"Thank you very much. I'd like to introduce Led Zeppelin to you..."

On the of 17th March 1969, Robert Plant took a minute to tell the handful of people gathered together in the Gladsaxe Teen Club in Gladsaxe, Denmark, who they were listening to.

Recorded for Danish TV and Radio, Led Zeppelin performed a 4 song set in a school gymnasium to a small, seated audience on an otherwise unremarkable night in March 1969.

I’ve lost track of the amount of times that I’ve watched this performance over the decades. To call it a performance is an understatement. I’m thinking of the words to use to adequately describe what unfolded over those thirty minutes and I can’t. If you’re a fan of the band and you’ve seen this, maybe you can.

Zeppelin went on to become one of the greatest and most influential Rock bands ever. Every fan has their favourite creative period of their relatively short lived career. Mine was the one around the recording and release of Led Zeppelin 1. 4 of the tracks are showcased during the above show.

Bands undoubtedly have creative peaks, usually at, or near, the start of their careers. There are exceptions to this of course, I’m speaking generally. There is a purity and rawness that tends to get lost as bands ultimately lose their hunger for success and become rich. Budgets increase for subsequent albums, time spent in studio gets longer, honing more polished releases. Pressure to create better and better work from fans and record company executives can take their toll on the creative process. Bands can end up going through the motions and even to hate the thing they once loved to do most. To create, to record and to perform.

So, what we have from Zeppelin here is a band of young, hungry musicians who know they have something special to give to those fortunate enough to hear. They may have looked out over that small group of hunched over Danes and thought “It’s only a matter of time before we are playing to millions.” Or maybe they just focused on what they were about to do. To deliver.

Not because they had egos or that they were arrogant. They just knew. They were that good.

So they played. Let what they had jammed and rehearsed flow from them. Unhindered and organically. Usually a band has a particular star performer. Zeppelin showed, or rather proved that they had 4. Robert Plants vocals, John Paul Jones on bass. Jimmy Page had the riffs. But John Bonham stole it on drums. Easily.

I’m sure the audience didn’t realise what lay ahead of them that night as they made their way to the show. But I’m confident nobody left the same. And for me that’s the brilliance. What makes it stand out. Such an epic performance, delivered before a band had made it big, in such a small and insignificant venue.

Maybe this is the first time you get to hear Zep. Maybe this will turn you on to their music, decades after it was recorded and played. Maybe you too will feel like this is in fact a force of nature and not a band. That’s just as powerful in its own way.

It excites me to think that today could be the day we get to witness something great before it explodes onto the world stage. And we don’t even realise it. And someday we might get the chance to look back and make millions envious by simply saying the words “I was there.”

Maybe it won’t happen. But expectation is a wonderful thing. So go see that band, go hear that comedian, go see that exhibition. Time will tell.

Rick.