Never-before-seen footage of Led Zeppelin performing in Denmark in 1979 has surfaced online.
The fan-shot movie, captured on Super 8 film during the band’s July 24 show at the Falkoner Theater in Copenhagen, had been stored in a drawer for the past 45 years.
Danish Led Zeppelin fan Lennart Ström revealed the film's existence last year on the Heart of Markness podcast website in response to an episode covering the two Copenhagen shows, which Zeppelin booked as warm-up concerts for their two Knebworth dates.
Until then, Ström had only shown the footage — which was filmed without audio — to friends. The U.S.-based Reel Revival Film has since digitized the footage and had it color corrected by the Pink Floyd Research Group. The visuals have also been paired with audio recordings from the night.
The 13-minute movie, which is now available to watch online via the ledzepfilm YouTube channel, features snippets of 17 classic hits, including “Nobody’s Fault but Mine,” “Black Dog” and “Whole Lotta Love." It also includes a clip of Jimmy Page playing a guitar solo.
The film begins with the band swinging through “The Song Remains the Same” as an energetic Page wields his twin-neck Gibson ED-1275. His “Number 1” Les Paul — a guitar Joe Walsh convinced him to buy — also makes an appearance.
“We brought the Super 8 camera to test a new film that would work indoors,” Ström tells Led Zeppelin News. “It was no problem getting the camera in. It was quite small and I think I had it in my trousers on my back."
Led Zeppelin's show included a laser light cone pyramid display, which was used to spotlight Page during the violin bow segment of his guitar solo. While other large touring acts, like the Who, had begun using lasers in the 1970s, Zeppelin were the first to use a high-powered laser, which unfortunately could cause problems with voltage, as it did during the Copenhagen stop.
“The gig the night before was, according to the papers, a disaster due to the electric failures that the laser had brought,” Ström continues. “So there were generators standing in the alley we passed before going in. We were of course concerned about the gig.
“I have kept this film in a drawer all the years. I made a digital copy and showed it to some friends, guitarists who went nuts. And that was the silent version.”
The release of the footage is timely, coming right after the cinematic release of the new documentary, “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” during which Page calls their first jam session together “devastating.”
The band split up just a year after the Knebworth shows in the wake of John Bonham’s passing, with a triumphant 2007 reunion the only Led Zep shows to have happened since.
"I just was like, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. This feels like acid." Don Felder makes his first public comments after nearly collapsing onstage
"He's underrated. Honestly, there’s no one close to him." They've both worked with Frank Zappa. But Steve Vai says he had no idea his guitar partner in Beat was such a powerhouse virtuoso
