Sting's Birthday Bash

In the BBC’s centenary year, Later… with Jools Holland also celebrates a big birthday marking 30 years of the show, with the first ever episode

EXTRAORDINARY LED ZEPPELIN SHOW FROM LONDON’S ALBERT HALL • Led Zeppelin's 1970 United Kingdom Tour commenced on 7 January and concluded on 17 February. At all but one of the concerts on the tour the band did not use a support act, although Barclay James Harvest did perform an opening set at the Edinburgh Usher Hall gig on 7 February. • Arguably best known for the band's performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 9th January - Jimmy Page’s Birthday. The great man himself later stated: “The Royal Albert Hall was, at the time, the largest and most prestigious gig in London." Band's manager, Peter Grant, arranged for this performance to be professionally filmed by fashionable directors Peter Whitehead and Stanley Dorfman for a proposed documentary project. However, the film was not officially released at the time because the footage was reportedly shot at the wrong speed. A 40-minute cut was prepared but was deemed by the band to be of unsatisfactory quality. • With this legendary concert still being the subject of a live radio broadcast, it remains surprising that to date a CD of the event has not been issued. However, all this changes with the release of this superb new 2-Disc-Set, containing the entire, extraordinary concert.

OVERVIEW Formed in London in 1977, for most of their history the Police’s line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s.