When Led Zep rocked the Cross and no one noticed - Arts - Entertainment
RUMMAGING through some old boxes one day, Ted Harvey, a freelance photographer, found some photos he had almost forgotten: more than 100 intimate shots of Led Zeppelin he had taken during their 1972 Australian tour.
"It gave me a bit of a shock," Harvey said.
The photographs, which have never been seen by anyone except Harvey and the band, will go on display at a charity exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery today.
Finding the photos brought back memories of the Sydney Showgrounds concert, which took place on February 27, 1972. Harvey simply drove his van behind the stage and walked around to the front, bypassing the crowd control barrier.
"There was officially 28,000 people there but really it was more like 36,000," said Harvey, adding that he could not see any other press photographers around him.
"When they played The Immigrant Song, the crowd just jumped over the barrier and ran to the stage. I got stuck and I couldn't move around. Robert Plant just told the crowd to sit down and they did, but I stood up because I was there to take photos."
The next day, Harvey visited the band at their Elizabeth Bay hotel to give them some of the shots he'd taken.
"Then Robert said, 'Let's go for a walk', so we wandered out to the Cross and he started singing at the top of his voice. I thought, 'Oh no, people are going to notice', but no one really turned around. That's the Cross for you," said Harvey.
"There was an old dumped Plymouth car that had a Viking's head as its emblem. Robert whipped out his pocket knife and tried to get the head off. I thought 'Oh jeez, the police are going to come over and see these two long-haired guys attacking this car. But he couldn't get it off so he said 'I'll get the chauffeur to come down and get it off'."
Lismore Regional Gallery's director, Steven Alderton, said he was impressed by the artistic and historical merit of the photographs.
"Compositionally they are great images and they hold the presence of the moment," he said. "Although my first thought was certain people should buy jeans a few sizes bigger."
Now if only they can make some of those just discovered images of Zeppelin posters!! Nothing would please more than that :) for us long time Zep fans.
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