It was 50 years ago today - half a century. 29th November 1971. I was 15 years old. My best friend had a brother who was a couple of years older and he had told us he had two spare tickets to see Led Zeppelin at Liverpool Stadium and did we want to go? After giving promises to parents that we'd be 'looked after' by the older lads, we were allowed to go. The tickets were £1 - which was considered excessive as most bands charged 80-90p!
Liverpool Stadium was a boxing venue and the stage was built over the ring, so the audience was in a semi circle in half of the venue. It was an old building and in a poor state of repair - it would become a familiar venue to me over the next 3 or 4 years, but this was my first visit. It seemed like a good venue for rock concerts - nobody cared if you stayed in your seats or not and I don't recall there being any security. Looking back, the acoustics weren't perfect, but it didn't seem to matter.
It was the first concert I'd ever been to so I didn't know what to expect - there was no support band, so when the lights went down there was a real sense of excitement and then there was the loudest thing I'd ever heard as Led Zeppelin opened with 'Immigrant song' - the guitar riff and Robert Plant's screaming vocal was like a physical blow. The first couple of songs were a bit of a blur - I was disorientated and wasn't even sure if I liked it, but gradually my ears adjusted and I began to appreciate the music. From that point on it just got better and better. I can't remember the setlist, but I've got bootlegs of Leicester on 25/11/71 and Bournemouth on 3/12/71, so I know what they would've played. I can remember the rock'n'roll medley in 'Whole lotta love' being the last song before the encore and the place going absolutely crazy with the whole audience on their feet. Jimmy Page's cello bow guitar solo in 'Dazed and confused' was another stand out moment. Led Zeppelin IV had only been released a couple of weeks earlier, so the likes of 'Stairway to heaven' and 'Rock and roll' were relatively unknown (It seems hard to believe there was such a time!). It was an unforgettable night and although I've been to many concerts since, I don't think any of them have been better. I saw Led Zep again at the Empire in 1973 - they were great again, but it wasn't like the first time.
There were rumours in the Led Zeppelin bootleg trading community of 'hoarded' tapes - held by collectors who wouldn't share them or pass them to commercial bootleggers and amongst these legendary recordings is supposed to be Liverpool 29/11/71. It would be great if it saw the light of day now that the 50th anniversary is upon us, but I won't hold my breath.
