5/11/69 Memories

["Montgomery" <dmontgomery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's a post from another newsgroup where Zep is frequently discussed, with
recollections of the 5/11/69 Seattle gig from the perspective of a young
guitar player:


Zep opened for Three Dog Night at the Aqua Theater gig...they played on the
tiny dock. The Aqua Theater is a small bleacher type facilty that probably
holds about 300 people. But Green Lake park on a hot summer day will draw
thousands of people. There was little or no security, so Tommy and John
Schneider walked right up and stood at the side of the stage (dock) for
Zep's set. Zep was only known to the hip musician's at that time. Most
everybody else was there to see TDN. Page played the Tele thru big
Rickenbaker amps that looked like Vox super Beatle's. (big cabs on chrome
stands)..it was his 'pre Les
Paul-Marshall" rig). Bonham was sick that day, but as usual pulled out all
the stops. According to Tommy, during the climax of his drum solo, he was
doing his famous 'faster than the speed of light' kick drum triplets while
doing a one handed snare roll, while twirling a drum stick over his head
with his other hand...while all this was going on, he turned his head to the
side and started to throw up. (ie: Barf...blow chunks...) He didn't stop
playing! ...I know this isn't pretty, but it just goes to show you what a
dedicated showman (?!?) Bonzo was...nothing could slow that gorilla
down....They finished the set and Plant walked over to Schnieder (mistaking
him for a roadie or something) and said..."whaz the ka"..("where's the
car")...evidently the car that was supposed to shuttle them out of there was
MIA, so Tommy called them a cab, providing ample time to converse with
Bonham about drum stuff.

That's all I remember from that one, but I'll try to get Tom to chime in
with more Zep related history from the Seattle episodes.

That was a magical time when the fever regarding Zep was spreading like
wildfire. For musicians of that day, Zep created a giant Tsunami Tidal Wave
that had players in utter awe as to how those guys did what they did. The
Zep mystique filled the sky like a giant atom bomb mushroom cloud, causing a
ripple effect accross the country, sending young musicans straight to the
stereo to learn the secret licks and drum patterns that were unlike anything
we'd ever heard before.

It was as if overnight we went from bad fuzzy out of tune guitar parts (ie:
early Jefferson Airplane etc) to ballbusters like 'Dazed and Confused' and
How Many More Times'.  The bar had been raised ten notches.

When Zep hit the scene in that first year of U.S. dates...they ripped the
jugular vein of the U.S. rock scene.

(...man, those were fun times...)