The Led Zeppelin lands in Vancouver (newspaper article)

[Cat]

The Led Zeppelin lands in Vancouver

6/13/70 The Brandon Gazette, Brandon, Manitoba

by Michael Bennett

Canadian Staff Writer

The news conference to kick

off Led Zeppelin's North

American tour started like

any other—the hors d'oeuvres

were tasty, the coffee lukewarm

and singer Robert

Plant, lead guitarist Jimmy

Paige, drummer John Bonham

and bass guitarist, John

Paul Jones were 20 minutes

late.

But from the moment they

arrived and CBC Vancouver

television crews spotted assorted

reporters and disc

jockeys on the floor for atmosphere,

it was something

else.

For openers, an attractive

girl with a wealth of background

information of the

English rock group mistook

Plant for Paige.

Plant let her finish her

question about their filming

session at Albert Hall in London,

then said:

"It's no good addressing me

as Jimmy. I'm Robert."

Standing up. he yelled,

"Give the lady a hand." while

his embarrassed questioner

blushed as Plant blew kisses

and winked at her.

It wasn't that they needed

media exposure.

Their second album. Led

Zeppelin II. was outselling the

Rolling Stones and the Beatles

and their month-long tour would

gross about $650,000.

The Zeppelin is an electric,

e l e c t r i f y i n g group built

around Plant—who screams in

three octaves—and charged

by the excitement it generates

for the audience.

Plant says he's a product

of English blues of the 1960's.

but "I don't profess to be a

blues singer."

"Blues isn't white or black

or yellow.

"It's a single person's interpretation

of emotion. He could

be singing about his '68 Cadillac

... it could be a lot of

mumbo-jumbo.

"If we have an influence—

'classical or otherwise—it's not

an intentional one.

"The music we give through

an audience . . . it's something

that comes from the

subconsious. With the pace we

work at. we don't have time

lo play favorite pieces."

While Bonham and Jones

tried not to look bored. Paige

and Plant fielded questions

for an hour of the use of

acoustic guitar on stage, the

filming of a concert in Albert

Hall for a possible television

documentary and the difference

between fan reaction in

North America and Europe.

"it's really a matter of the

size of the venues." said

Paige.

"Albert Hall, the biggest in

England, has a 5.000 capacity.

Here we've drawn what . . .

19,000"

"A good audience anywhere

will sit down, critically listen

and get loose." said Plant.

"They don't worry about:

'Oh. Fred next to me isn't

raving. . . . "

"On our last tour, one guy

was on a different plane.

"He insisted on taking off

his clothes and dancing with

me and he kept diving into

John's gong. That's all right

as long as he's not hurting

himself or anyone else"

[MistyMountain67]

reading stuff like this makes me feel like im going back in time

[SteveAJones]

A photo from this press conference appears in the offcial timeline photo gallery.