State Fair Coliseum - August 4, 1969

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August 4, 1969
Dallas
TX
United States
us
Setlist

includes: Train Kept a Rollin, I Can't Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, White Summer / Black Mountain Side, You Shook Me, How Many More Times.

Note

Press Reviews and Backstage Interview:
Dallas Crowd Overwhelms Members of British Band

Led Zeppelin pulled off one of the most surprising shows in a long time Monday night at the Texas State Fair Coliseum. And despite the heat and the sound system that was unreal, the crowd gave this English band four ovations before their set was over and one more to bring an encore that was completely unexpected.

Dazed & Confused brought the crowd into complete rapport with the group, even though the acoustics just about ruined the first two songs. Robert Plant, lead singer took the trouble in stride and joked with the audience while the equipment managers frantically tried to fix the amps. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the sound was fairly in control for the rest of the evening.

Jimmy Page’s White Summer was THE song of the evening. Talking to him later, he explained why it was never put on the first album or the second one scheduled for release in late August. “The song is really something that you don’t do the same way twice. On stage, it was strictly improvised. I played what I wanted to and really don’t think it belongs on an album.”

Robert Plant was not as quite effective in his singing due to the distortion. And he is not another Jim Morrison as was predicted, according to bassist John Paul Jones. “Robert doesn’t try to be like anyone. Robert Plant is Robert Plant,” he said.

They were very impressed by the crowd and its response throughout the show. “The audience was really fantastic,” Jimmy grinned. “The four standing ovations were also fantastic”.

Plant was also impressed with the Dallas reception. “This is out second tour, but first time in Dallas. Houston was really responsive to us but this audience was great. We have been getting this type of reaction since we’re been on tour”, he continued. “In Boston, we played at the Tea Party (a well-known New England club) and stayed on for three hours. We will stay on as long as the audience wants us. If there are at least 100 people and they ask for an encore, we’ll give them one.”

Page full agreed with Plant. “There are some groups that will do a 40 minute set and that’s it. They just won’t come back no matter how the audience reacts. I can’t believe that”.

Drummer John Bonham was impressed with the freedom American musicians have, compared with what British bands do and sing. “There are a lot of reasons Americans have this freedom,” he remarked. “The big one is probably just about anyone can get on record over here. Companies will take just about anyone, where in England you have to be pretty good before anyone will even listen to you.”

The next stop on the long one-night-stand tour was LA. Plant stressed that the group WILL be back for the Texas Pop Festival. [-Jayne Ferguson, 8/69]

------------------------------------------

Local Texas band F.O.B. appears as the opening act, who receive rave reviews for this performance in the local press. A poor sound system plagues the gig, more so for Zeppelin.  

“No one has ever made any claims as to the acoustical perfection of the State Fair Park Coliseum”, said a local review. “Nor did the more than capacity crowd help the sound situation. Something had to go, and in the trade the vocals lost out to volume.”

During the set, Plant mistakenly announced the group would not be appearing at the Texas Pop Festival at the end of the month. “Their earlier statement that they would not be part of the Texas Pop-In was completely in error, “ a reporter wrote:

“They admitted this later in the evening, but thanks to the sound system, the word might not have gotten out. Another faulty sound system, this time between group and manager was responsible for the abortive bomb-shell.”

“As with the F.O.B., the Zeppelin was faced with having to play much too loud in order to reach the multitude present. So, their quality dropped accordingly. The situation was compounded with vocalist Robert Plant’s microphone threatened to drop completely dead. But he handled it with much humor and finesse. Plant did an outstanding job of emceeing their segment, even when microphone buzz totally devastated the force of the silent break in the middle of You Shook Me, an otherwise effective effort.”

Notes

Press Reviews and Backstage Interview:
Dallas Crowd Overwhelms Members of British Band

Led Zeppelin pulled off one of the most surprising shows in a long time Monday night at the Texas State Fair Coliseum. And despite the heat and the sound system that was unreal, the crowd gave this English band four ovations before their set was over and one more to bring an encore that was completely unexpected.

Dazed & Confused brought the crowd into complete rapport with the group, even though the acoustics just about ruined the first two songs. Robert Plant, lead singer took the trouble in stride and joked with the audience while the equipment managers frantically tried to fix the amps. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the sound was fairly in control for the rest of the evening.

Jimmy Page’s White Summer was THE song of the evening. Talking to him later, he explained why it was never put on the first album or the second one scheduled for release in late August. “The song is really something that you don’t do the same way twice. On stage, it was strictly improvised. I played what I wanted to and really don’t think it belongs on an album.”

Robert Plant was not as quite effective in his singing due to the distortion. And he is not another Jim Morrison as was predicted, according to bassist John Paul Jones. “Robert doesn’t try to be like anyone. Robert Plant is Robert Plant,” he said.

They were very impressed by the crowd and its response throughout the show. “The audience was really fantastic,” Jimmy grinned. “The four standing ovations were also fantastic”.

Plant was also impressed with the Dallas reception. “This is out second tour, but first time in Dallas. Houston was really responsive to us but this audience was great. We have been getting this type of reaction since we’re been on tour”, he continued. “In Boston, we played at the Tea Party (a well-known New England club) and stayed on for three hours. We will stay on as long as the audience wants us. If there are at least 100 people and they ask for an encore, we’ll give them one.”

Page full agreed with Plant. “There are some groups that will do a 40 minute set and that’s it. They just won’t come back no matter how the audience reacts. I can’t believe that”.

Drummer John Bonham was impressed with the freedom American musicians have, compared with what British bands do and sing. “There are a lot of reasons Americans have this freedom,” he remarked. “The big one is probably just about anyone can get on record over here. Companies will take just about anyone, where in England you have to be pretty good before anyone will even listen to you.”

The next stop on the long one-night-stand tour was LA. Plant stressed that the group WILL be back for the Texas Pop Festival. [-Jayne Ferguson, 8/69]

------------------------------------------

Local Texas band F.O.B. appears as the opening act, who receive rave reviews for this performance in the local press. A poor sound system plagues the gig, more so for Zeppelin.  

“No one has ever made any claims as to the acoustical perfection of the State Fair Park Coliseum”, said a local review. “Nor did the more than capacity crowd help the sound situation. Something had to go, and in the trade the vocals lost out to volume.”

During the set, Plant mistakenly announced the group would not be appearing at the Texas Pop Festival at the end of the month. “Their earlier statement that they would not be part of the Texas Pop-In was completely in error, “ a reporter wrote:

“They admitted this later in the evening, but thanks to the sound system, the word might not have gotten out. Another faulty sound system, this time between group and manager was responsible for the abortive bomb-shell.”

“As with the F.O.B., the Zeppelin was faced with having to play much too loud in order to reach the multitude present. So, their quality dropped accordingly. The situation was compounded with vocalist Robert Plant’s microphone threatened to drop completely dead. But he handled it with much humor and finesse. Plant did an outstanding job of emceeing their segment, even when microphone buzz totally devastated the force of the silent break in the middle of You Shook Me, an otherwise effective effort.”

Setlists

includes: Train Kept a Rollin, I Can't Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, White Summer / Black Mountainside, You Shook Me, How Many More Times.

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