led zeppelin 1969 tour

Led Zeppelin and the shows that broke America (and blew Ace Frehley's mind)

The audience may not have been prepared when Led Zeppelin played the final shows of their first US tour... but the band were ready to explode

With their debut album just released, Led Zeppelin hit the road for the first time in the US. Their first show was on Boxing Day, 1968, at the Auditorium Arena in Denver, playing unannounced support to Vanilla Fudge and Spirit .

Other landmarks on the tour included a show at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, where they were billed as "Led Zefflin", and a short run of dates at the Whisky A-Go-Go in Los Angeles with the Alice Cooper band. A coin was to be flipped to decide who would headline as both acts were largely unheard of, but the rising Detroit rockers  graciously acquiesced and agreed to open "because Jimmy Page was in The Yardbirds”. 

The important shows – the ones the band absolutely had to get right – were were the ones promoted by legendary impresario Bill Graham: four bookings (two sets per day) at the Fillmore West in San Francisco supporting Country Joe & The Fish, with Taj Mahal opening, then four shows across three nights at the Fillmore East in New York, supporting Iron Butterfly.   

"The first few shows were a bit shaky and the press wasn’t good to them," Zeppelin tour manager Richard Cole recalled. "Robert [Plant] used to sing in his bare feet in those days. He was always a fuckin’ hippie. But by the time we got to New York, the whole thing had gotten so solid that it became the one unit that it was to be for many years."

Amongst the crowd at those Fillmore East shows were several musicians who'd go onto bigger things. And they'll all tell you how Led Zeppelin got it absolutely right.  

"That show at the Fillmore East changed my life," said future Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley . "I was 16 when I saw them. A lot of people didn’t know who Led Zeppelin were, although the 'in' people did. The lead singer in the group that I was playing with at the time, who was a couple of years older than me told me, 'There’s this great new band called Led Zeppelin that’s gonna play at the Fillmore East and you’ve gotta see them.'

"I think I got their first album a week or two before the show and I fell in love with it. I was real excited about going to the show. I remember it like it was yesterday. They were using Rickenbacker amps, which you can’t find anymore. Back then Page wasn’t using a Les Paul, he was using a Telecaster.

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"Between him and Robert Plant they destroyed. They took over the Fillmore East to the point where, after they went off and the headliner was coming on, half the people walked out and didn’t come back. I still think about that first time I saw Led Zeppelin at The Fillmore from time to time. God, I wish somebody had a video camera back then, it was incredible."

"I was there when they headlined the Fillmore East [in New York] on January 31, 1969," recalled future Twisted Sister guitarist Yay Jay French. "I was only there to see Iron Butterfly, the headlining band. I had a front row seat. Believe it or not, the opening act was a gospel group called Porter's Popular Preachers [brought in as a late replacement for The Move]. And then out comes Led Zeppelin.

"It was one of the most startling performances I ever saw. Page was playing a Telecaster and they played the entire first album, from start to finish. At one point the band stopped playing and Robert put the microphone aside and sang just through the strength of his lungs and basically filled the Fillmore. It was insane. I ran out and bought Zeppelin’s album on the way to school the next day.

"I ended up burning those Iron Butterfly records. I had the honour of having dinner with Robert Plant in 1988, and we spoke about that show. He asked whether I remembered burst of laughter during Ron Bushy’s drum solo during In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida . I didn’t hear it but apparently there was a dressing room-come-balcony that hung over the stage, and [John] Bonham was doubled over in hysterics at how bad the solo was. Zeppelin knew they’d eaten the headline band for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Another wannabe musician blown away by witnessing Led Zeppelin at the Fillmore East was future Ramones drummer Marky Ramone, whose happy memories of the night were somewhat at odds with his eventual career path.

"I first saw Zeppelin play live at the Fillmore East," said Ramone. "I was 13, 14. I knew an usher and he let me in for free. I was just blown away. Outrageous. They were the ultimate band at that moment. They blew away everybody that came before them: Hendrix, Cream … Bonham’s quadruples around the drum set and his triplets and Page’s triplets. Plant’s range was just amazing. And the bass tones that John Paul Jones used were incredible. They played seven-minute songs. They didn’t do two-minute songs."

The four nights were an overwhelming success – although Led Zeppelin's third set started without John Paul Jones onstage after the band left his bass guitar at their hotel – and Bill Graham was happy. The tour wound up at the Civic Center in Baltimore, MD, on February 7, and when they returned in April for a second US tour, they were suddenly headliners: eight sets at the Fillmore West, and four at the East.

Led Zeppelin were on their way.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.  

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Flashback: Led Zeppelin Play to a Crowd of Seated Danish Teens

By Hank Shteamer

Hank Shteamer

Led Zeppelin emerged fully formed. Their self-titled debut, which turns 50 on Saturday, catalogued the sounds that would come to define the band, from stinging riff rock to epic, improv-heavy blues and moody acoustic folk.

Onstage, the band was just as much of a juggernaut. They started out their first U.S. tour in December 1968 as openers, setting the stage for Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly and others, but by the end of the run in early ’69, they were topping the bill. Despite having been together for only about six months, Zeppelin were an extraordinarily tight band by the time of a spring 1969 tour that saw them hopping back and forth between the U.K. and Scandinavia.

It’s this tour that gave rise to some of the greatest-ever footage of Zeppelin playing live: just over 30 minutes of material recorded at the Gladsaxe Teen Club in Gladsaxe, Denmark — the same venue where the quartet of Robert Plant, Jimmy Plage, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played their first ever live show , under the name the New Yardbirds.

If you want to see Zeppelin rocking a concert hall or arena, you have plenty of options to choose from, including the Royal Albert Hall show from January 1970, the famed Song Remains the Same footage from Madison Square Garden in July ’73, or the Earls Court gig in ’75. But the Gladsaxe footage is special for a couple reasons. First, it gives us an extended glimpse at the group gigging before they were superstars; this is Zeppelin when they were simply a hungry, ass-kicking young band doing their thing. (And there’s something extremely charming, not to mention surreal, about seeing such a legendary group play to a seated audience — at the beginning we see the attendees file in and politely claim spots on the floor.) Second, unlike most of the later Zeppelin concert films, this one features relatively stable, democratic shots, allowing us to watch the entire band pretty much the whole time, instead of just endless clips of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page preening with tiny snippets of John Paul Jones and John Bonham mixed in. Zeppelin were one of the most well-balanced rock bands of all time, and this is one of the few filmed documents of them that lets you really relish that fact over an extended period.

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Like the debut album itself, the Gladsaxe set list plays like a concise Zeppelin sampler platter, giving fans a taste of all the group’s many fortes, in the form of four songs from Led Zeppelin . There’s a ripping “Communication Breakdown”; an alternately chill and torrential “Dazed and Confused” — if you remain unconvinced that Bonham was in fact the greatest rock drummer of all time, pay close attention from 4:00 through 4:20 and get back to us — that features plenty of Page’s trademark ( proto–Spinal Tap ) bowed guitar wizardry; a wrenching “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”; and a jammy, extended take on “How Many More Times.”

By the end of that year, Zeppelin were huge stars, headlining Carnegie Hall, San Francisco’s Winterland and the Boston Garden on their fall ’69 American tour. That intimate March gig would be their last visit to the Gladsaxe Teen Club — their next show in Denmark was at Copenhagen’s 3,000-capacity K.B. Hallen — and maybe the last time ever that Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham played to such a demure crowd. For those of us not lucky enough to have been there, this video makes for one hell of a time machine.

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Home » Shop » Led Zeppelin » Programs » Program 1969 USA Tour

Program 1969 USA Tour

Hardbound Program Year: 1969 Location: USA From the collection of Bob DeleerSAsnyder

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1969 American Tour Book

By zeptangerine August 4, 2008 in Led Zeppelin Newbies

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Zeptangerine.

Repeat, I'm NOT a newbie- obviously - but I do have a question about the 1969 American/US Tour book. Any help would be appreciated.

Q: Does the original book have staples in the spine?

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Share on other sites, eternal light.

Repeat, I'm NOT a newbie- obviously - but I do have a question about the 1969 American/US Tour book. Any help would be appreciated. Q: Does the original book have staples in the spine?

I don't recall seeing a tour book from 1969. There are no staples in the original Led Zeppelin Complete Guitar songbook published in 1975 by Superhype though.

SteveAJones

I'll have to check my original to be sure but I believe it does.

Thanks, Steve. Mine has staples too, but it's odd b/c it's "book" like and I'm always leary of repros.

(I just aquired this recently, and it's almost too good to be true due to its mint condition, outside and in.)

btw- Do you know if any reproductions of this tour book that were printed since the 1969 printing?

badgeholder

I'm pretty sure mine was a reproduction. From Rick Barrett maybe?

Who's that?

The original 1969 American tour program DOES have staples in the spine.

I collect programmes / programs from the later 60s onwards and I am aware of reproductions of this one. The original is a beautiful HARDCOVER program by the Visual Thing. (it's an American item, so I'll use the American spelling, eh? Program .... a bit weird for a Brit like me).

Here's a quick and easy way to help identify a vintage program.

Get your nose close to it and smell that wonderful old aroma (it's difficult to forge). Also, if you have any doubt, take a look at the staples and make sure they don't look brand new (although a well stored item may not exhibit much tarnishing on the staples). Often the paper feels different to the modern stuff and sometimes the ink just seems different - the cover of Bath 1969 is a really good example of this.

I hope this helps.

The original 1969 American tour program DOES have staples in the spine. I collect programmes / programs from the later 60s onwards and I am aware of reproductions of this one. The original is a beautiful HARDCOVER program by the Visual Thing. (it's an American item, so I'll use the American spelling, eh? Program .... a bit weird for a Brit like me). Here's a quick and easy way to help identify a vintage program. Get your nose close to it and smell that wonderful old aroma (it's difficult to forge). Also, if you have any doubt, take a look at the staples and make sure they don't look brand new (although a well stored item may not exhibit much tarnishing on the staples). Often the paper feels different to the modern stuff and sometimes the ink just seems different - the cover of Bath 1969 is a really good example of this. I hope this helps.

Hi! Thank you. This is extremely helpful. I do have the hardback version, btw.

The first thing that hit me when I opened it was the smell. It does smell old- slightly mildewy, not moldy old but not fresh, either. Kind of like my basement. Also, the staples aren't shiny but they aren't rusted either. The paper almost feels like currency, a bit grainy but with a matte finish. I also noticed there is some yellowing on the inside back/front covers, but no doubt that was my fault for exposing this to air for the first time in 40 years? I was told this was in storage and never opened. It appears to be so. Maybe I should use white gloves upon handling from now on.

Outside of doing a Carbon 14 dating test, is there any other point to check it further?

Thanks again.

Hi! Thank you. This is extremely helpful. I do have the hardback version, btw. The first thing that hit me when I opened it was the smell. It does smell old- slightly mildewy, not moldy old but not fresh, either. Kind of like my basement. Also, the staples aren't shiny but they aren't rusted either. The paper almost feels like currency, a bit grainy but with a matte finish. I also noticed there is some yellowing on the inside back/front covers, but no doubt that was my fault for exposing this to air for the first time in 40 years? I was told this was in storage and never opened. It appears to be so. Maybe I should use white gloves upon handling from now on. Outside of doing a Carbon 14 dating test, is there any other point to check it further? Thanks again.

I'm glad I could help. Well, Im sure you already know if you have an authentic piece of early Zep.

ps- it does say Visual Thing in the programme program. (now that looks Russian...)

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

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Led Zeppelin L'Olympia Paris France 1969

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Led Zeppelin

• Discography
• London 12.10.07
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• Public Hall - October 24, 1969

includes: Good Times Bad Times (intro) ~ Communication Breakdown, I Can't Quit You Baby, Heartbreaker, Dazed and Confused, You Shook Me, White Summer / Black Mountain Side, Moby Dick, How Many More Times, Bring It On Home (encore) .

Support act: Grand Funk Railroad

Newspaper review: Cleveland. 8:32 p m.: Grand Funk Railroad comes in late. But they come on strong, sounding very heavy under the big pink WIXY 1260 sign and Public Auditorium fills with red and purple music and things are good for 2,000 kids, freaks, and music.

9:50 p.m.: Led Zeppelin just appears. The look is that particular brand of London freak — short on leather — and the colors in the hall change from deep solid to pink and white, like the white satin trousers of Jimmy Page - the musician, the magician, who plucks effects, acidity-blue atmosphere from his guitar, and music.

The light is not red but white, and hundreds of music technicians, and two screaming girls, crowd up front — really out front - to see close up and where one ear anyway is next to an eight-foot amplifier speaker and everyone looks at Jimmy Page's very fast fingers except in the black where a heady haze wraps around the music, and in the back people move, or stand alone or not. and things are good in the back.

While up front Jimmy Page uses a bow and does many things, as a hassle starts with fire aisles between the seats which have been a hassle (no blankets), and a man calls for the Angels to make a fire lane through the Page watchers, and they do. In the back, in the front, in the balcony, on stage, in the seats in the middle, the music goes on for a while, and then Led Zeppelin disappears. (Oct. '69)

includes: Good Times Bad Times (intro) ~ Communication Breakdown, I Can't Quit You Baby, Heartbreaker, Dazed and Confused, You Shook Me, White Summer / Black Mountainside, Moby Dick, How Many More Times, Bring It On Home (encore) .

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