The filmmakers behind “Becoming Led Zeppelin” digitally altered news footage from 1969, inserting images of a Led Zeppelin ticket and poster to make it appear to show crowds at an early Led Zeppelin show.
A new full length trailer for “Becoming Led Zeppelin” released on December 19 includes black and white footage of crowds at a concert. One of the concert attendees seen in the trailer appears to be holding a ticket for one of Led Zeppelin’s January 1969 shows at the Fillmore West.
Sony Pictures Classics, the film’s US distributor, announced in a May 15 press release that the film will include “a huge amount of unseen Led Zeppelin performance footage, including The Fillmore West (January 1969)”.
However, it has now emerged that the black and white concert footage shown in the new trailer is actually from a January 28, 1969 KPIX Eyewitness News report from the Fillmore West that was shot a week after Led Zeppelin performed at the venue in January 1969.
A copy of the original KIPX film that is available through the Bay Area Television Archive held at the San Francisco State University shows the concertgoer was actually handing over a different ticket.
The footage included in “Becoming Led Zeppelin” has been altered to superimpose a Led Zeppelin ticket on top of the actual piece of paper handed over, making it seem like the footage showed crowds at a Led Zeppelin performance. The edited ticket was first spotted by Royal Orleans forum user blackmikito.
The version of the footage used in the new “Becoming Led Zeppelin” trailer was also altered to edit out the lefthand poster shown on the rear wall in the original news report which clearly identifies the footage as originating from later in January 1969.
The filmmakers altered the footage used for the “Becoming Led Zeppelin” trailer to remove the poster, instead inserting a poster advertising Led Zeppelin’s January 1969 appearances at the venue.
It remains unclear whether performance footage showing Led Zeppelin playing at the Fillmore West in January 1969 is included in “Becoming Led Zeppelin”.
The emergence of this alteration to video used in the film follows LedZepNews’ discovery in November that audio from a 1972 Australian radio interview with Robert Plant and John Bonham had been edited together to create clips of Bonham describing Led Zeppelin’s first rehearsal as “stunning”. A copy of the original interview shows that Bonham was actually describing a reaction by fans to a 1965 performance by The Beatles, however.
Does not bode well.
Great…doctoring footage. Nice one.
And people are buying into “AI” which is just faking everything to seem legit.
I’m into deception and fakery, although not for use in historical revisionism. I violently oppose that. I’m at peace with artistic licence.
All forms of violence is an unnecessary evil, as i’m sure you’re well aware. ☮️🕊️
I believe it would have been much easier to find archive footage of Led Zeppelin tours of 1973, 75, 77
I have no interest in seeing this documentary after reading this.
What’s the point of a documentary if you can’t trust whether or not anything in it is true?
I know they have footage from various different shows from 75-77- and 78 seen quite a few. I do not like AI ..I like real and factual history 💯
I wonder what Jimmy thoughts are on this. Is he aware of this? It’s so sad fans waited decades for a Led Zeppelin documentary and this is what we get. Only the first year and it’s doctored up. So sad
The film makers had a chance to put together a truly great documentary about this band, and instead they resort to AI trickery. I was beyond excited to see this film, but instead will be passing on this one 😞
They have no reason to fake anything about this band . The sold out millions and millions of shows . They should be showing really footage not fakery
Jimmy Page is the quintessential, pinacle of upstanding, outstanding honesty and integrity. This is big as it gets, not just fans and everyone who loves the music. A piece of music history that changed music forever. Where heavy metal and hard rock began. With out no Metalica. Only together 3 months and Zep 1 and 2 released in 69. Fools AI is about to destroy all that we once mew as facts. Don’t go more room for me a few 100 million or more who will. artificial is artificial. dumb dumbs
Jimmy stole all the songs from lZ 1&2 so much for integrity But I think what he did was Genius !
I have been a Led Zeppelin fan for over 45 years. I have every album. After reading this I plan to burn them all and condemn the surviving members. The Monkees are my new favourite band.
You’re 100% right. You can be sure that there was nothing manufactured in anything the Monkees ever did! I’m with you on this one.
I think you’re over reacting.
This kind of manipulation is concerning. The most recent trailer also has a weirdly cut up sounding “quote” from JB saying ‘I got my first drumkit when I was 10″ I thought the official line on that was he got a snare at 10, and an old, rusty full kit at 15. I think they’ve been mining that Australia 72 with JB/RP for clips, maybe the Roy Carr one too.
What’s wrong with these people! Tickets,concert posters! Talk about puerile nonsense. Its manufactered drivel from people who will never play on a track like Stairwar To Heaven. Drivel
that has nothing at all to do with the music or legacy.
I saw Zeppelin in Australia in 1972 at 21. The Monkees were a fake band, Milli Vanilli won awards, until they were caught. Hundreds of bands couldn’t play properly, hence they would hire people like Page. No squealing about that! Grow up.
always wondered why it toke so long to edit this film a good three years now we know why all this stitching up ive never been very excited about this its two dated for me robert plant dont care for much either ill be looking forward to what fans on this website and dave lewis of tight but loose have to say about it as for me count me out MAAANNN
Please learn to use punctuation.
I’d rather read straight raw gut thoughts than computer assisted sterile confabulations
Doesn’t surprise me. It’s pieced together more than the fake scenes from TSRTS film. But that was during the naive days of the 1970s. With everything under a microscope these days, they should’ve known better than to mess with Zep History. Older fans like me will call foul while youngsters will just say whatever (as they toke on legalized marijuana) – which is also lame as *uck. We will never see an unsanitized film about Zep until all three members are gone. These guys were not pretty boys like the Beatles . Everything about their charm and popularity was based on the under belly of both society and music. We loved it. Ate it up. So why are left with a Mary Poppins version of 1969 ?
Meh…don’t really care about altered tickets & such, as long as they didn’t alter footage of the Archies or the 1910 Fruit Gum Company to say it’s “Led Zeppelin footage”..¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I knew rob plant when he lived in walsall in the mid 60s used go to del rio coffee bar he lived in bloxwich rd some talented rock stars.eg.noddy holder come off the beechdale estate,Rob Halford judas.preist also the moody blues played regulary at the cas bar my wife worked with rob halfords dad saw rob plant at the wolves who we both support and we had a good chat a few months ago
Fact or fiction. Does it even matter anymore? This whole thing is just disappointing. Real journalism has gone to the dogs. We can’t trust anything as truth. What a great future we will have. Whether we believe it or not.
seems like a money grab
wait a couple of months and it will be for free on netflix
Meh. Big hairy deal. It’s probably 3 seconds long and done simply to add a visual context to the dialogue at that point in the film. Big whoop.
It’s amazing how many run-on sentences are in the comments. Every documentary takes liberties, so get over yourselves. It’s entertainment.
Man, so many of these comments have users lost on grammatical flow. How do you bloody get by on the planet with at least the 33 percent necessity of facing professional rigor?
Wot?
This, with the Bonham quote tampering, just smacks of inauthenticity. A prelude to the other lies that will be spun. Also, why is the premiere going to be in the USA and not worldwide?
It isn’t. It’s premiering in Canada too.
I think Zeppelin should show the world that it will not stand for this. Nuke the doc for morbid. Someone else can make a better one.
This is what you been waiting for.
There IS a 2025 tour coming. Mick and Keith convinced them.
This film is to find the cities where a tour would be viable or IF a tour is viable.
The better the numbers for the film in your town the better the chance a city near you gets a concert date.
I do t really care about any of that. What cares what concert they had tickets for? I just would like to see some new, high quality footage. That will speak for itself.
Seems a bit silly to adulterate an image and the films reputation over something so minimal? There has always been a mist of secrecy surrounding Zeppelin and their catalogue. I have to wonder about my urgency to review this release. Reality is all this vault digging should have been done about 20 years ago or more. Everyday more fans are passing away than are being born. My son ( or his friends)do not care about Zeppelin(unfortunately).
Ain’t nothing like the real thing. The AI was totally unnecessary. Knowing about it kinda spoils my excitement about the documentary now. I’m such a fan what material there is would have been perfectly enough as is. I want nothing more than to see & hear all things real that Led Zeppelin was ever a part of. Die hard fan but please keep it real & alive forever. I don’t want to live without Led Zeppelin in my life. It’s my maintenance medication.
You people crying about a superimposed ticket on an old need reel meant to represent a moment in time, a fictionalized version of something that actually did happen hundreds, thousands of times are complete fucking idiots. Artistic license is mentioned in the comments. This is an example of artistic license.
If you morons want to dismiss a lifetime of work and talent and meaning and effort because you are offended by this shining example of nothing then please, do not go the fucking movie, burn your records and books too of course, and curse the band and their families for all eternity.
Idiots. You do not deserve the music or the spirit of the people who made it.