Re: 5/11/69 Memories

["John Bindon" <john_bindon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for the concert memory of this Seattle show at the old Green Lake 
Amphitheater.  I used to run at Green Lake a lot when I lived in the 
neighborhood, and constantly tried to envision what that concert might have 
looked like each time I passed the remains of the Amphitheater.  It seems 
like Zeppelin played just about every venue that Seattle had to offer from 
the smallest outdoor festival to their massive show in the Kingdome and 
everything in between.


>From: "Montgomery" <dmontgomery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <zeppelin@xxxxxxxx>
>Subject: 5/11/69 Memories
>Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 12:50:42 -0500
>
>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...)