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.
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Led Zeppelin were, throughout the decade of the 1970s, one of the world's most frequently bootlegged performers, and to this day remain one of the most bootlegged artists in the history of rock music.[1] In August 1999, the band topped the list of Britain's most bootlegged musicians with 384 bootleg titles, compiled by the Anti-Piracy Unit of British Phonographic Industry.[2][3] This phenomenon was due partly to the popularity of the band, which has 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.[4] Similarly, at the Bath Festival in 1970, he personally threw a bucket of water over unauthorised recording equipment.[5]
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:
Bootlegs and Led Zeppelin have been synonymous for over three decades. Despite manager Peter Grant's heavy-handedness when dealing with those he caught taping their shows, the band are the most bootlegged act of all time, outstripping even The Beatles, [Bob] Dylan, [Bruce] Springsteen and the [Rolling] Stones. Their final seven shows in the UK alone (live at Earl's Court and two at Knebworth), account for over 100 different releases between them. Just about every amateur recording of the band's live gigs has [been released]."[6]
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.
| Title | Recording details | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gonzaga '68 | The Gymnasium, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, December 30, 1968 | Audience recording. |
| The Rising of The Zeppelin | Fillmore West, San Francisco, April 24, 1969 | Falsely credited as January 9, 1969. The original LP was released in a magnificent red, green and blue color. |
| Killing Floor | Boston Tea Party, Boston, January 26, 1969. | Audience recording. |
| Don't Mess With Texas | Texas International Pop Festival, Dallas, August 31, 1969 | Soundboard recording. |
| We're Gonna Groove/Feel All Right | Montreux Casino, Montreux, Switzerland, March 7, 1970 | The Feel All Right version was released in 1984 by Audio Recording Corporation under an incorrect title of Live in Montreux 1971. |
| Mudslide | Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada on March 21, 1970 | The first ever Led Zeppelin bootleg to be released. FM broadcast. Mudslide is a remake of the original first LP 'PB' |
| Live on Blueberry Hill | Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, September 4, 1970. | Audience recording. One of the first Led Zeppelin bootleg LPs to be released. |
| Going to California | Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, September 14, 1971 | Audience recording. |
| Japan Tour '71 | Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, September 23, 1971 | Audience recording, distributed by BUG Recording Corp. |
| Custard Pie | Offenburg, West Germany, March 24, 1973 | Audience recording. |
| Tympani for the Butter Queen | Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas, May 19, 1973 | Soundboard recording. |
| Bonzo's Birthday Party | Los Angeles Forum, California, May 31, 1973 | Audience recording (incomplete soundboard available). |
| Persistence | Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, June 2, 1973 | Audience recording. |
| V-1⁄2 | Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, July 17, 1973 | Audience recording. |
| Duckwalks and Lasers | Madison Square Garden, New York, July 28, 1973 and Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas, May 22, 1977 | Soundboard recording (side 1 & 2 - July 28, 1973) and audience recording (side 3 & 4 - May 22, 1977). |
| 214 | Seattle Center Coliseum, March 21, 1975. | Audience recording. |
| 207.19 | Seattle Center Coliseum, March 21, 1975. | Audience recording. |
| Earls Court | Earls Court Arena, May 24, 1975. | Soundboard recording. |
| Destroyer | Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland, Ohio, April 27, 1977 | Soundboard recording. |
| Listen to This Eddie | Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, June 21, 1977 | Audience recording (taped by Mike Millard). |
| For Badgeholders Only | Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, June 23, 1977 | Audience recording (the original vinyl bootleg was recorded by an unknown taper, although it is commonly mistaken as having been taped by Mike Millard, who made a separate recording of the show). Keith Moon joined in on drum set for "Moby Dick" and the encores. |
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 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. The most significant 90s label TDOLZ (The Diagrams of Led Zeppelin) has covered most of the circulating concerts for that period releasing over 100 titles. 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:
Numerous previously uncirculated complete high quality soundboard recordings were released by newly established Empress Valley label (also referenced as Empress Valley Supreme Disc) which is the semi-successor of retired Tarantura:
| Released | Title | Recording details |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | The Zeppelin Express Physical Rocket | Earl's Court, London, UK on 25 May 1975; professionally shot live video from that concert was released subsequently on DVD, audio material was reissued by EV several times with different titles. |
| 2002 | Flying Circus | Madison Square Garden, New York City, US on 12 February 1975 |
| 2003 | Florida Sunshine | Civic Auditorium, Orlando, US on 31 August 1971 |
| 2003 | Bringing the House Down | Capital Centre, Landover, US on 26 May 1977 |
| 2003 | Chasing the Dragon | Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, US on 4 March 1975; less complete recording circulated before. |
| 2004 | Conspiracy Theory | Sports Arena, San Diego, US on 14 March 1975; unknown date before bootleg release. |
| 2004 | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, US on 16 February 1975 |
| 2005 | The Dragon Snake | The Summit, Houston, US on 21 May 1977 |
| 2006 | Snow Jobs | Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada on 19 March 1975 |
| 2007 | Days Confused | Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, US on 5 March 1975 |
| 2007 | Working Tapes | The Old Refectory, Southampton University, UK on 22 January 1973 |
| 2007 | The Powhatan Confederacy | Capital Centre, Landover, US on 28 May 1977 |
| 2008 | St. Valentine's Day Massacre | Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, US on 14 February 1975 |
| 2009 | Long Beach Californication | Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, US on 11 March 1975 |
| 2009 | Rampaging Cajun | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, US on 28 February 1975 |
| 2010 | Magical Sound Boogie | Madison Square Garden, New York City, US on 7 June 1977 |
| 2011 | Haven't We Met Somewhere Before? | Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, US on 17 March 1975 |
Since Empress Valley is the only supplier of new soundboard material for the moment, its issues are being cloned after initial release by numerous minor labels, sometimes with alternative titles.
In the 80s and 90s before broadband Internet access became widely available, bootlegs (CD-Rs or Compact Cassette copies) circulated mostly via snail mail. Today all of the unauthorised Led Zeppelin material is available on the Internet, mostly on BitTorrent resources in lossless media formats. Decoding and redistributing audio in lossy formats (such as MP3) is strongly frowned upon among the trading community as it diminishes the quality of the audio and can make it difficult for recipients to know if they are receiving the best available copy. During 2000s previously uncirculated audience recordings surfaced mostly on the BitTorrent resources.
Notable previously unheard audience recordings that surfaced on the Web from 2000's:
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.[7][8]
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".[7]
