Rhino Factoids: Led Zeppelin Attend the Ivor Novello Awards

37 years ago today, while on a break from the 1977 U.S. tour, Led Zeppelin – well, three out of four of ‘em, anyway (John Bonham was MIA) – attended the Ivor Novello Awards in London, where the band received an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In addition to Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones, the band’s manager, Peter Grant, was also in attendance…and we know this to be true because it’s actually cited on the band’s official website.

Yes, it was a fine time to be a member of Led Zeppelin, with the band’s last date before the aforementioned break having literally been a record-breaking event: not only did their performance at the Pontiac Silverdome on April 30 set the new world record attendance for a solo indoor attraction – the band played to an audience of 76,229 people – but the concert also grossed $792,361.50, which was apparently a record-breaking total in its own right…or at least that’s what Steven Rosen wrote in his article about the ’77 tour, anyway.

With their Ivor Novello Award in hand, Led Zeppelin resumed their U.S. tour on May 18 and concluded it after the band’s two-night stint at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on July 23 and 24, ending abruptly due to the death of Robert Plant’s son, Karac, of a stomach infection. As a result, dates in New Orleans, Chicago, Orchard Park, New York, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia left permanently unfulfilled, as the band never toured the States again. Sigh.

Still, you can get a feel for the sort of material the band was playing during those dates with this playlist, which features songs which turned up throughout the various dates of the ’77 tour.