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A great surprise!


chuftybill

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Hi all!

Ive been a member of a few forums over the years. I cant believe I never bothered to check if there was a Zep forum!!

Im a lifelong fan of these guys, and fortunately managed to see them at Knebworth on the 11th August 1979.

I can honestly say I was transfixed the whole time, my buddies never got a peep out of me the whole show!

Im just soooo glad and honoured to have seen my heroes, I dont know how I would have felt if I had never got to see them live.

I was 18 and the time, and just wish I could have seen the failry recent O2 gig.

I hope to speak to more of you. Its an honour to be part of such a forum.

Led Zeppelin. There is no other.

Chris

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Hi Mini!

Well, I'll do my best. The first thing I recall was being surprised at the other bands on the bill. I mean, Chas & Dave? What were the promoters thinking of!!

However, I would have waited hours for my heroes, and Todd Rundgren was very enjoyable too!

Personally speaking, regarding the set list, it didnt matter to me, as I love EVERY song they have done so there were no complaints from me.

Being only 18 at the time, I remember being notified that Zeppelin were doing Knebworth by a spread in the Melody Maker entitled "Zep are back!"

I cannot express my excitement at the news. Its strange, but at the time I remember thinking its great to have a chance to see them, but wont they be a bit old? My only live experience of them was the "Song" movie. I'd watched it at least 20 times at the cinema, and when my ticket arrived I felt a feeling of eupthoria!

At least a dozen of my buddies at my local pub had tickets too, so it was going to be a memorable event.

I was on holiday with my buddies the week before in Cornwall, and although the holiday was great, all the talk was of the coming weekend.

To the day itself, I remember such a warm anticipation amongst the crowd, and there was a wonderful feeling to it all, unlike anything I'd experienced. The support bands did their part knowing they were fighting a losing battle really. Im sure 95% of the crowd were only there for one reason! Finally, when darkness came and the lights went out onstage, the atmosphere changed dramatically. I was literally shaking!! Embarassing I know!

Im sorry to say that I was totally transfixed throughout the set, (even my mates couldnt get a word out of me) so detailed prognosis of every song is not possible. But I will try to share my highlights. Firstly, "No Quarter" has always been amongst my favourites. On a couple of the bootlegs that I have heard, I loved John Pauls improvisation during the piece. Well, I was not disappointed. The keyboard section blew me away! As its always been with Zep, and not easy to explain, but it just took me 'somewhere else'. And no I was not stoned!!! Jimmys bow section was visually great, four laser points spinning around him in a pyramid to eventually form a cone, and I'll never forget the crowd all holding up lighters etc for 'Stairway'. Other highlights personally were 'Achilles', 'Trampled', but it was all great to me! All I can say is the time flew and a night I'll never forget. I have heard some say that the 1tth was a poor show. Well, if thats what they were like when they were poor, god help any band when they were on form. Yes, musically Jimmy was not 'on the ball' all night, even me as a huge fan could recognise that, but my final words are: no other band that Ive seen, (and Ive seen a few) projected such energy, power, emotion, and togetherness that the guys did for me that night. I thank each of them for a memorable night in my life.

Led Zep - TRULY the greatest

Chris

Edited by chuftybill
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Nice one Cris, I rember reading that in MM as well as in Sounds ..you brout me right back, I was so jelalus of all the story's of the gig that I heard going around my local Rock Pub at the time... I have the program and a bootleg of the show but I would have given my left arm to go back in time and gone :(

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