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OT: 55years ago today Jimmy Page's New Yardbirds go live

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On October the 18th 1968, Jimmy Page's new band, featuring Robert Plant (vocals), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards) and John Bonham (drums), debuted at the Marquee club under the name of the New Yardbirds. A review in the Melody Maker published on December the 21st mentioned also that the band was too loud. Two weeks after this show the band started their first American tour under the legendary name of Led Zeppelin, which was supposedly suggested by the Who's drummer Keith Moon. On the 10th of December 1968, Led Zeppelin performed their first gig at the Marquee club under that name. The band was announced on the papers with the old name the New Yardbirds in smaller letters to let the audience know about the identity of the new supergroup.

Let's hear it for the old geezers!
 
The Yardbirds were one of those groups who had a constantly changing line-up of great musicians. Eric Clapton was there near the start and left early. By 1968, some future Zep members had to fulfill the Yardbirds' performance contract despite the fact the group wanted to be something else. So they performed as the "New Yardbirds."

The Who drummer Keith Moon watched them perform and was asked his opinion of the group. He then told them something like, "You will go over like a lead zeppelin." And the rest is history.
 
The Yardbirds were one of those groups who had a constantly changing line-up of great musicians. Eric Clapton was there near the start and left early. By 1968, some future Zep members had to fulfill the Yardbirds' performance contract despite the fact the group wanted to be something else. So they performed as the "New Yardbirds."

The Who drummer Keith Moon watched them perform and was asked his opinion of the group. He then told them something like, "You will go over like a lead zeppelin." And the rest is history.

Clapton, Beck and Page. Pretty good line of guitarists for The Yardbirds
 
The Yardbirds were one of those groups who had a constantly changing line-up of great musicians. Eric Clapton was there near the start and left early. By 1968, some future Zep members had to fulfill the Yardbirds' performance contract despite the fact the group wanted to be something else. So they performed as the "New Yardbirds."

The Who drummer Keith Moon watched them perform and was asked his opinion of the group. He then told them something like, "You will go over like a lead zeppelin." And the rest is history.
Story has a few twists to it, but supposedly Moon did claim they would go over like a lead balloon, and Page wanted to name the band the Led Balloons, but manager Peter Grant wisely convinced them to go with Zeppelin instead. Note they went with Led instead of Lead because they thought Americans would mispronounce it as 'lēd'.
 
Story has a few twists to it, but supposedly Moon did claim they would go over like a lead balloon, and Page wanted to name the band the Led Balloons, but manager Peter Grant wisely convinced them to go with Zeppelin instead. Note they went with Led instead of Lead because they thought Americans would mispronounce it as 'lēd'.
Yep, kind of like that scene in That Thing You Do, when the Tom Hanks manager character says to change the band's name from the Oneders to the Wonders, since the former could've easily been mispronounced o-need-ers.
 
always loved this.. holds up today

That’s the tune that sent Eric Clapton quickly exiting The Yardbirds. He considered it a mainstream pop tune and that meant the end for him. The Yardbirds suddenly had this radio hit and they didn’t have a guitar player. That’s when Clapton hooked up with John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers.
 
That’s the tune that sent Eric Clapton quickly exiting The Yardbirds. He considered it a mainstream pop tune and that meant the end for him. The Yardbirds suddenly had this radio hit and they didn’t have a guitar player. That’s when Clapton hooked up with John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers.
Interesting
 
Fleetwood Mac did a credible version of "For Your Love" pre-Nicks and Buckingham. Bob Welch lead singer, Christine McVie back up singer back in 1973:

 
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That’s the tune that sent Eric Clapton quickly exiting The Yardbirds. He considered it a mainstream pop tune and that meant the end for him. The Yardbirds suddenly had this radio hit and they didn’t have a guitar player. That’s when Clapton hooked up with John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers.
Clapton first recommended that Jimmy Page replace him but Page, a successful studio/session guitarist at that time, declined. Page later joined as the bassist for The Yardbirds, and then replaced Jeff Beck on lead guitar when Beck left the band.
 
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Ohio State Marching Band pays tribute to Led Zeppelin during halftime show​


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Plant sings Stairway at recent charity event. Seems like yesterday he was a viking god from the land of the ice and snow...time waits for no one some other prominent English singer said.

Robert Plant performed ‘Stairway To Heaven’ solo for the first time​

Robert Plant performed “Stairway To Heaven” at a charity concert in the UK on October 21, the first time he has performed the song solo and the first time he performed the song since the Led Zeppelin reunion performance on December 10, 2007.

Plant performed as part of a one-off band set up for The Concert Platform, a cancer awareness fundraising event set up by Duran Duran member Andy Taylor.

The band performed at Soho Farmhouse in the UK, and a clip of the performance posted to Instagram shows Plant singing “Stairway To Heaven”:

 
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Mr Jimmy Page makes a recent live appearance too...I don't see Zep ever touring again, but maybe something brewing for JP's 80th bday (😲) coming up in January?

Led Zeppelin cofounder Jimmy Page delivered a rare performance on Friday as he inducted guitar pioneer Link Wray into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and led the band through a rousing rendition of “Rumble".
 
C'mon who was a better RnR singer than Plant in his prime, before he blew his voice out and had vocal chord surgery.
 
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Marijuana is legal now, you're going to do an edible and then rock out to Justin Beiber or Taylor Swift? Is that even possible? It would ruin my buzz. Pink Floyd was my favorite after a puff, but many times we would watch the Led Zeppelin concert at MSG live, a masterpiece.
 
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Marijuana is legal now, you're going to do an edible and then rock out to Justin Beiber or Taylor Swift? Is that even possible? It would ruin my buzz. Pink Floyd was my favorite after a puff, but many times we would watch the Led Zeppelin concert at MSG live, a masterpiece.
Remember seeing Song Remains the Same at the movies, the theater smelled like a huge bong party. I was never into weed but definitely got a crazy contact high lol. Loved the movie but I was afraid to ever see it again at a theater, pot made me dizzy, hated it. Thankfully we have YouTube today.
 
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I never saw LZ live but I remember reading bad reviews from MSG shows. I recall they weren't a lock for delivering live.
 
I never saw LZ live but I remember reading bad reviews from MSG shows. I recall they weren't a lock for delivering live.
Idk about that one...Zep always sold-out and scored record concert numbers in the '70s before Bonham's death and the band break-up. The remaining LZ old geezers with Bonham's son on drums brought down the house at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert aka Celebration Day concert in '07. I saw Page/Plant @ MSG in the '90s and they and the band were terrific. I will say I'm not a fan of how they sometimes improvised in the middle of a song like they did with Whole Lotta Love in the Song Remains the Same. Some classics just deserve their due! Plant wasn't good at Live Aid trying to hit the high energy notes for Rock and Roll, they sounded better with Whole Lotta Love and they absolutely aced Stairway. (Plant blamed his hoarseness on doing too many gigs right before Live Aid.)
 
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Back in the day, I was always partial to the ABB as a live band. I loved many of the UK bands including Led Zep but I had an affinity for some of the American bands, I thought there was an authenticity that the UK bands lacked. After all, they were playing American blues and folk music:
 
Back in the day, I was always partial to the ABB as a live band. I loved many of the UK bands including Led Zep but I had an affinity for some of the American bands, I thought there was an authenticity that the UK bands lacked. After all, they were playing American blues and folk music:
Butch Trucks told me, before Dwayne died no band in the world could make music like they did.
 
Butch Trucks told me, before Dwayne died no band in the world could make music like they did.
Sounds like Butch. He was a very good drummer and an interesting guy. As he got older, he did not lack for bluster and bombast. The original band was great but I’ve heard live performances of theirs that were middling. It’s not always going to go great, especially when their substance abuses got amped up. Duane was a great player but had down nights. So did Hendrix, Clapton, Page and just about every other musician.
 
Sounds like Butch. He was a very good drummer and an interesting guy. As he got older, he did not lack for bluster and bombast. The original band was great but I’ve heard live performances of theirs that were middling. It’s not always going to go great, especially when their substance abuses got amped up. Duane was a great player but had down nights. So did Hendrix, Clapton, Page and just about every other musician.

The one thing they did have was a great live album, one of the best out there.
 
Sounds like Butch. He was a very good drummer and an interesting guy. As he got older, he did not lack for bluster and bombast. The original band was great but I’ve heard live performances of theirs that were middling. It’s not always going to go great, especially when their substance abuses got amped up. Duane was a great player but had down nights. So did Hendrix, Clapton, Page and just about every other musician.
This is a good topic, bands you grew up with, loved and helped shaped your youth.
But you had a horrible experience with at a live performance (an off day)
The Doors were electric when on or so bad based on Jim’s mood you had to walk out.

One of my favs Lynyrd Skynyrd in St. Pete Fl during Mets spring training 1975, was so bad my brothers and I had to leave.

My wife recently saw Blues Traveler at the Wellmont in Montclair…. Horrific

Best all time concert for me where I was stunned in awe at the talent and sound…. The Band.
 
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This is a good topic, bands you grew up with, loved and helped shaped your youth.
But you had a horrible experience with at a live performance (an off day)
The Doors were electric when on or so bad based on Jim’s mood you had to walk out.

One of my favs Lynyrd Skynyrd in St. Pete Fl during Mets spring training 1975, was so bad my brothers and I had to leave.

My wife recently saw Blues Traveler at the Wellmont in Montclair…. Horrific

Best all time concert for me where I was stunned in awe at the talent and sound…. The Band.
It’s funny, music is very important to me but yet I’ve probably been to only around 100 concerts in my life. I know people that have seen Springsteen over 100 times. I’ve been pretty fortunate , most concerts I’ve been to have been good to very good. There were a few bad ones. Back in the mid 70s I saw Dickey Betts with his band Great Southern at The Capital Theater in Passaic. At the time, Betts was one of my favorite musicians (this was during the Allman’s first breakup in 1976). He played about 1 song and stormed off stage. I didn’t realize at the time that he had an alcohol problem and was obviously impaired and didn’t want to play. I also saw The Grateful Dead at the Spectrum in ‘78 I believe. That was a long night. A number of meandering jams (and I like jams) that didn’t go anywhere. I saw both of those groups later and they were very good. Some of the best live performances I’ve seen were Steely Dan, Elton John, Santana, Springsteen, The Who, The Allman Bros, Eric Clapton, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Hall & Oats, Robert Randolph, The Doobie Brothers, The Black Keys among others.
 
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