Knebworth Festival 1979: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→‎History: Add reference
→‎History: Welch quote
Line 25: Line 25:


{{cquote|the largest stage ever constructed, 570 loo seats, 750 feet of [[urinal]]s and the biggest rock band in the world. Led Zeppelin played their last ever concerts at Knebworth, and it was the end of an era for the Knebworth shows. Both concerts overran, noise complaints were received from 7 miles away. The rubbish team struggled to cope with clearing the arena between the shows. The Police believed that 200,000 people had turned up each night, [[Sainsburys]] lost 150 trolleys and [[Tesco]]'s 75% of their stock, and [[Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold|Lord Cobbold]] ended up in Court.<ref name=knebworth>[http://www.knebworthhouse.com/rock/the70s.htm Rock at Knebworth House: The 70s].</ref>}}
{{cquote|the largest stage ever constructed, 570 loo seats, 750 feet of [[urinal]]s and the biggest rock band in the world. Led Zeppelin played their last ever concerts at Knebworth, and it was the end of an era for the Knebworth shows. Both concerts overran, noise complaints were received from 7 miles away. The rubbish team struggled to cope with clearing the arena between the shows. The Police believed that 200,000 people had turned up each night, [[Sainsburys]] lost 150 trolleys and [[Tesco]]'s 75% of their stock, and [[Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold|Lord Cobbold]] ended up in Court.<ref name=knebworth>[http://www.knebworthhouse.com/rock/the70s.htm Rock at Knebworth House: The 70s].</ref>}}

[[Music journalist]] [[Chris Welch]] has written about these concerts:

{{cquote|The crowd included a whole new generation who had never seen Led Zeppelin in their prime, and a group of teenagers from [[Sheffield]] who would one day achieve success as [[Def Leppard]].<ref name = "Welch" />}}


These were the final shows Led Zeppelin performed in the [[United Kingdom]] until 2007.
These were the final shows Led Zeppelin performed in the [[United Kingdom]] until 2007.

Revision as of 03:52, 21 December 2008

Knebworth 1979
Concert by Led Zeppelin
Start date4 August 1979
End date11 August 1979
Legs1
No. of shows2
Led Zeppelin concert chronology

The Knebworth Festival 1979 were two concerts performed by the English rock band Led Zeppelin and other artists at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, England, in August 1979.

History

The grounds of Knebworth House near the village of Knebworth had been a major venue for open air rock and pop concerts since 1974. In 1979, veteran promoter Freddy Bannister booked Led Zeppelin to play that year's concerts, which took place on 4 August[1] and 11 August[2]. The band had not performed live for two years since the death of Robert Plant's son during the band's 1977 North American tour, and they had not performed in the United Kingdom for four years.

In late July, two low-key warm-up shows were performed at the Falkoner Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, in the lead-up to the concerts.[3]

Also performing at the Knebworth concerts in 1979 were The New Barbarians (featuring Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards), Todd Rundgren and Utopia, Southside Johnny, Marshall Tucker, Commander Cody, Chas & Dave and Fairport Convention.

According to the official website of Knebworth House, the 1979 Knebworth Festival involved

the largest stage ever constructed, 570 loo seats, 750 feet of urinals and the biggest rock band in the world. Led Zeppelin played their last ever concerts at Knebworth, and it was the end of an era for the Knebworth shows. Both concerts overran, noise complaints were received from 7 miles away. The rubbish team struggled to cope with clearing the arena between the shows. The Police believed that 200,000 people had turned up each night, Sainsburys lost 150 trolleys and Tesco's 75% of their stock, and Lord Cobbold ended up in Court.[4]

Music journalist Chris Welch has written about these concerts:

The crowd included a whole new generation who had never seen Led Zeppelin in their prime, and a group of teenagers from Sheffield who would one day achieve success as Def Leppard.[3]

These were the final shows Led Zeppelin performed in the United Kingdom until 2007.

Critical reaction

File:Knebworth79.JPG
Promotional photograph of Led Zeppelin on the fields at Knebworth, prior to their performances

The concerts received decidedly mixed reviews, with journalists from major music publications such as New Musical Express, Sounds and Rolling Stone criticizing Led Zeppelin's performances as being sluggish and rusty. With such a long layoff since their last performances in Britain, and in the wake of the punk rock revolution, Led Zeppelin were now considered to be obsolete in some quarters.[3]

These reviews prompted the ire of Robert Plant, who made sarcastic reference to them on-stage during the 11 August show. However, Plant himself later expressed reservations about the concerts:

Knebworth was useless. It was no good at all. It was no good because we weren't ready to do it, the whole thing was a management decision. It felt like I was cheating myself because I wasn't as relaxed as I could have been. There was so much expectation there and the least we could have done was to have been confident enough to kill. We maimed the beast for life, but we didn't kill it. It was good, but only because everybody made it good. There was that sense of event.[5]

Audio and video recordings

The concerts were officially recorded and filmed, and live images were beamed directly onto a giant screen behind the stage for the benefit of the audiences. For many years, bootleg copies of this audio and video material circulated amongst fans, but Led Zeppelin never officially released any of the recordings until 2003, when parts of the footage were digitally remastered and included on the Led Zeppelin DVD.

Set list

  1. "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant)
  2. "Celebration Day" (Jones, Page, Plant)
  3. "Black Dog" (Jones, Page, Plant)
  4. "Nobody's Fault but Mine" (Page, Plant)
  5. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant)
  6. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Jones, Page, Plant)
  7. "Since I've Been Loving You" (Jones, Page, Plant)
  8. "No Quarter" (Jones, Page, Plant,)
  9. "Ten Years Gone" (Page, Plant)*
  10. "Hot Dog" (Page, Plant)
  11. "The Rain Song" (Page, Plant)
  12. "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side" (Page)
  13. "Kashmir" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
  14. "Trampled Under Foot" (Jones Page, Plant)
  15. "Sick Again" (Page, Plant)
  16. "Achilles Last Stand" (Page, Plant)
  17. "Page Solo" (Page)
  18. "In the Evening" (Jones, Page, Plant)
  19. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant)
  20. "Rock and Roll" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant)
  21. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant)
  22. "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant)*
  23. "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page)**

* Only performed on 4 August. ** Only performed on 11 August

References

  1. ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary
  2. ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary
  3. ^ a b c Chris Welch (1994) Led Zeppelin, London: Orion Books. ISBN 0-85797-930-3, p. 87. Cite error: The named reference "Welch" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ Rock at Knebworth House: The 70s.
  5. ^ Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett, (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press, p. 133.

Sources

  • Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Knebworth_Festival_1979&oldid=259283906"