1995/03/13, Page & Plant, Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX, Soundcheck (TEP)

From the archives of Third Eye Productions.

Remastered for CDR by Blockbuster using Cool Edit Pro v 2.1, 44100Hz, 16-bit, Stereo.

Number of discs: two.
RT: 98 minutes (approx) condensed down from 6 recorded hours.

Dateline: March 13th 1995, and the Page Plant tour of North America hits Austin, Texas. All roads tonight lead to 1701 Red River, home of the Frank Erwin Center, where Page and Plant are due to hit the stage this evening inside this impressive arena. Built in 1977 at a cost of $34M, the first event to play there was a UT basketball game which occurred in November of that year. Hoping to score a �slam dunk� of sorts today is our man at the scene, Terry Stephenson. He�s a rock concert veteran of some 156 shows thus far, and tonight he�s planning to capture the �third eye� view of the stage as Page & Plant play concert number ten of the �95 tour. At this point, Terry already has two P/P shows filmed and in the can from the tour, these being the two great nights in New Orleans from just a few days before. Along with Austin, there would be another twenty more filming assignments ahead of him on this tour alone! His work had only just begun, and this trip to Austin was about to present some new challenges to the man with three eyes�.

Acting on a tip-off, Terry has heard that a full band rehearsal will be taking place this afternoon inside the Frank Erwin Center, something which was not expected to happen on the tour unless there were changes to the set list planned. So, armed with his camcorder and a Sony D3 DAT recorder, Terry is a man on a mission�..to get inside the arena and record the rehearsals. Terry takes up the story�.

�When I arrived in the city I headed straight to the venue in plenty of time and drove to the back of the arena where I saw the trucks being unloaded of the stage gear through the big roll-up doors. It was a busy environment with workers coming and going, so I decided I would just blend in and walk straight into the venue � and that�s exactly what I did! I did the same thing later on in Little Rock, and it was for two reasons; First, so that I could stand in the seats that I had tickets for to see if there would be any filming obstruction challenges that I would need to overcome with preparation. And secondly, so I could stand at the back of the arena and get a quick video shot of the venue empty with house lights up. This can be seen at the beginning of many of my TEP videos.� So, safely ensconced inside the arena, Terry hid at the back with his camcorder in hand and the DAT deck rolling�.

�With my DAT recorder already setup and rolling I was hiding in an equipment room at the back of the arena with my camcorder in hand, waiting for the band to take the stage. As the soundcheck commenced I heard the voices of two guys looking into the room where I was hiding, and I could see it was Paul Becher, of Nocturne Video, and Tom Kenny the lighting director. They were discussing something about being short one man to do a job, probably a lighting job. They were basically saying they were looking for another body to help out, and at that point they spotted me and one of them said, �There�s another body now!� Followed by, �You don�t belong here.� I replied, �No, I don�t�.� (the noise of the theremin covers the rest of my words on the recording, check CD 1, track 2) and I bolted out the front door leaving my DAT deck behind still hidden in the room and thankfully still recording. I went back to reclaim the deck several hours later when the doors opened for the show.�

It turned out that Terry�s tip-off of a full band rehearsal with Jimmy and Robert didn�t quite happen as expected and hoped for, but what he did capture that afternoon over a period of six recorded hours (condensed here down to 98 mins) is an excellent quality soundcheck and jam session by members of the Page and Plant touring band, including Porl Thompson on guitar, Charlie Jones on bass, Michael Lee on drums, and the Egyptian ensemble. The local orchestra of Austin is also thrown in for good measure��enjoy!

Blockbuster
January 2010

CD 1 [43:49]

01 - Tales of Bron, Schoeps mic and bass drum checks
02 - Theremin exercises
03 - Electric guitar check #1
04 - More bass drum checks
05 - Bass guitar check
06 - Keyboard check
07 - Electric guitar check #2
08 - Acoustic guitar check
09 - Electric guitar check #3
10 - Hurdy Gurdy, Acoustic and electric guitars
11 - Electric guitar and Theremin workout
12 - Acoustic guitar, main and spare mic checks
13 - Keyboard warm-up
14 - Kashmir (orchestral exercise)
15 - Calling to you (piano and orchestral exercise)

CD 2 [53:52]

01 - Since I've been loving you (band soundcheck)
02 - Kashmir (band soundcheck)
03 - Instrumental jam #1
04 - Tabla drums workout
05 - Egyptian Ensemble warm-up
06 - Money (electric guitar workout)
07 - Money (band jam)
08 - Drum and bass jam
09 - Instrumental jam #2
10 - Instrumental jam #3
11 - Hurdy Gurdy tune-up