National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery

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media alert – 10 January 2008

NATIONAL TRUST S.H. ERVIN GALLERY - SUMMER 2008

The Led Zeppelin World Tour
an exhibition of photography & contemporary art
19 January – 02 March

Images: copyright TED HARVEY

LED ZEPPELIN PHOTOS SET TO ROCK SYDNEY AFTER 35 YEARS

The Led Zeppelin World Tour is an exhibition of documentary photographs and contemporary artworks. Rarely-seen images by freelance photographer Ted Harvey documenting Led Zeppelin’s 1972 Sydney concert feature in this exhibition.

Harvey’s rare & iconic photographs capture the explosive energy of the band that redefined rock in the Seventies. His unlimited access to the group, enables us to re-live this legendary concert and discover some of the mysticism that surrounded it.

Led Zeppelin played the Sydney Showground in an extraordinary three-hour concert on an otherwise-sleepy Sunday afternoon in February, 1972, their only-ever Sydney gig. Officially, there were 28,000 fans attending, though it was more like 38,000 as ‘lots of people climbed the fence ’. It was a record crowd for the era.

Despite the millions of albums sold and record breaking tours at the peak of their success, Led Zeppelin shunned media attention. Notoriously camera-shy the band were almost inaccessible to the media and few photographs of their live performances exist. Those which do tend to be continually recycled. Until three years ago, even Harvey was unaware that he still had the unpublished photos and had to conduct a search when someone asked about his early work photographing rock groups.

Working as a freelance photographer in the 1970s, Ted Harvey photographed the likes of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, The Bee Gees and Cat Stevens. After he took these shots of Led Zeppelin, Harvey met with the band and enjoyed a stroll in Kings Cross with Robert Plant. He recalls Plant started to sing at the top of his lungs without a passer by seeming to notice!

Now based in the Northern Rivers, Harvey has fond memories of the Zeppelin concert that Sunday, February 27th. He says “I drove my van around to the back of the stage, parked and walked to the front. I was surprised I seemed to be the only press photographer there.” Ted literally had front row seats with the rest of the crowd distanced from the stage behind a concrete barrier. “I had free movement around the stage, great for picture taking!” Harvey says “All this was a distant memory until recently rummaging through a box in storage. I found my original negatives, and realised that no one, apart from the Zeppelin band members, had seen the photos. I thought others might like to relive the memories of an era that will never be repeated.”

A show was organised with Lismore Regional Gallery and the response was overwhelming. An extended exhibition now comes to Sydney at the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, The Rocks, 19 January – 02 March. This is the first time the photographs will be shown in Sydney.

Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant said Ted Harvey’s images are the best ever taken of the band.

In exhibiting these works, Harvey hopes to raise awareness for Rockphoto aid – helping to support children who live in extreme poverty in Brazil, a project he and his wife are committed to.

Led Zeppelin continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, commercial success, and broad influence. The band have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide and recently played a reform concert in the UK.

The exhibition also presents responses from contemporary artists Adam Cullen, Nicholas Harding, Geoff Harvey, Euan Macleod, Lucille Martin, Alan Jones, Craig Waddell, Chris O’Doherty (aka Reg Mombassa), Danius Kesminas and Gareth Sansom.

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This exhibition supports RockPhotoAid – please view www.rockphotoaid.com for further information.

A Lismore Regional Gallery Touring exhibition.

All images: copyright © TED HARVEY - Robert Plant, Sydney Concert 1972. Jimmy Page, Sydney Concert 1972. Crowd at 5 O’Clock, Sydney Concert 1972.

exhibition organised by:

exhibition supported by:

S.H. Ervin Gallery supported by:

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related pages

painting The Led Zeppelin World Tour

essay Steven Alderton, 'Doing it the Zeppelin way', The Led Zeppelin World Tour Exhibition Catalogue.

essays Glenn A. Baker, 'Sydney and Zeppelin' The Led Zeppelin World Tour Exhibition Catalogue.

article Patrick Donovan, 'Zeppelin images plant artistic seeds and revisit page from rock history', The Age.