In September, LedZepFilm published a new transfer of footage of Led Zeppelin performing in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 7, 1970.
The video, shot by Hunter Desportes, significantly improved the quality of footage that had been circulating online for years, including through Led Zeppelin’s official YouTube channel.
LedZepNews spoke to Desportes, his brother Bobby who attended the concert with him, as well as LedZepFilm to learn more about how the footage was shot in 1970 and upgraded in 2024.
Desportes, aged just 16, managed to bring along both an Agfa film and still camera to the Led Zeppelin show with him.
“I guess I must have looked like quite the photo nerd with still and film camera,” he says. “Back then it was like nobody cared what kind of camera(s) you took into a show. The film camera was a pretty basic silent Super 8mm I had gotten for Christmas a few years earlier.”
As well as filming the show, Desportes also took still photographs.
Hunter’s older brother Bobby, who was 18 at the time, accompanied his brother to the show. “I believe I noticed the band sounded somewhat empty during Jimmy Page’s leads, as he double tracked in the studio, and did not duplicate that live, as it was probably impossible to do so with the technology at that time, without having one more guitar/keyboard player,” he tells LedZepNews. “And I remember going up and behind the band (about 25’ above them) when Bonham did his solo on ‘Moby Dick’. The live version was similar to the studio version, so my opinion of that did not change.”
“It seemed their energy was high, the crowd [was] into it, and it was not so loud where we were sitting,” he says.
After the brothers returned home, the film was stored in a closet in their parents’ house for years, Hunter explains. During the 1990s, he dug out his film and projected it onto a screen. Using a video camera, he made a new copy of it that he uploaded to YouTube after 2005.
Desportes’ decision to publish the footage online caught the eye of representatives of Led Zeppelin. “Led Zeppelin found it and asked me to send them the film, so they could professionally copy it for their web site,” Desportes recalls.
“Their copy, which they also sent to me along with my original film, was definitely better than my copy, and I could then impress my friends by telling them I was on the Led Zeppelin web site,” he adds.
Despite the band making use of the footage for its own website and YouTube channel, Desportes’ video was later removed following a copyright complaint by a company connected to Led Zeppelin. “It wasn’t a big deal, as now I could link to the video on the Led Zeppelin web site and share it that way,” Desportes says.
The footage remained online through Led Zeppelin’s channels for years until Eric Levy, known as LedZepFilm, spotted it and suggested a new transfer from the original film could improve the quality.
“It was a pleasure working with Hunter to get his Led Zeppelin footage transferred,” Levy says. “I’m only aware of two films in existence from the Spring 1970 tour, so getting this preserved in the best possible quality was quite important.”
“The process was simple: I sent him an email, explained what I do, and after some slight hesitation I’m grateful he agreed to get the film sent to The Negative Space,” he adds. “Nuff did an incredible job restoring what was a completely blue film reel to something far watchable.”
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