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This is an interesting series of articles on John Bonham, this is a reprint of an article published in the June 2003 issue of Rhythm & Drum Magazine, Rhythm & Drum Magazine is no longer in publication – sadly the world lost another drum magazine. We have translated it to the best of our ability, but it’s still great reading and validation that the impact of John Bonham was global.
We will be posting each part weekly over the next four weeks. You can follow the link below if you would like to read them all at once.
PART 04:
2022.10.02 UP John Bonham [Led Zeppelin] Perfect Biography Vol.04 By: Satoshi Kishida
More than 40 years after his death, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham continues to influence performers around the world. In order to hand down his achievements, a reprint project of “Perfect Biography” published in the June/July 2003 issue started on the anniversary of his death (September 25). Vol.04 focuses on the beginning of the turbulent decade!
Endless Battle ~The Beginning of a Turbulent 10 Years~
January 9, 1970 The successful performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London coincided with the time when the album “II” reached number one on both the UK and US charts at the same time, greatly boosting Zeppelin’s popularity and reputation. became. But it also marked the beginning of the 70s, a decade of mixed glory and shadowy misfortune. Let’s follow John Bonham and Zeppelin for the rest of the decade.
In 1970, after the European tour in February and March, they immediately flew to North America, and an American tour was organized in March and April. They have already been touring and recording without a break for a year and a half since September 1968 when they started their activities. Fatigue definitely accumulated, and just before the European tour, the plant was involved in a car accident, and during the tour, he fainted while playing in Arizona in April, and the next day’s Las Vegas performance was canceled without a voice. The purpose of the American tour in 1970 was to further expand the number of fans, and the concert venues became stadium classes with more than 10,000 people across the board, but this led to the result that confused Zeppelin himself. Their performance drove tens of thousands of fans into a frenzy at the same time, and the local police guarding the venue took it as a possible riot. Bonham’s “Moby Dick” was already an epic solo, with bare hands and gongs whetting the crowd. The March concert in Pittsburgh was canceled due to trouble between the audience and the police.
After finishing the tour for the time being, they produced their third album in the quiet environment of South Snowdonia, Wales, probably partly because they wanted to get away from the frenzy of the tour and heal their fatigue. As you can hear, the content shows a new direction that makes you feel the influence of British Trad. After recording, they went on tour again. After performing at the Bath Festival in England in June (a large-scale event on par with the Isle of Wight Festival) and touring Germany, the 6th US tour will be held from August to September. The September 4th Los Angeles live at Inglewood Forum was sold as a pirated version of “Live on Blueberry Hill” in some record stores a few weeks later, but it is still considered a legendary live performance of this period. Famous. Bonham started using the Green Sparkle set around this time.
In 1971, he returned to South Snowdonia and started recording in Headley Grange, Hampshire, in order to spend January and February working on his fourth album. It was their monumental work that made their lives together. The UK tour that followed in March was dubbed the ‘Back to the Club’ tour, playing in smaller clubs to regain direct contact with the audience. However, on the European tour that followed, the trouble between the enthusiastic audience and the security staff, which had been a problem before, created a real tragedy. On June 5th, when they were closing the festival in Milan, they took the stage, and after Bonham finished “Moby Dick”, security officers suddenly stepped into the audience with batons and aimed at the audience. They fired tear gas. Many fans were injured, spectators stormed the stage in a mob, and equipment was stolen and destroyed. The four stopped playing and fled to the dressing room. This incident is said to have been called the worst event in Zeppelin’s entire career and left a deep scar in the hearts of the members. Witnessing the violent intervention of police powers into music-enjoying audiences, Plant later quipped about the meaning of their performance. But it may have been Bonham who suffered the deepest wounds. After this, he often told people around him that he was afraid to go on stage before live performances. But it was the live shows and the fans that brought the band back to its roots. During the 7th US tour in August-September, enthusiastic fans threw firecrackers and bottles, and security guards held them down with force. The stage ended with applause.
Bonham came to Japan twice, in 1971 and 1972. Their first visit to Japan in 1971 was on September 23rd and 24th at Nippon Budokan, September 27th at Hiroshima Municipal Gymnasium, and September 28th and 29th at Osaka Festival Hall. Compared to European and American fans who are on the verge of mobbing, Japanese fans seem to have been able to concentrate on their performances without worrying about going crazy and falling into chaos. In 1971, it turned out to be a good result. “Chest full love” is usually played in a medley format with various pieces (standards, etc.) inserted in the middle, but on the first day in Tokyo it swelled to almost the longest performance, and every day since then it has been completely different. A medley was inserted. In Hiroshima and Osaka, “Bewitched” reached nearly 30 minutes including improvisation. The first visit to Japan was generally fulfilling, and the performance was full of energetic and wild individuality, and it seems that it was a good refreshment for the members.
The tour to Japan in 1972 will be held in four cities: October 2nd and 3rd at Nippon Budokan, October 4th at Osaka Festival Hall, October 5th at Nagoya Public Hall, October 9th at Osaka Festival Hall, and October 10th at Kyoto Kaikan. Performance. When he came to Japan in 1971, the performance songs started in the order of “Immigrant Song” and “Heartbreaker”, and this set list was followed until the American tour just before coming to Japan in 1972, but this Japan tour A new set list was tried, beginning with “Rock and Roll”. And after the Japan tour, the song order will be fixed as “Rock’n’Roll”, “Over the Hill” (or “Festival Day”), and “Black Dog”.
Compared to 1971, the performance in 1972 had a calmer atmosphere and lacked the energy of the previous year. The performance time is relatively short, and Bonham’s drum solo song “Moby Dick” was played only in Osaka on the 9th. However, the title of the song has not yet been finalized, and it has been called by various names, such as “Eternal Poetry” (Plant introduces it as “Zep” or “The Campaign”), “Rain Song”, ” New songs such as “Ocean” were performed. Unfortunately, Zeppelin did not come to Japan after that, but Zeppelin, who was a little slow on the Japan tour, went on a large-scale UK tour (October-January 1973) and the 9th American tour (1973). May to July), the tension will be raised at once.
Recorded Moments -New York in 1973-
The 1973 American tour is one of the pinnacle tours in their career. The tour was divided into the first half schedule in May and the second half schedule from July with a month of physical leisure, but 56,800 spectators packed the Tampa Stadium on May 5, mobilizing the Beatles spectators. set a new record to break. The tour also featured visual effects such as laser beams, dry ice, mirror balls and fireworks set to Bonham’s gongs at the end of the show. Bonham’s 25th birthday show at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles on May 31 is the first highlight of the tour. After finishing “Moby Dick”, Plant sang “Happy Birthday, Dear Bonzo~” with the audience.
On the other hand, the late schedule from July was generally sluggish. The cause is that the fans’ firecrackers and fireworks still disturbed the concentration on the performance, and the plant’s throat was not good. With the grueling tour and the ever-increasing playing time and band volume, the strain on Plant’s throat was increasing, and sometimes his voice was completely hoarse from the first song of the concert. However, the final of the late schedule, New York Madison Square Garden for three days, especially the final day, July 29th, was a spectacular performance that showed the band’s underlying strength. Bonham hits a five-minute drum solo at the end of “Moby Dick” as well as “A Lot of Love,” ending with a conjurer with a torch, lighting Bonham’s gongs and drumsticks. , John continued to hit Dora with the drumstick, regardless of the fire spreading. Of course, such a production is effective only when the audience is completely captivated by the phantasmagoric performance that lasts for three hours. Bonham began using Amber’s Vistalite set on this tour.
The three-day pattern was filmed and edited into the live scene of the movie “Led Zeppelin / Madness Live”, and was released in October 1976 as a soundtrack board “Eternal Poetry”. As depicted in the movie, on the same final day, the $180,000 sales proceeds ($203,000 according to newspaper reports) that had been deposited at the hotel where he was staying were stolen. Something unpleasant always happens at the best moment, and it can be said that it is a symbolic event that is the fate of Zeppelin.
Original Post: HERE
