Gonzaga ’68

On Led Zeppelin's fifth day in America, they played a gig in a gym most of us would recognize from high school basketball, at a small college in Spokane, Washington. According to the promoter, the band were so stoned when they arrived that he literally had to help Robert Plant onstage. Jimmy Page allegedly threw a punch at the promoter as he (the promoter) came offstage after introducing the band as "The group formerly known as The Yardbirds," but was so stoned he missed completely.

About 1200 people got to see this show live. Most of them were there to see Vanilla Fudge, who had been popular and had several hits that year. Our boys were billed as "Len Zefflin" in print ads. At least one kind soul recorded it. Maybe it was the newness, or the insult of irrelevance, or the haze of pot smoke, or the kids on the floor of the gym - there were no chairs so that the crowd could gather around the stage. Whatever caused it, the Hindenburg catches fire on this night and the Zeppelin emerges victorious.

The setlist is mainly the first album. It's all they've got - they've been a band four months. This is their fifth show in five nights - they've played every night since landing in Denver the day after Christmas. They'd played just 22 shows before leaving for America, none more daring than the 9-7-68 show at the Teen Club in Gladsaxe, Denmark, just a few weeks after meeting for the first time. The first album wouldn't come out for two more weeks.

This is the rawest form. Led Zeppelin as it began. Playing in front of 1200 college kids who got discounted tickets because the student government had a deal with Concerts West. Gonzaga '68. The Kennedy Pavilion. Special thanks to Frank Reddon, who generously shares his exclusive interview with the student-promoter of this gig at his fabulous website: http://enzepplopedia.com and also supplied this show to my collection.