As 1972 drew to a close, North East music fans could reflect on a year when a succession of chart-topping rock and pop acts had graced the stage of Newcastle City Hall.
The likes of Elton John, David Bowie, T Rex, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Free, the Grateful Dead, the Beach Boys, ELO, Lindisfarne, Santana and Slade had rocked out at the famous Northumberland Road venue - but none were bigger than the band who kicked off their UK winter tour there exactly 50 years ago with two sold-out raucous nights.
Led Zeppelin had supplanted The Beatles, who'd broken up two years earlier, as the world's most successful band. Comprised of two Londoners, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and two Midlanders, singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham, the quartet's uniquely compelling mixture of hard rock, heavy blues and acoustic folk had been showcased to stunning effect in a run of four eponymous albums, I, II, III and IV, which were all destined to become rock classics, and had sold in large quantities in the UK, Europe and, crucially, the USA.
READ MORE: Strictly speaking - Tyneside's old ballroom dancing halls in 10 photographs
The 28-date 1972-73 winter tour was to be Zeppelin's last jaunt around the British provinces, and for the rest of their career the band's legendary live performances would take place, for the most part, in the cavernous stadiums and arenas of the hugely lucrative American concert circuit.
The 110,000 tickets for the UK tour, priced £1 each (imagine that!), had sold out in a few hours, and starting in Newcastle - as many bands from that era did - Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones would go on to perform in theatres and concert halls in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff and even Aberystwyth at a time two decades before British cities began to construct their own arenas capable of accommodating much larger audiences.
The band's success had come despite them refusing to release singles in the UK, rarely giving press interviews, and turning down all television work. They never appeared on Top of the Pops, despite the show using a version of one of their songs – Whole Lotta Love – as its theme tune for many years. Today, this PR approach would mean commercial suicide. Back then it gave Led Zeppelin a mystique which set them apart from their rivals.
The Newcastle City Hall concerts took place on consecutive nights, November 30 and December 1, 1972, with Zeppelin commuting between London and Tyneside in a 9-seater private jet, according to the New Musical Express. Both shows would be a triumph.
"A Newcastle Brown Ale-induced roar fills the air, John Bonham thunders out the pistol shot intro to Rock And Roll , and in one outburst of nervous fury, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones tear into the riff," reported the NME on the first show's opening number.
"'Ooh, it's been a long time since I rock and rolled', screams Plant, his head pushed back into his shoulders, silver rock'n'roll shoes stamping out the beat, the microphone cord stretched across his bare chest. The sound is clean, every instrument carefully balanced against each other. The song ends as it began. The crowd leaps to its feet with a primeval grunt of approval."
The rest of the set was was made up of songs that were still new in 1972, but 50 years later are nailed on, platinum-plated rock classics - the likes of Black Dog, Dazed And Confused, Since I've Been Loving You, Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love and Stairway To Heaven . The Newcastle audience was also treated to a handful of numbers from the band's upcoming album, Houses Of The Holy , which would be released the following year and again top the UK and US album charts. And, 20 years before it became fashionable for bands to play 'Unplugged ' performances as part of the new MTV vogue, half-way through the show, Zeppelin swapped their electric for acoustic instruments to perform the folksy Bron-Y-Aur Stomp from their third album.
Our fantastic photographs of the band performing at Newcastle City Hall 50 years ago are published courtesy of Michael Starcke, and show the bare-chested, golden-maned Robert Plant and guitar-slinging Jimmy Page pioneering trademark images which would become the template for most upcoming rock bands for decades.
After the two shows, Led Zeppelin departed Newcastle never to return (although Plant on several occasions and Page once would return as solo performers in the following decades). After 1973, the United States would be the band's main stamping ground, using a private Boeing 737 – the Starship – to fly them from city to city on tours - and creating a rock folklore of trashed hotel rooms, drug and alcohol abuse, relations with groupies, and rumours of occult-dabbling.
Led Zeppelin fans in this country would have to travel to London's Earls Court in 1975 and, four years later, two large outdoor shows at Knebworth, Hertfordshire, in order to see their idols. The year 1980 would prove to be the swansong for the band. Drummer John Bonham died, aged just 32, following a drinking binge and they announced their decision to break up. To date, Led Zeppelin have sold an estimated 300 million albums, making them one of the most successful acts of all time. As for those Newcastle City Hall dates, it's been a long time...
READ NEXT:
The Newcastle bus station that served North East passengers for 60 years
A sad day at Newcastle Odeon 20 years ago as the credits rolled for the final time
Then and Now: Newcastle's Blackett Street in 1904 amid an ever-changing world
Newcastle Airport was putting on the style 45 years ago as business boomed
A vanished Wallsend railway station and a once-busy line that closed 50 years ago
