August 69, The Summer of Love, or to me:

[Iden Ford]

I wrote this story about going to see Zep for the first time back in 69. I hope you enjoy it

It was a very "hot August night" in the summer of 1969 and it we were not

headed to a Neil Diamond concert. A sensational power rock band, Led

Zeppelin, the latest version of "heavy bands" which started with Cream

back in 66,were in Toronto to do two sold out shows. My friends Donnie

Ditchburn, David Strawbridge who worked for John Gibb, a local Toronto

clothier (his store was later to become Longjohns, retailers of "rock

n'roll clothing", and I had tickets to the 7:00 p.m. show. Gibb was an old

school chum of Jimmy Page and he had had them over for dinner that

evening. Pagey as he was called by his mates, was the former front man and

lead guitarist for the now defunct Yardbirds, and since he had formed his

new band Led Zeppelin, they had sailed to the top of the album charts and

underground radio stations with their first record entitled Led Zepplin 1.

A previous gig at the s! ame venue earlier in the year (February) had

brought quite a lot of good press, especially from Ritchie Yorke, the

Toronto Telegram's resident writer for rock concert reviews back then.

Since the release of the first album, Led Zeppelin's popularity had

created a large cult following thanks to the incredible guitar playing of

Jimmy Page and the wailing, siren like voice of the lead singer, Robert

Plant.

The groups'giant leap in record sales and popularity was for the

promoters, both a blessing and a curse. Led Zeppelin's fee had jumped from

$2,000 in February to $8,000 for the two shows on this night, and Peter

Grant, Led Zeppelin's notorious manager was not prepared to honour the

agreement that was made with the promoters back in February. More about

this later.

The venue for the concert was called the Rockpile, which in fact was

the old Masonic Temple located at Davenport and Yonge St. In the past year

(68-69), The Rockpile had been converted to Toronto's version of The

Fillmore East, and this was very much to the disgruntlement of the old

Masons who still had some sway and influence in the running of the hall.

What bothered them the most was all the Marijuana smoke enjoyed by the

stoned out hippies who attended these shows. To the Masons, this temple

was a sacred venue and they wanted to keep it that way, but in the end,

concerts meant the hall was rented out regularly so money talked as they

say.

The doors opened at 6:30 and the huge lineup piled in quickly so as to get

the best possible viewpoint in the place as there were no seats, you

either got to sit cross legged on the main floor, or stand in the Balcony.

By the time my mates and I got inside, we headed straight up to the

balcony which by then, was jammed packed shoulder to shoulder and hot,

hot, hot. David was a bit of a dandy and would not have considered for a

minute sitting down in his finest Toronto version of Carnaby Street, garb.

We would regret that decision a bit later.

By the time the opening act came on, Edward Bear, the inside of the

building must have gone well into the 90 degree Fahrenheit range with very

high humidity and high smoke density. You surely didn't need to bring your

own stuff that night because the air was filled with the sweet smell of

pungent smoke. Edward Bear was a local pop trio and radio favourite who

had had a hit, You Me and Mexico". I found them to be very commercial and

in fact could not stand their veiled attempts to look the part with their

long hair and bell bottomed jeans, while at the same time they really

played forgettable commercial pop. We were here to see our heroes play

with the Marshall amps stacked to the ceiling, wailing away to the songs

from Led Zeppelin 1.

Once Edward Bear had finished their set, they were given a polite but

energetic hometown Toronto response and off they went.

Perhaps we only had a 20 minute wait for the main act, our heroes!!

I couldn't stand the excitement and anticipation, this was going to be my

first live experience to hear and see the most listened to band in my

repetoire of favourite albums, and it was all about to unfold in front of

my eyes, live and in the flesh.

And we waited, and we sweated some more, and we waited.

It suddenly dawned on us that there was a problem. Led Zeppelin was

backstage but Peter Grant would not let them go on. Seems the promoters

insisted that he honour the contractual option they had exercised from the

previous gig in February, and Peter Grant said no way. His attitude was

that the promoters had two sold out houses and in the 6 months since they

had been to Toronto, the band had climbed to the top of the charts. They

wanted their full fee. Otherwise they were going back to the hotel an onto

the next city.

A tug of war was going on while the 2000 or so of us sweated it out and

waited some more.

The promoters finally gave in and after about 1 1/2 hours of waiting,

which made it about 9:00 pm, we heard the roadies nailing down a drum kit

behind the curtain followed by a drummer slashing away at his drums

getting ready to play. Then we heard a guitar, and then a bass guitar.

Ooh, I couldn't take the excitement at that stage, we were moments away!

Suddenly, there was the locomotive opening guitar intro to the song A

Train kept a Rollin, an old Yardbirds standby. A thundering drum sound

followed, and then the curtains exploded open. There they were. The place

was bedlam. The band looked very little like the group photo on the back

of the first album. Plant had hair down to the middle of his back in blond

curls, and was dressed in bell bottom blue jeans and a bright red tee

shirt. Page had hair down to his waist, dressed in pink pants and had a

Les Paul Sunburst guitar draped over his body, and Jones and Bonham also

had very, very long hair and wore the fashions of the day even in this

ridiculous hot house.

All I could think at that moment was how cool they looked. It was like a

wave of gigantic sound had hit you and we were on a journey to places I

had never been to before in a concert.

Marshall amps were piled to the ceiling. It was loud and that was fine by

me, how else was one to listen to Led Zeppelin except at ear splitting

volume.

Plant sang stronger and harder than anything I'd ever heard before on

record. He raced around the stage shaking his shoulders, whipping his head

around to shake all that hair, and periodically throwing back beer from

the Heinekins he had stashed on Jonesy's amp at the back of the stage,

while the maestro Jimmy Page leaned over his guitar, brought his knees

together in a weird sort of knock kneed pose, while rarely looking up from

behind all of that jet black cascading mop.

The music spoke to us, we were a part of history as far as I was concerned

because this group had more energy and spontaneity than any group I had

ever seen. It was raw energy, uninhibited,creative, and free from any

contrivances.

The segued to I Can't quit you Babe, You Shook Me, and then Dazed and

Confused where somewhere in the middle of the song, the violin bow came

out. It was a typical 18-20 minute version of the song from the early days

of the band.

What really blew my mind was the vocal and guitar interplay between Page

and Plant. Page would play some notes, Plant would sing them, Plant would

sing some notes, Page would play them. This was not typical stuff that

bands would do in concerts. This was taking improvisation out of the box

and never to return, Amazing. Then, after Plant inroduced the band to us

as Jimmy played the intro notes to another Yardbirds standby, Smokestack

Lightening, they jumped into the finale, How Many More Times complete with

the Lemon Song bit into the middle. This number number completely brought

the house down with the tradition blues rendition of Squeeze My Lemon

until the juice runs down my leg. Then as fast as they had arrived, Robert

said to us" We have another house to play to tonight, sorry we took so

long and see you soon". Then they were off, no encore . When I left the

venue and finally got onto the street and

out of the hot house of the

Rockpile, I really thought that this group, Led Zeppelin would be bigger

than Beatles. I was close,and 34 years later I'm still a big fan.

[ledded1]

Thats a great story, thanks.

I think mostof us would have liked to have been there. The show still sounds good today.

[GetTheLedOut]

Thats a great story, thanks.

I think mostof us would have liked to have been there. The show still sounds good today.

You summed up my thoughts perfectly.

[Iden Ford]

I think the show lives so strongly in my mind that I had to express it the way I wrote it, so you could relive my excitement. I remain a devoted fan to this day and wish I could see them again. I did go to the PP show in 95 at the Skydome in Toronto and loved every note.

[Soccerzubs]

Great story, I could really feel the excitement from the way you wrote it, I wish we could all see them in concert, especially us young ones who weren't even born or close to being born.

[Zosotatt]

...an excellent story that I really enjoyed reading. I've lived in the Toronto area since I was 3 years old, but in 1969 I was a tad young to be a Zep fan (I was 11 at the time). I do remember that I was forbidden to go when they played the Gardens 2 years later. I have been a huge fan since I was 13 years old... while I like alot of other music, nothing compares to Zeppelin for me....even though I've heard Stairway to Heaven countless times, if I hear it playing anywhere these days I have to listen to it to completion! ...I also attend the PP show at the Skydome in '95 and really enjoyed it; it wasn't PURE Zeppelin (although they did start the show in that style), as they had quite an ensemble onstage with them...I was fortunate enough to be able to get tickets to the o2 show...this will be one of the highlights of my life (if they can stay healthy until then!) ... Thanks again for your story.

[Iden Ford]

...an excellent story that I really enjoyed reading. I've lived in the Toronto area since I was 3 years old, but in 1969 I was a tad young to be a Zep fan (I was 11 at the time). I do remember that I was forbidden to go when they played the Gardens 2 years later. I have been a huge fan since I was 13 years old... while I like alot of other music, nothing compares to Zeppelin for me....even though I've heard Stairway to Heaven countless times, if I hear it playing anywhere these days I have to listen to it to completion! ...I also attend the PP show at the Skydome in '95 and really enjoyed it; it wasn't PURE Zeppelin (although they did start the show in that style), as they had quite an ensemble onstage with them...I was fortunate enough to be able to get tickets to the o2 show...this will be one of the highlights of my life (if they can stay healthy until then!) ... Thanks again for your story.

Yes I know what you mean about 95, I did feel that when they did Shake My Tree and Calling to You, they reverted back to the way the show started. I wished at the time that they had done more of Dazed and Confused in the little mini break during Calling To You.

O2 arena, you lucky person. Enjoy it!

[ledzepfvr]

Found this story in the back archives and found it an interesting read. Since I never got to see LZ in concert I have to live my fantasies through others experiences. 2009 is the 40th anniversary year for LZ to hit the states so I thought this should be brought to the front page for others to read.

[Iden Ford]

Found this story in the back archives and found it an interesting read. Since I never got to see LZ in concert I have to live my fantasies through others experiences. 2009 is the 40th anniversary year for LZ to hit the states so I thought this should be brought to the front page for others to read.

Thanks

too bad it's all over.

But the memories linger always.

You know you were a part of history when some 40 years later,

you can remember everything about the experience.

Alas I feel a certain sadness that it's gone.

But life is a cycle and we have to look forward not back.

Oh yeah, that's what the singer says now.

Bollocks, the Who still play eh!!!

[Aquamarine]

Didn't know Zeppelin did Smokestack Lightnin'--the Yardbirds' version was one of my favorites of theirs. I bet Robert blew some mean harp on that.*

(Just to be nit-picky, the Summer of Love was--theoretically--1967. But in my case it was also 1968, 1969 . . . )

*Or did you mean the opening notes were all Jimmy played? Well, it would have been great if they did do it, anyway!

[Iden Ford]

Didn't know Zeppelin did Smokestack Lightnin'--the Yardbirds' version was one of my favorites of theirs. I bet Robert blew some mean harp on that.*

(Just to be nit-picky, the Summer of Love was--theoretically--1967. But in my case it was also 1968, 1969 . . . )

*Or did you mean the opening notes were all Jimmy played? Well, it would have been great if they did do it, anyway!

Opening notes only but the song is a partial rip off as were many of their first few tracks.

Regarding summer of love, Woodstock was happening that month and technically you are correct, I only assume from your comments that you loooked it up somewhere because I wonder if you were even born prior to 69.

No matter, some got to live through that period and experienced a great time,

for anyone else it is wishful thinking.

[Otto Masson]

Opening notes only but the song is a partial rip off as were many of their first few tracks.

Regarding summer of love, Woodstock was happening that month and technically you are correct, I only assume from your comments that you loooked it up somewhere because I wonder if you were even born prior to 69.

No matter, some got to live through that period and experienced a great time,

for anyone else it is wishful thinking.

Thanks for sharing your experience, it's an interesting story. But what's up with the attitude here? It's not like she attacked you, and you are completely wrong about Aqua's age, although she was in Britain at the time, I believe.