Led Zeppelin - Avocado

This early Led Zeppelin piece was unlike any other poster in the Bill Graham series. Artist Randy Tuten had grown tired of seeing blimps in every Led Zeppelin advertisement, so he came up with the green avocado. Tuten liked it so much he "... wanted to do one a month that way- a series of crazy fruit posters." We can report that this never happened. The photo of the Avocado was by American contemporary artist Peter Pynchon.

This poster advertised the first shows by Led Zeppelin on the second tour of North America. Fittingly, as Bill Graham was the biggest and most important rock promoter in the world by now, the tour started and ended with Bill Graham venues. Their final shows were on May 30 and 31 at the Fillmore East in New York City. Here, in San Francisco, the played both the Fillmore West and Winterland. It was a pattern Graham had established years before with the Thursday and Sunday dates at the smaller Fillmore West (capacity 3,000) while the weekend shows were at Winterland (5,400).

At this point in time, Led Zeppelin's popularity was such that the group had reached top billing - on their first visit to San Francisco they opened for Country Joe & The Fish. They were now receiving four times the money that they had previously commanded on their first tour of America just a few months earlier.

During this tour the band took time out to record tracks at various recording studios for Led Zeppelin II which was released later that Fall. It was during this period that guitarist Jimmy Page switched from using his Telecaster to his signature Gibson Les Paul, whilst also incorporating the use of Marshall amplifiers.