Shankly

My first and greatest gig

on Led Zeppelin, 1971 Nov 29

This was the first concert I ever saw. I was 15 and my friend's elder brother had a spare ticket for the concert and asked if I wanted to go.
The Stadium (now sadly demolished) was an old boxing arena and the stage was laid over the ring with a semi-circle of seats in front of the stage. It was in a poor state of repair even then, so there was very little security and no one cared about keeping you in your seats. There was no support band, so there was an enormous sense of excitement when the lights went down. I can remember the opening notes of The Immigrant Song being so unbelievably loud, I'd never heard anything like it. The first few songs went by in a bit of a blur until my senses became accustomed to the onslaught. Zep turned it down a bit for the acoustic set which was then part of their show, but they soon picked it up again. Dazed and Confused was astounding, with Jimmy Page's violin bow part and they played Stairway to heaven, which was then a new song (LZ IV was only released a couple of weeks before the show.) They finished off with Whole lotta love, with a great rock'n'roll medley. I don't remember the encores.
As a first concert, it couldn't have been any better - indeed, I don't think I've ever seen anything to match it since. I've been a huge Zeppelin fan ever since that day. I've heard it said that there is a hoarded recording of this show - if this is true, I'd give anything to hear it.