Melody Maker | Info Freako | 19 March 1994
LED ZEPPELIN
SWAN VISTAS
When and where was the gig that appears in Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains The Same" movie? And where were the other weird sequences filmed, such as the rock climbing scene of "Dazed And Confused"?
Charles Harrison, London N11
The live footage used in "The Song Remains The Same" was shot over three nights at Madison Square Garden in New York in July 1973 – although Led Zeppelin fans had to wait until the end of 1976 before the movie was first shown in the cinemas. The gigs completed a two-month US tour, during which the group's Florida show broke the American concert attendance record set by The Beatles' show at Shea Stadium in 1965. Less happily, almost $200,000 of Led Zep's money was stolen from their hotel on the last night of the tour. The cash was never recovered.
The airport and motor cavalcade footage was also filmed in America, while the other material was shot at a variety of locations across the UK over the next 18 months. Each member of the group wrote a fantasy sequence and Jimmy Page's rock climb was filmed in the mountains around Loch Ness in Scotland at the end of 1973. Other reels were taken on Blackpool Beach, at Aberystwyth Bay and in the homes of the four members and their manager Peter Grant. Drummer John Bonham's hair-raising drag-racing exploits were captured at Santa Pod Raceway.
"The Song Remains The Same" was issued on video by Warner Brothers in the mid-1980s. The soundtrack to the film, which rocketed to the top of the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic in November 1976, is available on Swan Song.
