The
Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings are a collection of
audio and
video recordings of musical performances by
English rock band Led Zeppelin which were never officially released by the band, or under other legal authority. The recordings consist of both live concert performances and outtakes from studio sessions conducted by the band. Many hundreds of Led Zeppelin bootlegs exist,
and are widely collected by fans.
Overview
Led Zeppelin were, throughout the decade of the 1970s, one of the world's most frequently
bootlegged performers. This phenomenon was due partly to the popularity of the band during this era, which ensured a large and enthusiastic market for unauthorised recordings, and partly to the large size of the audiences who attended their performances, which made the effective detection of covert recording equipment at these concerts virtually impossible.
Led Zeppelin's manager,
Peter Grant, sometimes took extraordinary measures to combat the practice of live bootleg recordings at
Led Zeppelin concerts. He is reported to have personally visited record stores in
London which were selling Led Zeppelin bootlegs and demanded all copies be handed over. He also monitored the crowd at Led Zeppelin concerts so as to locate anything which resembled bootleg recording equipment. At one concert at
Vancouver in 1971 he saw what he thought was recording equipment on the floor of the venue and personally ensured that the equipment be destroyed, only to find out later that the equipment was a noise pollution unit being operated by city officials to test the volume of the concert. Similarly, at the
Bath Festival in 1970, he personally threw a bucket of water over unauthorised recording equipment.
[Welch, Chris (1994) Led Zeppelin, London: Orion Books. ISBN 0-85797-930-3, pp. 24, 56.]These efforts were not enough to prevent the release of a flood of Led Zeppelin bootlegs from the 1970s onwards. As is explained by Led Zeppelin archivist Dave Lewis:
Earliest bootlegs
During the 1970s, bootleg labels such as Smilin' Ear,
Kornyfone, Dragonfly,
Trade Mark of Quality, Condor and Toasted released unofficial recordings of several Led Zeppelin shows on
vinyl. The following table includes a sample of these recordings. Most of them derived from audience tapes, though a few (such as
Destroyer) were sourced from soundboard recordings.
The 1980s: the release of the soundboards
In the late 1980s the number of available soundboard recordings of Led Zeppelin shows increased significantly as a result of original soundboard tapes having been stolen from the home of their owner, Led Zeppelin guitarist
Jimmy Page, and then copied for underground release. Also stolen were copies of several rare studio
out-takes, which were released under titles such as
Jennings Farm Blues (featuring run-throughs of an electric version of "
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" recorded in October 1969) and
Studio Daze (including different studio mixes of "
Since I've Been Loving You", "
No Quarter" and "
All My Love"). "Midnight Moonlight", a song later recorded by "
The Firm", is available through studio bootlegs.
The 1990s: the CD era
The 1990s saw a multitude of Led Zeppelin bootlegs become available on the CD format, with limited-edition and higher quality releases being produced in
Japan on labels such as
Tarantura and
Antrabata. In 1999, the
BBC reported that the number of Led Zeppelin bootleg titles in circulation exceeded those of
The Beatles.
Some notable Led Zeppelin bootlegs released on CD include:
- Pigeon Blood : Recorded at Tampa Stadium, Florida on May 5, 1973.
2007 court case
In July 2007 Page appeared in a
Glasgow courtroom to give testimony and observe evidence on behalf of Led Zeppelin against an alleged bootlegger. Robert Langley was charged with, and denied, twelve counts of producing and selling products without
copyright permission.
Page was shown hundreds of CDs and DVDs, ranging from his solo material to his time with
Led Zeppelin and
the Yardbirds, which Langley was allegedly selling in
Scotland during 2005. Many contain footage and audio from Page's personal collection, stolen from his home in the early 1980s.
The goods were found on sale as far away as
New York, where shop-owners thought they were official. Page later said "If you have something like this that appears legitimate then it is just not right".
