Led Zeppelin Honoured In Denmark 45 years to the day of their their first concert…

45 years ago on September 7th 1968, the line soon to be known as Led Zeppelin performed their very first concert in Gladsaxe Denmark.. The occasion was being marked yesterday with an unveiling of a plaque at the school they appeared at.

Above photo -: Flemming Hjøllund.

Further info at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ledzeppelin45years/588002421232906?fref=ts

www.ledzeppelin1968.com

http://www.teenclubs.dk/Led_Zeppelins_first_gig.html

REMEMBERING 45 YEARS GONE….

With The New Yardbirds line-up complete, there was an outstanding engagement to fulfil that was left over from the old Yardbirds’ date sheet ­- a ten-date tour of Scandinavia. Billed as ‘The New Yardbirds’, the group that would become Led Zeppelin made their stage début on September 7 in Denmark.

“Standing by the side of the stage it was obvious that there was a chemistry,” said Peter Grant. Robert recalls: “We were very green – it was a tentative start but we knew we had something.”

The stage act for the début tour was based loosely on the set The Yardbirds had been performing on their final US tour. ‘Train Kept A Rollin’ was the opener and ‘Dazed & Confused’ the centrepiece, with Page using the violin bow. Old blues chestnuts ‘I Can’t Quit You’ and ‘You Shook Me’ were also delivered in the arrangements that would later appear on their first album. Early self penned numbers included ‘Communication Breakdown’ and ‘How Many More Times’ – the latter built around Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘How Many More Years’.

The act was fleshed out with a variety of covers – something that would remain a feature of their sets for many years to come. Elmore Gantry’s ‘Flames’ and Garnett Mimm’s ‘As Long As I Have You’ were early staples at this point. They also came up with a dynamic arrangement for the folk standard ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’. Page had played the Joan Baez version to Plant on their initial meeting. “I want to do a version of this but with a certain dynamic edge,” he told his new singer.

It was obvious to them all that even on this début tour the line-up had an identity all of its own. Page: “We realised we were working under false pretences, the thing had quickly gone beyond where The Yardbirds had left off. We all agreed there was no point in retaining the New Yardbirds tag so when we got back from Scandinavia we decided to change the name. It was a fresh beginning for us all.”

Equipment Notes:

For the early New Yardbirds’ dates and into their first US tour, Jimmy uses the Rickenbacker amp set-up left over from The Yardbirds’ days. His main guitar is the Fender Telecaster painted in psychedelic colours – a gift from Jeff Beck. He also carries with him a Gibson Les Paul that is gradually introduced and will later become his favoured instrument. For ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ and his ‘White Summer’ showcase, Jimmy uses a black and white Dan Electro. John Paul Jones favoured a 1963 Fender Jazz bass on these early shows. John Bonham’s drum set-up was a sparkle tinted Ludwig kit with a 24-inch bass drum and two floor tom-toms.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7th, 1968

GLADSAXE, DENMARK

TEEN CLUB BOX 45

Set included: Train Kept A Rollin’/I Can’t Quite You Baby/You Shook Me/Dazed And Confused/Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.

Billed as ‘Yard Birds’. Support from Fourways and Bodies. Ticket price 5-7 DKr.

Local photogropher Jorgen Angel became the first person to take photos of the new line up on stage.

He told Huge Jones’ Proximity magazine ”I took a number of photographs There wern’t many actual lights on stage in those days -at least nothing you could use, so I used a flash. I used my mother’s holiday camera and my father’s old flash and I just snapped away. When I first knew of the gig I was disappointed even before the concert because I was looking forward to seeing The Yardbirds again and what we were getting was one Yardbirds member and three totally unknown guys. My disappointment was only up until they started performing because it was a great concert”.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7th, 1968

BRONDBY, DENMARK

BRONDBY POP CLUB

Billed as ‘The Yard Birds’. Support from Day Of The Phoenix, The Eyes and Ham. Ticket price 4-8 DKr.

For the Scandinavian tours, the band were sometimes required to play two shows on the same day at different venues. After an early show, their minimal equipment would be  transported to a late show.

Peter Grant recalls: “The first time I saw them play was in Scandinavia. I remember standing on the side of the stage and being amazed. And Bonzo was only on £50 a week and I recall him coming back afterwards and offering to drive the van for another 50.”

Text from The Concert File by Dave Lewis & Simon Pallett (Omnibus Press)

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John Paul Jones at Polar Music Prize: 

Here’s the you tube clip of  John Paul  Jones appearance at the Polar Music Prize Talks staged in in Stockholm on August 26th –

Above photo via John Paul Jones website – John Paul Jones with Youssou N’Dour & Super Étoile de Dakar Band

This via the Polar Music Prize site…

You Tube clip

Meet Youssou N’Dour and Kaija Saariaho, Polar Music Prize Laureates 2013, in a talk led by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Polar Music Prize Laureate 2006.

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Robert Plant Presents Sensational Space Shifters Electric Picnic set:

There’s an opportunity to listen to the band’s full set at the Electric Picnic festival exclusively on RTE2fm via a link on Robert’s official web site –

http://www.robertplant.com/#news

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This one via CMU:

Canadian retailers remove Led Zep DVD from shelves after bootleg claim

HMV and Best Buy in Canada have pulled a DVD featuring a Robert Plant and Jimmy Page concert filmed in Japan in 1996 after Page’s lawyer declared the release an unofficial bootleg.

According to the QMI Agency, the boss of HMV Canada said they had been initially assured the DVD was legit by distributor Koch Entertainment, but a spokesman for the retailer has said they are now removing the product while they investigate further. Meanwhile Page’s lawyer George Fearon told the news agency “it is a bootleg”.

QMI reckons the content on the DVD, which is currently available in the UK on import via Amazon, is taken from a video of the Japanese concert recorded by Led Zeppelin fan Terry Stephenson. He says he had permission to make the recording, and shared copies of it with the band themselves as well as some other fans, but that the film was never intended for commercial release.

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Cassette Store Day:

It was cassette store day on Saturday – a celebration of those lovely artefacts we all have a zillion of…..it was therefore a strictly  cassette playlist here …who needs MP3 when you can have a cassette pet…C60 -C90-  C120 …let’s go!

More info at  http://cassettestoreday.com/

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Birthday Thanks: 

Sincere thanks for the many birthday wishes I received  – completely humbling, massively inspiring and totally uplifting.  Eye thank yew all…..

DL

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And finally…

Whole Lotta Love featured in Dior Homme Fragrance video:

Dior Homme Fragrance Official Film starring Robert Pattinson, directed by Romain Gavras. Music by Led Zeppelin.

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Until next time…Keep listening, keep reading…

Dave Lewis/Gary Foy – September 8th , 2013.