Bill Mair Nov 29, 2024

Press Reviews: Page Gives Led Zeppelin Rock Diamond Hardness
Jimmy Page is Led Zeppelin. He’s not just a part of the group along with the three other members, singer Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bass guitarist John Paul Jones. He’s it – the whole sound.
He gives Led Zeppelin’s rock its diamond hardness and his guitar splits through the heavy background and Plant’s frantic singing light from a facet of a 30-carat stone. The rest of the group, especially Robert Plant, provide a suitable setting for Page’s brilliance.
Led Zeppelin, called one of the top rock and roll groups in the world by some pop critics, played at the Kitchener Auditorium to more than 2,000 rock fans Tuesday night.
The show wasn’t all it could have been. The crowd was small, partly because of the Iron Butterfly concert at the University of Waterloo only last week and partly because of the stiff ticket prices, $4 and $5 and Led Zeppelin weren’t at their best.
“Tonight was a very short set,” Page said after the 45-minute show. “I didn’t do my set because of the amplifier blowing and the drummer didn’t do his set because he wasn’t feeling well.” Plant admitted that his voice was giving him problems too. Usually, the group plays twice as long.
But the audience overlooked the show’s obvious faults and demanded more music when the group left the stage. They ran back, Plant tugging his t-shirt on again and gave one number, the strongest song of the evening. “They were a very good audience. I mean they were really with it at the end. You could see that,” Page said.
A large part of the audience came from Toronto, Hamilton, London and places between. Most were university age.
They left Toronto this morning for another concert in the United States. In Toronto Sunday night, they packed the O’Keefe Centre for two shows. More than 6,000 people heard them there. This is their fourth North American tour. (J. Clemente / Kitchener Record / Nov.5, 1969)
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Press Review: Zeppelin: Best rock concert ever
When Led Zeppelin hit the stage of the Kitchener Auditorium Tuesday night everyone present realized at once that this was not going to be just another concert. They were right; before the evening was over, they had experienced and lived the Led Zeppelin group.
Ludicrous insanity I could best describe their performance. Jimmy Page running, jumping, straining getting unbelievable sounds and or noises on his guitar. From old blues riffs to distortion to feedback it all came off with finesse and wild beauty.
The lead singer Robert Plant is the ultimate extension of the school of lead singers started by Rolling Stone’s Mick Jaggar, including Jim Morrison and Iggy Stooge. Plant’s incredible voice range which goes from gutsy blues to high screams puts James Brown to shame.
Most of the time all you could see was his huge fuzzy ball of blonde hair shaking wildly and emitting unreal sounds. His body wriggling with every note of the music. Backing these two up were John Paul Jones laying down a perfect blues line and John Bonham on drums completing the rhythm section.
When the Led Zeppelin group do their songs, they don’t just present a copy of their album cuts. They go all out, making them even more ludicrous and insane than the originals, adding parts of old blues or rock number.
One of the highlights of the concert was the group’s rendition of Dazed and Confused. In the middle of the number, Jimmy Page played his guitar with a bow just to add to the general insanity of the number.
Unfortunately, as with so many concerts, the big downfall was the inadequate acoustics, which somewhat marred the full value of Zeppelin’s extraordinary sound for the audience.
Also, the inevitable chore of sitting through the trite nonsense of the warm-up group was rather irritating. This time it was the Copper Penny, a local group of self-proclaimed potential.
The Copper Penny tried to do all original material but came off sounding like a poor imitation of Guess Who. More often than not these warmup groups succeed in turning people off rather than warming them up.
Because of supposed technical difficulties which weren’t really apparent, the Zeppelin group left early. They also cut down somewhat from their usual act leaving out the drum solo and Page’s guitar solo Black Mountainside.
Only after repeated applause and cheers did Zeppelin return to do an encore which was an old Eddy Cochrane rock song.
Although the best rock ever to be held in this area, the Zeppelin group drew a very small crowd. Let’s hope the poor turnout won’t keep them from making a return trip. (D. Fisher, University of Waterloo news, Nov. 7, 1969)