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Led Zeppelin
Zeppelin drummer John Bonham passed away 40 years ago Where was his last gig with the band and what did they play?
It’s now 40 years since Led Zeppelin officially disbanded The legendary rock band reunited on several occasions – most notably at Live Aid in 1985 and again for a charity event in 2007 that went into the record books as « highest demand for music concert tickets » after 20 million requests on the O2 website
This event was held as a tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, the man behind Zeppelin’s label, Atlantic, who died the previous year The O2 show marked the first full-length performance of Led Zeppelin since the death of their drummer John Bonham almost three decades earlier For the night, his place was taken by his son, Jason
John Bonham passed away on September 25, 1980, at the age of only 32 The tragedy occurred just as Led Zep was about to leave on a North American tour, their first in three years
Zeppelin had released their last studio album, In Through The Out Door, in the summer of 1979 It wasn’t an easy time for the band – despite being one of the biggest rock bands ever. of the decade, the death of Robert Plant’s young son in 1977, other personal problems and a forced exile from the UK for tax reasons had put a strain on the group.Besides that, there was also the Bonham’s alcoholism question Still a heavy drinker, the drummer found the stress of being on the road difficult and turned to alcohol
Despite all this, Led Zeppelin gave two huge shows in August 1979 in Knebworth It turned out that these two dates (August 4 and 11, 1979) would be the band’s last concerts in the UK.
In June 1980 Zeppelin began a small arena tour in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands However, when they arrived in Nuremberg on June 27, John Bonham’s health problems caught up with him
They started the show as usual with covers of The Train Kept A-Rollin ‘and Nobody’s Fault But Mine, but during the third song, Black Dog, it was apparently Bonham was not doing well
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Jimmy Page introduced the song by saying, « There are two of us tonight who aren’t feeling well at all. A little bit of an upset stomach, so we’ll do our best no matter what, as usual «
Listening to the evening’s tape again, you can hear Bonham’s usually unruffled timing is gone and the song sounds messy.But they finish the tune and Robert Plant begins to present the next song, In The Evening
However, Bonham collapsed and fell off his drum stool. « We just have a slight technical problem if you can handle us, » Plant said nervously. « We just have a small problem, so if you can wait patiently, we would be very grateful if you Wait »
The show didn’t resume and ended there Strangely, one of the official reasons for Bonham’s collapse was that he ate 27 bananas, apparently because he needed potassium. A number of fans who were on the show, however, claimed the drummer looked drunk at night.
The tour resumed a few days later and ended at the Eissporthalle in Berlin on July 7th This would be John Bonham’s last show with Led Zeppelin Here is what they performed:
The Train Kept A-Rollin’Nobody’s Fault But MineBlack DogIn The EveningThe Rain SongHot DogAll My LoveTrampled Under FootSince je t’aimeEté blanc / Black Mountain SideKashmirStairway To Heaven
With the European tour over, Led Zeppelin has retired to rehearse his next dates in North America
On September 24, 1980, Bonham was taken to Bray Studios in Berkshire, where Zeppelin was rehearsing On the way, according to his assistant Rex King, Bonham asked to stop « for breakfast » and ate a roll ham accompanied by four quadruple vodkas
The drummer continued to drink throughout the day and at the end of the rehearsal the band returned to Jimmy Page’s in Windsor By midnight Bonham had come out cold and was put to bed When the director of the Zeppelin tour and bassist John Paul Jones went to wake him up the next afternoon they found out he was dead that night
An investigation revealed Bonham died from inhaling vomit after drinking « about 40 scoops » of vodka in 12 hours Doctors found no other recreational drugs in his body
Unsurprisingly, the US tour was canceled On December 4, 1980, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin released a statement: « We wish it was known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of harmony undivided feeling felt by ourselves and our manager, led us to decide that we could not continue as we were «
John Bonham, Led Zeppelin
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