Footage has emerged from one of Led Zeppelin’s most famous concerts. Their performance at the LA Forum took place during their summer 1970 North American Tour. It led to the release of the Live on Blueberry Hill LP which is widely credited as one of the first rock bootlegs. The bootleg was released on the Blimp label and the album sold so many copies that many fans thought it was a legal release. These recordings have now been paired with fan-shot footage which has sat in a draw for almost 50 years.
Eddie Vincent attended the 1970 concert and snuck a Kodak Brownie 8mm camera into the arena. “I had really great seats,” he told Classic Rock. “They were right behind the band. I had seats in the front row, right behind John Bonham’s kit. The only problem was that you couldn’t really see John because the gong was there, but he came around and chatted to us while they were doing the acoustic set.” He hid the camera under his jacket, and in the introduction to the now uploaded footage he says: “There weren’t any problems at the door back in those days.”
The camera was a wind-up that could only capture up to 30 seconds at a time but it has given fans previously unseen footage of the band performing ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, ‘Thank You’, ‘What Is And What Should Never Be’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’, ‘Some Other Guy’ and ‘Lemon Song’.
Vincent’s footage remained hidden away for 50 years before he contacted collector John Waters. Waters said: “The music needs to be out there. I know a lot of collectors and traders that don’t give their stuff away, and that’s a shame to me. Music’s to be shared, and today you need it to get away from the crazy world. And if this film brings a lot of people happiness, hey, we did a good job.” He oversaw the restoration process and another fan was able to match the footage to the audio from the Live on Blueberry Hill LP.
In the description of the recently uploaded Youtube video, Waters writes, “Old concert film is important and must be preserved! If you shot film in the past, traded and collected reels, or just bought them from the classifieds of rock magazines in the ’70s and ’80s, it’s important we save these.” He provides an email address for others who may be interested in restoring or sharing old footage.
