Keith Moon sitting at John Bonham’s drum kit while Jimmy Page looks on, June 23rd, 1977.
While many (most?) drunken escapades end up badly—but especially when they’re taking place in front of thousands of people—the time The Who’s antic-prone timekeeper Keith Moon crashed a Led Zeppelin gig in 1977, was thankfully not such an occasion.
Keith Moon and Robert Plant on stage at the Forum in Los Angeles, June 23, 1977.
Keith Moon sitting behind John Bonham’s mythical drum kit, June 23, 1977.
On June 23rd, 1977, the perpetually drunk Keith Moon unexpectedly joined Led Zeppelin onstage at the Forum in Los Angeles, along with his bongos and a tambourine during “Moby Dick” and the band’s encore. At one point after Moon’s impromptu materialization, he commandeered Robert Plant’s microphone and began to regale the crowd before Plant, who was chopping away behind Bonham’s kit, shut him down.
The action with Moon, who engages in what I can only describe as an awesome “drum duel” of sorts with Bonham, starts at about 5:40. Sadly, it would turn out to be the last time Moon would perform on U.S. soil as he passed away just over a year later in September of 1978 at the all-too-young age of 32. Bonzo wouldn’t last that much longer himself, dying in his sleep on September 24, 1980. He was also just 32 years old.
Keith Moon crashes a Led Zeppelin gig in Los Angeles, June 23rd, 1977.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Iggy Pop: ‘America is a nation of midgets led by dwarves’ plus Iggy hates Led Zeppelin. Who knew?