Led Zeppelin Friends (live in Osaka 1971)

Audio - Osaka, Japan - September 29, 1971
Video – Hiroshima, Japan – September 27, 1971 (John Bonham home movie)

This is of the only time Led Zeppelin played “Friends” live. The amazing sounding soundboard surfaced last year and comes from the professionally recorded tapes done by the Japanese Warner Pioneer label, who was owned by the band's record company Atlantic Records.

During the performance Plant messes up and sings the first verse too early, then pauses for a refrain, then sings it again. I edited the first time Plant sings the verse out so that the song sounds more natural. I also added part of the intro from a different recording where he thanks the audience for “putting up with a lot” and that they don’t usually do “things like this”. He is referring to the infamous incident which took place two songs earlier after “Going to California” where they couldn’t find John Bonham after he left the stage. Robert even took to having the crowd chant for “Mr. Bonham” between songs, and when he did not re-appear they were forced to play Tangerine without him. Bonzo eventually finds his way back to the stage and they play this one-off.

The video footage, filmed by John Bonham, was shot during the band’s visit to Hiroshima two days before the Osaka concert. The last live snippet is fan shot video from their September 23rd performance in Tokyo.

Dedicated to my dog Zeppelin. 🐾 June 23, 2005 - November 6, 2019 🐾

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