The Led Zeppelin News Email - 15/06/25
Unseen St. Louis 1975 and 1977 photos and the strange tale of The Starship's avocado recipes
Hello! Welcome to the 397th Led Zeppelin News email. We email out regular summaries of Led Zeppelin news so that you don't miss anything.
Led Zeppelin
Previously unseen photos of Led Zeppelin performing in St. Louis in 1975 and 1977 were published online
The photographs were found in a garage sale, listed on eBay and eventually purchased by LedZepFilm who kindly scanned them and allowed us to publish them.
Will ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ be released on Blu-ray and DVD next week?
Are we days away from a physical release of “Becoming Led Zeppelin”? The film’s Australian distributor continues to list June 18 as the release date for Blu-ray and DVD copies of the film.
On June 10, the British Board of Film Classification rated a “physical media” version of the film which is another sign that a physical release of the documentary is coming soon.
And on Amazon Italy, which continues to list a June 25 release date, the listing has now been updated with a shot of the back of the packaging which doesn’t list any bonus features.
One thing that is now certain, however, is that the film will be released in Japanese cinemas on September 26.
The bizarre 1977 campaign to promote Led Zeppelin’s plane using avocado recipes
We decided to look into US newspaper archives to see if we could dig out any interesting old articles about The Starship, the plane used by Led Zeppelin in 1973 and 1975.
We did find plenty of interesting material, which means we’ll be updating our history of the plane in the coming weeks.
But we also found something strange: More than 10 articles reporting on avocado recipes apparently served on board.
After some digging, we found that financial problems in 1977 meant that the owners of The Starship resorted to publicising the plane in partnership with the California Avocado Advisory Board.
Auction watch: 1975 tour jacket surfaces on eBay
An eBay seller is asking for $5,500 for a crew member tour jacket from Led Zeppelin’s 1975 US tour.
“Conservatively they produced 20 of these sweaters. How many have survived after 50 years one can only speculate. This is a once in a lifetime chance to add this as a center piece to a serious Zep collection,” the seller wrote on eBay.
Jimmy Page
The Black Crowes released their video interview with Jimmy Page
The Black Crowes finally released the video of their recent interview with Jimmy Page about their album Live At The Greek. This is the video they’ve been teasing online through small clips for many weeks.
Newsletter exclusive: Jimmy Page’s unusued Egyptian stage outfit is now available to view in person
Page eventually got the outfits back by claiming they been donated without his permission and swapping them for a 1960s outfit and a mysterious unused white Egyptian stage costume.
Now, as part of the V&A’s opening of its new V&A East Storehouse museum in East London last month, Page’s Egyptian costume is available for anyone to request a closer look in person.
In fact, it seems a member of the public may have already requested to do just that. “This object is part of the Order an Object service but is currently reserved and unavailable to book,” the museum’s entry for the suit on its website currently reads.
That seems to mean someone has already ordered the suit to look at. The same message is shown on the museum’s website entry for a 1957 Christian Dior dress that is the most popular item in the new building to order a closer look at, according to Tim Reeve, the V&A’s Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer.
Page’s black and white stage shoes are also available to observe up close.
If you do view the suit in person and take any photographs of it, please send them our way. We’d love to publish them!
Newsletter exclusive: Jimmy Page’s new Sundragon amp is delayed
The release of the newest amp from Jimmy Page’s Sundragon amp company has quietly been delayed.
Back in October, Guitar Player magazine reported in its final issue as part of an interview with Page that Sundragon’s new smaller “Nymph” amp would be released in late 2024 or early 2025.
But no announcement of the amp has been made and it hasn’t yet gone on sale. Guitar Player has been sneaky online, editing the text of the article from its print issue to change the release window for the amp.
Here’s the current version of the article online, with the quietly edited release window of the amp:
“Adding to Page’s current enthusiasm is the imminent release of Sundragon’s brand-new Nymph, a more compact, low-wattage take on the Sundragon in a one-watt (switchable to ¼-watt) single eight-inch combo with two 12AX7s, which will be widely available in 2025.”
Investigating the rumour about Led Zeppelin members and Black Sabbath’s final concert
On June 12, a Reddit user claimed in a since-deleted post in the Led Zeppelin subreddit that it was “Heavily rumored Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones will be in attendance at Black Sabbath show July 5th”.
Here at LedZepNews, we haven’t heard any rumours about this. At most, it’s possible that Page, Jones or Plant could attend the concert.
Page did just that on July 4, 2014 when he watched a performance by Black Sabbath in Hyde Park from the side of the stage.
Since then, Page appears to have ignored a request by Ozzy Osbourne to perform on his most recent album.
It’s unlikely any members of Led Zeppelin will make any on-stage appearance.
Robert Plant
Robert Plant supports campaign to buy and protect land in Bewdley
Robert Plant has publicly supported a campaign to buy and protect a piece of land in Bewdley.
Campaigners are hoping to buy The Maypole Piece in the town to keep it for community use.
“I fully support the mission for The Maypole to remain a green space for the local people and beyond, now and for the future,” Plant said.
Pinkpop published Robert Plant’s full 2014 performance online
Dutch music festival Pinkpop has published Robert Plant’s full performance at the festival from June 8, 2014 to its YouTube archives channel:
Upcoming events:
June - The book ‘Rock Visions’, which has a chapter on Led Zeppelin memorabilia, will be published.
June 26 - ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ will be available to buy and rent digitally in France.
July 2 - ‘Mr. Jimmy’ will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan.
July 10 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at Festival de Poupet in Saint-Malô-du-Bois, France.
July 13 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Lucca Summer Festival in Lucca, Italy.
July 15 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Jazz à Juan music festival in Juan-les-Pins, France.
July 17 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Vienne, France.
July 19 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Salon-de-Provence, France.
July 21 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Jazz in Marciac festival in Marciac, France.
July 23 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at Festival de Carcassonne in Carcassonne, France.
July 25 - Paul Weller’s new album Find El Dorado, which features Robert Plant on the track “Clive’s Song”, will be released.
July 26 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the 1001 Músicas festival in Granada, Spain.
July 28 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Valencia, Spain.
July 30 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Barcelona, Spain.
September 11 - The book “Valhalla!: The A to Z of Led Zeppelin” by Paul Brannigan will be published.
September 26 - ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ will be released in Japan.
October - John Paul Jones’ song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly will premiere in London.
October 28 - An updated edition of Denny Somach’s book ‘Get the Led Out: How Led Zeppelin Became the Biggest Band in the World’ will be published.
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