, Grand Funk R.,Stones, etc) and instead were way ahead of the curve w/ bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Nils Lofgren, Montrose, Mahogany Rush and Tommy Bolin. We loved his playing but he hit NY once in 76 I believe and I/we never made it. When he joined Purple and they released, Come Taste The Band, we knew we were gonna see them/him no matter what. So long story short, Loved Bolin's playing, but, never saw him at his best, but saw a damn good show at Radio City. That's my Bolin experience - played well enough, show was good, but we wanted to see him really show his true gift, he did not. Much like the Page heroin years- could be good, could be great, could SUCK!!!

P.S. I remember hearing very little when he died, was something like, Rock guitarist... blah blah, found dead. Then in Creem magazine(maybe) I read the autopsy showed he had a drug store in his system, not surprised. The Guy had it all, Looks, Talent, youth, but that doesn't mean a person is happy.

Peace

RIP Tommy Bolin

Fully agree about Bolin, great guitarist, unfairly overlooked.  Tragic that he couldn't keep clean.

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