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Led Zeppelin concert wows Cleveland crowd


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Led Zeppelin concert wows Cleveland crowd

Elyria, OH Chronicle Telegram Tue., Sept. 1, 1970

by John Klein

If people left the Led Zeppelin concert Wednesday with any feeling short of musical ecstasy, they must have gone to be heard and not to hear. Zeppelin burned their tunes into the half-filled Public

Auditorium for nearly two hours while everyone dazedly moved only with the pulse coming from the stage.

They started the concert with the tunes from their first two albums that everyone has heard many times, but no one seemed to care. They just listened and worked it out in their heads. Where the early Zeppelin used noise, Jimmy Page picked and bowed his guitar - as only he could, changing the

noise of his old days into music that wouldn't quit. All the time lead vocalist Robert Plant wailed and moved as the music was blasted to him.

The surprise of the night came as Plant, Page, and bass player John Paul Jones moved out in front with their acoustic strings. With Page on the guitar, Jones on the mandolin, and Plant on the

microphone, they started in on the audience with Led Zeppelin III, their yet unreleased album. They displayed an honesty only music could as they dedicated this song to a friend that had just been

killed in a motorcycle accident.

They finished the regular part of their concert with Jones and a far-out organ on a little known Zeppelin tune called "Thank You," then hit with "Whole Lotta Love." When they left the stage,

the crowd clammered for more, not letting up until there was music once more. Zeppelin returned with John Bonham featured on drums. As the rest of the group left the stage, Bonham did everything

possible to make his drums talk, plus a few things that weren't in the book.

When the remaining group members returned to the stage, Jones had split to England for family reasons and Plant said that was it; but as the audience pressed to the stage, they agreed to continue.

As they got set to do more, Page popped a string. To fill the gap Plant started to play his harp while Bonham started in on the tabla drums. When Page fixed his guitar, he joined in on the jam. They

were then joined by a girl in a Belkin Production tee shirt who played bass to finish the night.

This time they left for good, leaving Led Zeppelin burned into everyone's mind, something

you don't hear every day

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The concert showtime was moved up from 8:30pm to 5:30pm to allow John Paul Jones to fly to London...his father died that night. (Several of the other dates in August had already been postponed to allow John to remain at his dying father's side). This early start for a

weekday concert undoubtedly affected the crowd size and response.

The girl who joined them onstage was a teenager pulled from the audience.

In the morning the Mecca Arena concert in Milwaukee was postponed until August 31st.

John rejoined the group for their next show in Winnepeg on August 29th.

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