In a year, they would be big. In two years, they would be huge. And by the third year, they would become the biggest band globally.
However, on December 30, 1968, Led Zeppelin, a quartet of British rockers, was getting ready for their fifth-ever performance in the United States. To keep themselves and their gear warm in a chilly college gymnasium in western Washington State, where they were set to open for Vanilla Fudge, they relied on propane heaters.
A few dedicated rock fans present might have heard of the new band formed by the former guitarist of the now-defunct Yardbirds. Yet, even if these fans recognized the name, it might not have matched the one used in local newspaper advertisements. On that day in 1968, The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington, promoted a concert at Gonzaga University featuring “The Vanilla Fudge, with Len Zefflin,” which would later be the source of a bootleg recording representing the first-ever live performance of Led Zeppelin caught on tape.
At the conclusion of the now-available recording known as Gonzaga ’68, Robert Plant is heard introducing himself along with his bandmates: John Paul Jones on bass, Jimmy Page on guitar, and John Bonham on drums, to a faint round of applause. However, some attendees from that day recall a more enthusiastic reaction.
In a Spokesman-Review article published 29 years later, Bob Gallagher, a teenage record-store employee at the time, reflected on the opening number, noting, “Bonham came out and started drumming on ‘Train Kept a-Rollin’,” to which everybody responded, ‘Holy crap.'”
Another concert attendee, Jeff Nadeau, shared, “What I most vividly remember is when Jimmy Page took out a violin bow and began playing his double-neck guitar. The audience was completely mind-blown. It was the most stunning and incredible sound ever.”
There is nothing raw or lacking in the essence of Led Zeppelin in the audio recorded by an unknown Gonzaga student using a small, portable tape recorder that day. The Gonzaga ’68 bootleg showcases the band delivering tight and exhilarating renditions of several songs that have since become classics, although they were unfamiliar to those present.
Indeed, midway through the performance, Robert Plant introduces one song by saying, “This is off an album that comes out in about three weeks time on the Atlantic label. It’s called Led Zeppelin. This is a tune called ‘Dazed and Confused.'”
…and the rest…is history…
by Wallace McTavish
