Aug. 11, 1979 - Led Zeppelin at the Knebworth Festival - Rolling Stone

In this month of August 1979, Led Zeppelin vacillates on a taut thread, between maintaining and falling. But the group will show, the time of an unexpected concert, that it still has class

August 11, 1979: Led Zeppelin played their very last gig in the UK when they came to Knebworth. The festival took place from August 4 to 11. Flashback…

The Twilight of the Gods always brings bad omens without even bringing up the inherent dark sides that are hard to control. In other words, before turning into a black hole, a star always reaches its maximum luminosity. Metaphors aside, in August 1979, Led Zeppelin is still unanimously considered by fans as an extinct and strange species, belonging to another era.

walking train

England at this time had just suffered the onslaught of punk and new wave, musical genres created precisely to erase that ubiquitous Zeppelin of the previous ten years and forget those endless solos and all forms of musical complexity. But on the evening of August 4 this year, 200,000 people come to witness the never-staged Sabbath ordained by the genre's greatest wizards – a pagan rite in which the then-declining Led Zeppelin will once reach plus the heights to which they had pushed rock before their implosion.

They had not played in their native England for four years. Four difficult years. The slow erosion of personal relationships, a "bandwagon" increasingly difficult to ride, the crossfire of music critics and early fans. Not to mention the poisoned arrows of their colleagues. And finally, their last albums, which will never reach the heights of the golden age of the group.

In short: it was not won in advance. But everything will be erased during these three hours during which, in the English countryside, Led Zeppelin will show the world their power and their unsurpassable class. The Knebworth concert will be meticulously rehearsed. From the end of July, the group will play two consecutive evenings at the Falkoner Theater in Copenhagen: for these general rehearsals, the Danish fans used as guinea pigs, will test the playlist of their future set in the United Kingdom. Then the Jimmys, Roberts, Bonzos and Johns lock themselves up in a film studio to work on the general scenography of the concert. They then meet again on the afternoon of August 4 for a quick soundcheck.

Electric Symphony

As soon as they enter the stage, the first notes of "The Song Remains the Same" are covered by a superhuman roar. Fans old and new pay homage to the four hard rock pioneers. Robert Plant would later say that he didn't think Led Zeppelin could still play well enough to meet audience expectations. It will take the first half of the evening for him to realize that he's there, on stage, and it's all really happening – even if he thinks his voice is muffled with nervousness.

Whether they believe it or not, something magical is happening. Put the DVD of the concert back in the player and after listening to "Black Dog", "No Quarter", "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Kashmir" go directly to Jimmy Page's solo just before "In the Evening”. The guitarist and his bow, in a pyramid of lasers. An electric, dense symphony exploring dark musical territory, simply destined to be indexed in the annals of rock. And that's before even mentioning the final song, a devastating version of "Communication Breakdown".

Terminus

Led Zeppelin's journey will end tonight. Their manager will no longer be able to manage the affairs of the group, because of a strong addiction to heroin. Growing friction between band members, followed by the death of John “Bonzo” Bonham, would doom Led Zeppelin.

They will leave the rock scene and immediately become legends. And after this last English concert celebrating their return, a tribute will be held on December 10, 2007, at the O2 Arena in London for what remains today – and with all probability will remain – the last appearance of the group. A little game: compare the two versions of "Stairway to Heaven", the one from 1979 at Knebworth and the one from 2007. And you will realize that the passage of time and history do nothing against those who, even for a moment, thanks to music, find themselves in search of another world, timeless, in one dimension.

For this reason, it is necessary to go back and listen and watch Led Zeppelin again in order to understand how dense and out of time a guitar riff can be.

Belkacem Bahlouli