Robert Plant

Celebrated photograph showing Robert Plant during the very short and dramatic Led Zeppelin performance at the Vigorelli in Milan on July 5, 1971. 24 x 30 cm. Printed for the Ferraina Archive (circa 2000). Ferraina archive stamp on the back and Giuseppe Ferraina’s signature in marker. Photo in excellent condition. The photographer is unknown. The original photo service to which the shot belongs remained unpublished for decades. The images were found by chance by curator and photographer Giuseppe Ferraina inside an old negative case from the historical archive with the quirky inscription “Le Zeppeliny.” The Ferraina Historical Photo Archive, run by photographer and curator Giuseppe Ferraina in Milan, is a cultural organization specialized in the recovery, conservation, and dissemination of historical music, fashion, and social photography, with an extraordinary focus on the 1960s and 1970s. Up for bid without reserve!!!! The Led Zeppelin concert at the Vigorelli Velodrome in Milan, staged on the evening of July 5, 1971, went down in history as one of the darkest, craziest, and most dramatic pages of live music in Italy. What was supposed to be a big rock party turned into a real urban guerrilla clash between police charges, tear gas, and flames, culminating in the band’s rushed escape and their promise (kept) not to play in our country again. The gross error was made by the Cantagiro organizers (the historic Italian pop and mass entertainment festival). To revive the declining event, they decided to feature Led Zeppelin—at the time the world's most famous and “fiery” hard rock band—as international guests at the bottom of a lineup that included Italian light music artists such as Gianni Morandi, Lucio Dalla, I Ricchi e Poveri, Milva, and Mia Martini. The Vigorelli audience (over 10,000 youths) was there solely for the “Dirigibile.” The atmosphere quickly heated: the Italian artists were heavily booed, showered with whistles, and subjected to a dense hail of objects, tomatoes, and cans (Gianni Morandi foremost). Inside the velodrome tension rose, while outside a crowd of about two thousand youths from extraparliamentary left movements and the so-called “auto-reducers” gathered. In the middle of the Years of Lead climate, these groups supported the slogan “Music is for everyone and must be free.” Rejecting the idea of a paid ticket (which cost 1,500 lire, deemed an aristocratic slight), they repeatedly tried to force entry by breaking the gates. About 2,000 police in anti-riot gear were deployed to defend the gates. The clashes outside quickly became violently intense. To prevent the situation from degenerating further, the organizers decided to bring Led Zeppelin on stage early, around 22:40. The band opened with Immigrant Song, sending the crowd into ecstasy, followed by songs like Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, and Black Dog. While the band played, police began blasting a massive amount of tear gas outside to repel the charges. Because of the wind and the tumult, a rain of acrid and toxic smoke flooded the interior of the velodrome, spreading under the stage. The air became unbreathable. Panic broke out among the crowd: thousands rushed toward the stage to escape the gas, as tear gas rained everywhere, even on the structures. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, blinded by smoke and terrified by a situation they could not comprehend, stopped playing after only 26 minutes. The band left their instruments on stage and fled to the backstage, barricading themselves in the velodrome’s infirmary to protect themselves from the disorder. Outside the chaos continued: the furious, suffocated crowd destroyed a large part of the expensive equipment of the group (amplifiers and cabinets were wrecked or stolen). Finally escorted by the police to the hotel, the Led Zeppelin left Milan in shock. Jimmy Page declared with indignation: “Never again in Italy.” Promise kept: Led Zeppelin never set foot on an Italian stage again for the rest of their career.

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