Led Zeppelin on Tour

I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who was lucky enough to have seen Led Zeppelin in concert when they were still touring in the 70's..? If you have, I'm green with envy, but really what was that like? Thoughts, experiances?

 

the first time i saw led zep was at a rock festival in bath england in 1970. my friend and i had saved up to hitch hike around europe on our summer break from college. we landed in england the day before the festival started but knew nothing about it. we were very bummed cause we couldn't get into a youth hostel as they were all booked and wound up sleeping in victoria station. when we woke up we saw the poster advertising the rock festival and decided to hitch there not knowing that it was basically on the other side of the country.
though they had 2 albums out at the time, led zep didn't really hit it that big until "whole lot of love" hit the radio and was played constantly (at least where i lived). but there were incredible groups at this festival and we went not knowing who was even scheduled to appear. in those days you didn't care. we knew that there would be great music and a lot of pot so that's all that mattered back then. we wound up meeting some local guys and hanging out with them and totally freaking out to the music. i have to say that i remember the british going absolutely nuts when led zepplin came on at night. i was more excited to see johnny winter who was a favorite of mine. led zep weren't that huge yet in the US. they were definitely the loudest of the groups and my girlfriend and i tried to push to the front (approx 150,000 people) cause they blew us away. it was raining (it wouldn't be a rock festival back then unless it rained) and after a while we were pretty wet and miserable and wound up leaving before the byrds came on unfortunately. but i became a much bigger led zeppelin fan after that show and saw them again on their 1973 tour in a few different cities. i have some pictures i took at this festival somewhere though i know i didn't take any at night so i don't have any of zeppelin. if i can find them i'll post them. here's a partial list of who appeared at bath that summer.
the byrds
it's a beautiful day
johnny winter
jefferson airplane
frank zappa
country joe and the fish
canned heat
led zeppelin
donovan
john mayall and the blues breakers
moody blues
dr. john
pink floyd
fairport convention*
flock
santana

deezee

 

lucky bastard

 

Wow Deezee! That Bath Festival performance from June 28th 1970 is often heralded as a landmark performance for Zeppelin!

You didn't happen to have taped it by any chance did you? or know anyone that did?? lol because the recording available at the moment is very muddy and distorted ... people in the Zeppelin community are crying out for a decent recording of that show...

That show was important to the band as well at the time and Peter Grant knew it... He wanted them to go on stage just as the sun was setting in the evening... So, even before the band on before them were finished he was trying to pack up their gear and get them off so Zeppelin could take the stage! lol

There were also debuts from Led Zeppelin III played at Bath ... 'That's The Way' was performed as 'The Boy Next Door' and 'Immigrant Song' didn't even have the lyrics finished..

Anyway... enough rambling from me.. lol

I'm too young to have seen Zeppelin play in the flesh.. but I've got the second best thing in having nearly all the Zeppelin shows that are available.. from soundboards to audience recordings to pro-shot videos and 8mm audience shot videos... I have a disease

 

God I wish I was able. Im 18, so I never had the pleasure, and for that reason my life shall never be complete.

 

don't worry jim

it's a disease LOTS of us have..lol. we went to europe with only a backpack so unfortunately i didn't tape anything. i had first started taping at around this time too but we had no room to bring any equipment because you are thinking of the recording things you have now... but back then the machines used to tape were these huge things that looked like very old answering machines and were not easy to drag around. the first show i taped was a very early springsteen show that is still out there circulating and i have probably the same kind of collection on bruce that you have on led zeppelin.i was just lucky enough to have been the right age to be at the early shows of both. most of mine collection is on cassette not cd. i have never figured out how to change it over as i am "technologicaly challenged" as they say. as long as i can play it though that's all that matters to me.

it wasn't until the internet happened that i found out that this show was such a huge deal for led zeppelin fans. to most of the european fans it was their first big rock festival and it had many of the same elements as woodstock. i am a fan and love mostly their early stuff (wore out 3 copies of their first album which is still my favorite) but i was more obsessed with other groups. it's hard to explain but back then we had so many groups that were so amazing hit it big all within a few short years that it was hard to turn on the radio and hear bad music. it wasn't until later when the early 70's turned into more of a time for singer/songwriters that the music of led zeppelin stood out more for me and my friends as well. that's really when they took off here in the states. that and of course the release of "stairway to heaven" which became every radio stations national anthem and was played a minimum of 12 times an hour....:+)

watching the wheels...love your rock and roll heroes collage! you've nailed a lot of my favorites as well.

deezee

 

That's a great story Deezee! A know a lot of people that would give their right nut to have been at the Bath Festival '70 like you were! lol

Those other artists there kicked some major behind too!

I don't know if you've ever seen this website, but it's got some great information on The Bath Festivals in both '69 & '70..

http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/ebony/546/bA1.html

 

I am one of those people who would have given a nut to seen Zeppelin. Maybe both nuts and my dick too if thats what it would have taken. I think I have that "disease" too. I just hope there isn't a cure.

 

Deezee, that's fucking amazing, man. Thanks so much for sharing! If I had nuts (which I don't cause I'm a girl, duh.) I would probably have given one of mine too. I think. I'm postively green with envy. I'll bet you'll remember that for the rest of your life huh? Zep is fantastic. ::sighs and slips to the floor::

And to Jim: Just wondering whether you've read the book by Richard Cole: "Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin uncensored" I've just finished with it and I thought it was great.

 

No, I haven't read that one actually.... See, I heard bad things about it from various sources putting doubt into Richard's credibility and whether he 'elaborated' a tad for the 'quick buck'...

The bios I've read are 'Hammer Of The Gods' & 'The Definitive Biography' ... and those were a while ago now, when I was in the infancy of my Zeppelin obsession.. lol
The books I read these days are ones like 'The Concert File' and 'The Tight But Loose Files' ... These books have in-depth info into the music and the tours etc... which is what I want to read about really... I'm not too interested in their off-stage, groupie ladened debauchery.. lol

 

mrs. plant, i love your name lol

 

I think she took my hint and, when re-registering for the revamped forums, decided to be Robert's wife and not sister.. lol

 

And debauchery there was, according to Mr. Cole. It was a very...umm.. interesting take on Zep. Such explicit stories concerning the groupies and such. Made me ill. Whether it's all credible is still un-decided by me. How was "Hammer of the Gods"? I saw that one on the shelf as well, but the Richard Cole book looked more...Delicious. Isn't that horrible of me?

 

Thank you very much, Becknudefck! And yes, Jim, thanks to your suggestion, I finally changed the name.

 

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG I LOVE ROBERT PLANT SO MUCH!!! AHHHH I THINK HE WAS SOO SEXY!! WHY WHY WHY MUST I BE SO YOUNG!!!??? WHY WHY WHY!!!??? I WANT HIM (not now ew) I WANT HIM!!! IN THE '70S! AHHH I WISH THAT..................I WISH THAT I WAS HIS WIFE! (AND HE DIDNT HANG AROUND GROUPIES) which would be impossible if you have read richard cole's book "stairway to heaven" BUT OMG I LOVE HIM!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

Out of any band out there that I didn't get a chance to see, Led Zeppelin would be absolutely number 1 on my list - light years ahead of 2nd place, which would've been the Beatles and 3rd being Hendrix.

The only thing that I find puzzling is that from my research, they basically played almost the exact same set list every night for each tour, with a few deviations. With all the material they had, had I been around to see them, I would've wanted them to mix it up more.

All in all though, I'm highly jealous of anyone who had the opportunity to see them. Their live performances that I've seen on Video or heard on tape were truely mind blowing - powerful stuff.

 

I wish i had seen zeppelin live.. blame my mum for giving birth to me in 1990.. lol
But i was lucky enough to see Robert Plant live when he toured with his new band. That night was far out! The smell of incense, roberts beautiful voice.. it was perfect

 

I jsut saw him on Wednesday...and i think that the smell was Marijuana

 

I have over 150 of their live shows, maybe more.

1969-1973(up until may) were great times to see them in concert. After that, they went steadily downhill.

 

I really wish i would have seen zeppelin live, But unfortunatly i was born in 84. But my dad on the other hand has seen Zeppelin in 77. he said he doesnt really remember it too much though. He does still have his ticket stud.