The official Led Zeppelin homepage: 
Led Zeppelin's first gig
7 September 1968 at Gladsaxe Teen Club
 |
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page |
7 September 1968 - as on every Saturday during the season - there was a Teen Club ball at the Egegård School in Gladsaxe (a suburb in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark) This evening's top orchestra was "The New Yardbirds". Ahead of the event some disappointment could be noted among the Gladsaxe Teen Club members. Only one of the members of the "old" Yardbirds - Jimmy Page - was part of the new version of the group. Was the new quartet really something compared to the well known and very popular Yardbirds?
Today, what those lucky few (probably around 1,200 - 1,400 youngsters) were to witness in the small school aula in Gladsaxe has become part of rock history. Shortly afterwards "The New Yardbirds" changed their name and became "Led Zeppelin". And the gig at Egegård School was the first time that now legendary Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant played together before an audience. Actually the group had only been formed very short time before this - their first Scandinavian tour.
 |
| The speaking note of Teen Club President Lars Abel introducing"The New Yardbirds". Click on the paper to view a pdf version. |
As president of the Gladsaxe Teen Club it was Lars Abel who had the pleasure to enter the stage and introduce the group. His old speaking note from that evening - with some of the names of the new group handwritten into the manuscript only minutes before he made the presentation (a small mistake was made Plant became Plat!) - tells of how the group had been rehearsing all afternoon at the school to the great delight of the voluntary Teen Club work staff who were preparing that evening's ball. Lars Abel could therefore also state that the audience would get something that was even better than the old Yardbirds!
When this evening has earned its place in rock history it is of course because of Led Zeppelin's later status as one of the worlds absolutely biggest rock legends. But when we today are able to get an impression of the intensity and ambience of this first evening we are primarily to thank the young Teen Club photographer Jørgen Angel. Using his mother's holiday camera he took a number of fabulous pictures of this first Led Zeppelin concert ever. Photos that over the years have been used in rock magazines and shown at exhibitions all over the world.
You may read more about Jørgen Angel - his meetings with Led Zeppelin - and his life as a rock photographer here (sorry only in Danish at the moment) or visit his homepage on www.angel.dk (in English) A larger number of his photos from Gladsaxe Teen Club can be found here.
In addition to the many well known photos taken by Jørgen Angel we have been very lucky in connection with the creation of this web page to find a few never before published photos from the concert on 7 September 1968. These photos were shot by one of Gladsaxe Teen Club's other regular photographers Karsten Schmidt.
 |
Robert Plant was giving it all in Gladsaxe on 7 September 1968. |
 |
John Paul Jones at Led Zeppelin's first concert on 7 September 1968 in Gladsaxe Teen Club. |
In Teen Club Nyt (Gladsaxe Teen Club's monthly members' magazine) in October 1968 Bent Larsen (who was the magazine's normal reviewer) gave this rave review of the new Yardbirds first concert:
"The English group YARDBIRDS had been rehearsing their new set most of the afternoon. So when they entered the scene they were really hot to get started and give it all. Their performance and their music were absolutely flawless, and the music continued to ring nicely in the ears for some time after the curtains were drawn after their show. Let me in particular give my praise to JIMMY PAGE who has made a great job with the 3 new men. They really succeeded and in particular the guitar solo by Jimmy Page created huge applause. We can therefore conclude that the new YARDBIRDS are at least as good as the old ones were."
 |
John Bonham at the drums in Egegård Skole in Gladsaxe |