When a suburban school outside Copenhagen became ground zero for Led Zeppelin
A gig at an old hotel in Seattle, pays for the gas to take Nirvana to LA to record Nevermind
August 5, 2020In the summer of 1968, guitarist Jimmy Page is returning from The States, after a tour with The Yardbirds. They are only two members remaining in the band when they arrive at the airport, the band is breaking up!
A short tour in Scandinavia is already booked, and Page sees this as an opportunity to try something new with the band.
Terry Reid is asked to sing, but due to his contract, he is not allowed, but he sends Page in the direction of an unknown singer named Robert Plant. Plant has a childhood friend by the name John Bonham, whom he recommends for the drumming gig.
All falls into place when friend of Page, John Paul Jones, offers his service as bass player. The New Yardbirds are born!
The band starts rehearsing in mid August for the tour already booked for The Yardbirds, and a few weeks later, they find them selves at their first gig, at a school in the suburbs of Copenhagen in Denmark.
There are some disgruntled attendees in the audience that evening, not at all pleased with paying a ticket to a band, where only one member of The Yardbirds is left. But the host of the evening, reassures all that what they have heard during the soundcheck, is really promising!
It must have been a great show, attendees remembers this legendary night fondly, and today the school is honored with a Led Zeppelin plaque. And already six months later, in march 1969, the band is back at the Teen Club, for at short five song-afternoon gig.
Two days later the band is at a TV studio in Denmark, recording a short set for television. A show that can be seen on the Led Zeppelin DVD boxset from 2003.
Visit the Gladsaxe Teen Club site for photos, stories and even the contract for the evening.
