A security guard who witnessed the backstage violence that occurred when Led Zeppelin performed at the Day on the Green festival in Oakland, California on July 23, 1977 has spoken for the first time about the events.
Greg Baeppler worked for Led Zeppelin as a security employee and has been frequently named in books and other accounts of the violence as being present that weekend.
In a pair of comments posted on the LedZepNews website linked to an email account that also bears his name, Baeppler said that “without question things got out of hand” when violence erupted as three employees of Bill Graham were assaulted.
Baeppler posted his comments in response to the ‘Day on the Green Files’ investigation LedZepNews published in June. The extensive article uses new interviews, previously unseen lawsuit filings and uncovered correspondence from four US senators to piece together the events that happened backstage at the festival and their impact.
The article includes “some terrible truths and some terrible fabrications by people who were at the best, on the periphery of the entire incident,” according to Baeppler.
Violence broke out backstage after festival employee Jim Matzorkis asked Warren Grant, the son of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, not to remove a sign from a trailer being used as a dressing room.
“I was less than 20 feet from the trailer steps when Jim Matzorkis took the wooden sign from Warren Grant,” Baeppler wrote. “Warren was being a ten year old (+/-) and Matzorkis certainly had no intention of assaulting him…however it did come off all wrong.”
“Without question things got out of hand in the next 15 minutes,” Baeppler added, “but much of it could have been avoided. From that time through Monday morning was interesting to say the least.”
John Bonham, Peter Grant, tour manager Richard Cole and Led Zeppelin security employee John Bindon were all accused of being involved in the violence.
Baeppler spent the weekend protecting the members of Led Zeppelin, he explained. “My observations continued through the next three days as I was always in close proximity to the principals,” he wrote.
On the morning of Monday, July 25, 1977, Baeppler witnessed the arrest of Bonham, Grant, Cole and Bindon at the San Francisco Hilton hotel where the band was staying.
“As I walked through the lobby of the Hilton, I observed a group of Oakland and SF plainclothes police officers and detectives (if you are a policeman you can spot other officers … we don’t dress that well) standing near the desk,” Baeppler wrote.
“They explained that they had misdemeanor arrest warrants for Peter Grant, John Bindon, John Bonham and Richard Cole. They had a room list but all the names were pseudonyms and it would have been impossible to enter all 50 rooms,” he added.
“As a member of the band traveling group, I knew the pseudonyms. We agreed to work together and eventually proceeded to Peter Grant’s suite. At that point Peter then summoned Bindon, Bonham and Cole up to his suite and they were arrested without incident (or handcuffs) and proceeded to police cars located in the service area and then to Oakland PD.”
According to Baeppler, “the entire incident is totally contrary to anything Robert, John Paul Jones or Jimmy Page would engage in and should not be anything but a footnote in their lives.”
Along with the main investigation into the events of that weekend and the Day on the Green Files, LedZepNews has also published a series of related articles:
- The Day on the Green Files: Unseen documents reveal the full impact of Led Zeppelin’s 1977 backstage violence
- The Day on the Green Files: 4 senators were involved in campaign to ban Led Zeppelin from the US
- The Day on the Green Files: Led Zeppelin worked for a Russian ballerina and Dutch radio hosts
- The Day on the Green Files: Led Zeppelin signed a deal to continue working until at least 1991
- The Day on the Green Files: A confidentiality agreement is still in place 46 years after the backstage violence
- The Day on the Green Files: Crew member speaks out over Led Zeppelin’s ‘toxic’ 1977 tour
- The Day on the Green Files: Read the full documents here
madman grant sure did give zeppelin a bad reputation with is bullying and volence which was totally unfair for plant jones and page and there again bonham didnt do inself any favours either for whats gone down in print over the years
Who cares? Fans want new bootleg releases not something negative that carries the same weight as redacted JFK files. It happened over 45 years ago. Who cares?
It helps to put things into proper historical perspective, especially as this is one fish tale that had continue to grow through the years. As for myself, I need another bootleg release like I need another hole in my head.