Photo Credit: John Waters YouTube (Filmed by Eddie Vincent)
New bootleg footage of a Led Zeppelin concert in Los Angeles in the ’70s has surfaced on YouTube.
The film was taken at the Inglewood Forum on September 4, 1970 – then sat in a drawer for 50 years. After it was rediscovered, the footage was matched to audio from another Led Zeppelin bootleg recording, On Blueberry Hill. The footage gives fans a previously unseen look at the group performing songs like “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” “Thank You,” “What Is And What Should Never Be,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Some Other Guy,” and “Lemon Song.”
According to the YouTube caption, the original footage was shot by fan Eddie Vincent. Vincent says he borrowed his parent’s home movie camera, an 8mm Kodak Brownie. The camera could record in 30-second bursts. Vincent says he smuggled the camera into the venue in his armpits using a baggy jacket.
“I had really great seats,” Vincent says about the event. “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.”
Vincent says he reached out to bootleg trader John Waters to help transform the footage into digital files. Waters was impressed by the quality of the film and asked if he had anymore, and that’s when Vincent revealed the Led Zeppelin footage. Vincent says he attempted to record other concerts but was caught.
“I had a little mic I put on the floor stand under my seat,” Vincent says about another Led Zeppelin show in Los Angeles the following year. “I guess at some point the light shined off this mic, and all of a sudden [Led Zeppelin manager] Peter Grant was by the side of the stage looking at me, and then he started walking over.”
“I was thinking ‘Oh no!’ and he walked right up to me and started pulling at my microphone. You can hear it all on the tape. Finally you hear him go, ‘You’re not allowed to tape the concert,’ and it goes dead,” Vincent told Classic Rock. At least Peter Grant returned the bootleg recording equipment.