BATH FESTIVAL 1970 16mm Footage

[duckman]

Holy grail indeed...what an unexpected treat. The footage shot during dusk, is under exposed and the reason why Zep discarded it from the original project. A pity, since the backstage and first part of the set is simply breathtaking. Crisp, lots of detail and audience reaction shots. The birds eye view is extremely exciting

I love the different approach of the cameramen. One of them seems a bit 'under influence' and starts experimenting with time lapse, slow motion and zoom effects.... yeah groovy, baby🤩 

and a big thank you to Sam for sharing 

[Klape]

Such a great surprise ! The 16mm quality is quite amazing, the camera work is great. Hopefully some high quality sound will come out as well, but I'm really happy with that already !

[Wolfman]

Why is there no sound?

[duckman]

2 hours ago, Wolfman said:

Why is there no sound?

As one of the previous posters noticed,  obviously a reel to reel Nagra deck was also running. The visual evidence  is the  clapper board in the backstage footage essential to sync the audio during editing . 

[Cookie0024]

Just published an article on the background of the footage on LedZepNews. Some news in here about potential remaining footage, how it made its way to YouTube and some upcoming interview footage with Peter Whitehead https://ledzepnews.com/2022/09/30/heres-the-full-story-behind-the-footage-of-led-zeppelin-at-bath-festival-1970/

[Wolfman]

24 minutes ago, duckman said:

As one of the previous posters noticed,  obviously a reel to reel Nagra deck was also running. The visual evidence  is the  clapper board in the backstage footage essential to sync the audio during editing . 

Does this mean at some point they could sync it all together? I would pay top dollar to see this with sound.

[Strider]

4 hours ago, Wolfman said:

Why is there no sound?

 

1 hour ago, Wolfman said:

Does this mean at some point they could sync it all together? I would pay top dollar to see this with sound.

This Bath Festival footage was filmed just like Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace concerts, and countless other concerts of that era. The 16mm cameras were silent, recording film only, while sound was recorded separately. Later, the sound was supposed to be synced with the film but for various reasons Peter Whitehead's planned Bath Festival film was shelved. Fortunately, they used clappers or else the sync job would be arduous. To see what it is like to sync audio to film with no clappers used, read up on the making of Aretha Franklin's "Amazing Grace" film and why it took so long to be completed because director Sydney Pollack fucked up not using clappers.

[Michael Fry]

Audio synced footage from a different YT channel as original was removed.

 

[sixpense]

Excellent video quality. The first track they come out and do is Immigrant Song. (Just recently written)

[reids]

Thanks @sam_webmaster

R😎🎸👍🎶

[Brigante]

Talk about 'sits back in amazement'. All this time, I never even suspected that the footage would be anything like that quality. Amazing that something this genuinely great can surface so many years on. 

[gcczep]

Beautiful. Minor nit but the hell with the time focused on the shoes?

[GeorgeC]

One thing I would add to the news of this footage being released over fifty years later is this. 

The musical acts from this period made most of their revenue by playing live.  It was a straightforward deal:  perform a gig at a specified venue for a set fee, and maybe a percentage of the gate.  This certainly worked for Zeppelin from 1968-1973, when they were almost constantly touring.  Income from record sales, even for successful (and now classic) albums, took longer to filter down from the record companies to the artists, and potential revenue from films was even slower to be realized, especially after the costs of production and distribution were factored in.  This is why Peter Grant called TSRTS "the world's most expensive home movie," or words to that effect. 

In other words, filmed performances of a concert are great for fans to see decades later, but the filming process didn't seem to matter much to the acts themselves, and often the original footage goes missing or is the subject of long copyright / ownership battles.  Shit, you can barely find clips of the Beatles' 1965 performance at Shea Stadium online, and it was only recently that Netflix has put up CCR's 1970 Albert Hall show.  If the film itself is a landmark work that captures a historic moment (like D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back or the Maysles Brothers' Gimme Shelter), it might have been released when the musicians were still active.  But from what I've seen, this raw Bath film is just haphazard coverage of an English rock festival that the band, management, and the filmmakers themselves seemed to have forgotten shortly after it was shot.

It's definitely cool to see some rare live Zeppelin from this period and it will be even cooler once a proper soundtrack is synched up.  On the other hand, I can understand how completing and exhibiting this or any film was not a priority for the band back when they were regularly playing and recording.  To me, the Holy Grail of Led Zeppelin material is in the music we already have.

 

 

  

[elKZacha]

Watching how they looked and moved during this period compared to ‘77 and even ‘73 is just crazy. A band with so many phases in both their aesthetic and attitude.

An incredible piece of history!

[SteveZ98]

45 minutes ago, GeorgeC said:

The musical acts from this period made most of their revenue by playing live.  It was a straightforward deal:  perform a gig at a specified venue for a set fee, and maybe a percentage of the gate.  This certainly worked for Zeppelin from 1968-1973, when they were almost constantly touring.  Income from record sales, even for successful (and now classic) albums, took longer to filter down from the record companies to the artists, and potential revenue from films was even slower to be realized, especially after the costs of production and distribution were factored in.  This is why Peter Grant called TSRTS "the world's most expensive home movie," or words to that effect. "  

The band recorded themselves numerous times (or allowed themselves to be recorded, in the case of 1969), both in audio and video formats. I'm not sure what the hopes were for most of the videos (e.g. what was the plan at the time for the Earls Court videos because the release of TSRTS was on the horizon and there wasn't a home video market like we know it today), but the audio recordings seem like explicit attempts to make live albums. Unfortunately, few of the recordings came out as well as the band hoped so they weren't released, or we only got bits and pieces, which makes it seem like they never really tried when they did, repeatedly. Off the top of my head, here's the stuff that's public knowledge. If the Japan '71 shows resulted in an official live album and the Earls Court shows were released as an audio/video boxset, I believe our view of Zep's officially recorded live legacy would be much more generous.

1969 - Numerous BBC sessions, Danish TV, SuperShow, Dallas Pop

1970 - Royal Albert Hall, Bath

1971 - Japan shows

1972 - HTWWW

1973 - Southampton, NYC

1975 - Earls Court

1977 -

1979 - Knebworth

1980 -

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by SteveZ98

[chillumpuffer]

6 hours ago, SteveZ98 said:

1970 - Royal Albert Hall, Bath

 

 

You can add Reykjavik 1970 to the list. From what I recall, it was part of the filming which started with The Albert Hall in January and continued with Bath.

That little snippet on the official DVD is one if the highlights of the set and really don't understand where the rest of that is?

As far as Bath is concerned, as the band allowed the filming, for anything officially to be released, then there must be a multi-track recording to accompany the (poorly) filmed show, one would think?

[sam_webmaster]

Archive footage of director on filming Led Zeppelin at Bath

[Posted on: Tuesday 04 October 2022 / De Montfort University] 

When it comes to rock icons there’s perhaps no bigger band than Led Zeppelin, who changed the face of music and became one of the biggest-selling bands of all time.

Last week, footage recorded in 1970 of Led Zeppelin playing at the Bath Blues Festival emerged on YouTube. It was filmed by counter culture filmmaker Peter Whitehead, whose archive is held at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) by the Cinema and Television History Institute.   

Whitehead – who also shot the 1965 Rolling Stones film Charlie is My Darling – talks about his experiences filming with the band in conversation with DMU researcher Dr Alissa Clarke.

The Led Zeppelin footage had long been thought lost to time until in 2017, DMU’s Professor Steve Chibnall revealed that while cataloguing the Whitehead archive, he had come across film reels of the footage.

The new Led Zeppelin film has been uploaded by Kinolibrary YouTube Channel without sound.

Prof Chibnall said: “This is most of the Peter Whitehead footage, although missing the rushes shot after sunset (perhaps 5 minutes), and I believe there were some shots of Page using a bow on his guitar strings.

“It is in Whitehead’s style and the same clapper-board is used. Great that it has finally surfaced. I’m sure the sound is out there somewhere.”

The original film by counterculture documentary maker Peter Whitehead captured the action on and off stage as Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham performed at the Bath Festival in 1970. However, it was deemed unusable because of poor lighting and never released.  

It had been thought no film footage survived from the Bath concert. Whitehead donated his archive to CATH in 2016 which includes unseen film, diaries, journals, cuttings and all kinds of material covering his output and it was there that the cans containing the Led Zep footage were found.

 

https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2022/october/archive-footage-as-led-zeppelin.aspx

 

[Strider]

1 hour ago, sam_webmaster said:

Archive footage of director on filming Led Zeppelin at Bath

[Posted on: Tuesday 04 October 2022 / De Montfort University] 

When it comes to rock icons there’s perhaps no bigger band than Led Zeppelin, who changed the face of music and became one of the biggest-selling bands of all time.

You could append that sentence with "who also had the worst luck when it came to filming gigs."

Thanks, Sam, for the article.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Strider

[chillumpuffer]

9 hours ago, sam_webmaster said:

Archive footage of director on filming Led Zeppelin at Bath

[Posted on: Tuesday 04 October 2022 / De Montfort University] 

When it comes to rock icons there’s perhaps no bigger band than Led Zeppelin, who changed the face of music and became one of the biggest-selling bands of all time.

Last week, footage recorded in 1970 of Led Zeppelin playing at the Bath Blues Festival emerged on YouTube. It was filmed by counter culture filmmaker Peter Whitehead, whose archive is held at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) by the Cinema and Television History Institute.   

Whitehead – who also shot the 1965 Rolling Stones film Charlie is My Darling – talks about his experiences filming with the band in conversation with DMU researcher Dr Alissa Clarke.

I’m sure the sound is out there somewhere.”

 

I bet there is. Page must surely have it.

[reids]

13 hours ago, sam_webmaster said:

Archive footage of director on filming Led Zeppelin at Bath

[Posted on: Tuesday 04 October 2022 / De Montfort University] 

When it comes to rock icons there’s perhaps no bigger band than Led Zeppelin, who changed the face of music and became one of the biggest-selling bands of all time.

Last week, footage recorded in 1970 of Led Zeppelin playing at the Bath Blues Festival emerged on YouTube. It was filmed by counter culture filmmaker Peter Whitehead, whose archive is held at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) by the Cinema and Television History Institute.   

Whitehead – who also shot the 1965 Rolling Stones film Charlie is My Darling – talks about his experiences filming with the band in conversation with DMU researcher Dr Alissa Clarke.

The Led Zeppelin footage had long been thought lost to time until in 2017, DMU’s Professor Steve Chibnall revealed that while cataloguing the Whitehead archive, he had come across film reels of the footage.

The new Led Zeppelin film has been uploaded by Kinolibrary YouTube Channel without sound.

Prof Chibnall said: “This is most of the Peter Whitehead footage, although missing the rushes shot after sunset (perhaps 5 minutes), and I believe there were some shots of Page using a bow on his guitar strings.

“It is in Whitehead’s style and the same clapper-board is used. Great that it has finally surfaced. I’m sure the sound is out there somewhere.”

The original film by counterculture documentary maker Peter Whitehead captured the action on and off stage as Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham performed at the Bath Festival in 1970. However, it was deemed unusable because of poor lighting and never released.  

It had been thought no film footage survived from the Bath concert. Whitehead donated his archive to CATH in 2016 which includes unseen film, diaries, journals, cuttings and all kinds of material covering his output and it was there that the cans containing the Led Zep footage were found.

 

https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2022/october/archive-footage-as-led-zeppelin.aspx

 

Thanks, Sam 😎🎸👍🎶

R😎

[MarcosMJJ]

On 10/3/2022 at 9:06 PM, SteveZ98 said:

The band recorded themselves numerous times (or allowed themselves to be recorded, in the case of 1969), both in audio and video formats. I'm not sure what the hopes were for most of the videos (e.g. what was the plan at the time for the Earls Court videos because the release of TSRTS was on the horizon and there wasn't a home video market like we know it today), but the audio recordings seem like explicit attempts to make live albums. Unfortunately, few of the recordings came out as well as the band hoped so they weren't released, or we only got bits and pieces, which makes it seem like they never really tried when they did, repeatedly. Off the top of my head, here's the stuff that's public knowledge. If the Japan '71 shows resulted in an official live album and the Earls Court shows were released as an audio/video boxset, I believe our view of Zep's officially recorded live legacy would be much more generous.

1969 - Numerous BBC sessions, Danish TV, SuperShow, Dallas Pop

1970 - Royal Albert Hall, Bath

1971 - Japan shows

1972 - HTWWW

1973 - Southampton, NYC

1975 - Earls Court

1977 -

1979 - Knebworth

1980 -

 

I'm pretty sure they have some stuff from Pittsburgh and Baltimore 73, not just audience footage, but concert footage as well.

About Earls Court 75, if memory serves me, only the last 3 nights were recorded and many songs had problems with sound, the beginning of one of these nights Bonham had problems with the drums too. I believe that if they release Earls Court officially, it will be a compilation.
About the 77 concert, they also have it, but they don't have the audio. Jimmy page could not find

My biggest curiosity is to know, which concerts were recorded in multitracks of all the years.

[woz70]

29 minutes ago, MarcosMJJ said:

My biggest curiosity is to know, which concerts were recorded in multitracks of all the years.

 

[MarcosMJJ]

4 hours ago, woz70 said:

 

Thank you

[The Only Way To Fly]

On 10/1/2022 at 6:40 AM, gcczep said:

Beautiful. Minor nit but the hell with the time focused on the shoes?

Same! Was thinking the guy with the camera was going for the same shot like Janis at Monterey Pop just a couple years prior. 

 

[custard pie man]

thanks Sam, cool stuff, funny how  people then recorded shoes and pants and that  stuff, was wondering if  there is any footage that shows Grant and  entourage actually removing the previous  group persons and or equipment to get Zepp on stage coinciding with beautiful sunset as I remember a story years ago claiming this indeed happened?