Robert Plant and John Bonham wearing funny masks onstage in Newcastle, November 30, 1972
Led Zeppelin and an Evening of Laughs!
Newcastle, November 30, 1972, was a night of silliness for sure. Before “Black Dog,” the third song of the night, Robert says, “...This is one that came off the one before Led Zeppelin four which ah, came out about a year ago. It's called My Brain Hurts.” According to a concert review from that night, though I can’t hear it in the bootlegs, the rest of the guys yell out “Boring!” in response. “My Brain Hurts” is a reference to a famous Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch involving the iconic character “Mr. Gumby” that premiered on November 23 of that same year. Clearly the bit was still fresh in their minds.
Immediately after introducing the song the band begins the play the intro to “Out on the Tiles” before Robert comes in with the “Black Dog” vocals and the band follows suit. The fun didn’t end there though. Robert continues on with the Monty Python references before the fourth number, “Misty Mountain Hop.” After making a joke about how “Misty Mountain Hop” “escaped the ease of the censors because it didn't really relate to the ding a ling,” a reference to the Chuck Berry song “My Ding-a-Ling” that was banned in England earlier that year, Robert introduces the song, saying, “Right, this is another one called My Brain Hurts.”
The rest of the show show continues without much antics until after an exciting and indulgent 20 minute rendition of Whole Lotta Love. The band briefly exits “only to return moments later attired in all manner of funny noses to pound out “Immigrant Song.” Around this time you can hear lots of laughter and cheering from the crowd. As seen in the photo, Robert is for some reason holding a cardboard cut out of “Fred the Flour Grader,” the mascot of the British food company “Homepride.” Robert then introduces “Immigrant Song” saying “Good evening. Had ya fooled, had ya fooled, see? This is for you Robert.” I suspect he may have been pretending Fred was introducing the song. 
There are many other great moments during this show, including Robert calling Jimmy “James” before “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” and playfully telling the crowd to “shut up” before “Stairway to Heaven.” Check it out here.
Here is a photo of the band backstage the same night, with only Jimmy in the mask. Unfortunately, I can’t find any photos of Jonesy wearing it.
You can’t find any photos of Jonesy wearing it but he really made up for it with his fucking terrifying expression
dude what the absolute hell
