June 24, 2008 4:57am Tim Pole

Hi
Does any one knpw if this was the first public performance of Stairway To Heaven ? i seem to remember an announcement at the begining of the gig proclaiming this fact.

This was an unbelievable experience even though the JPJ's keyboards
failed after the begining of the first number.

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Bath Pavillion, 13 March 1971
December 10, 2007 7:45pm  Neil Jackson

Tickets were 50p. The Pavilion was an open, naked room usually used for roller skating or jumble sales. There were a few wooden benches against the wall and somebody dragged them into the centre of the room. I stood on one and waited, watching the curtained stage as the room filled up. It was cold and the condensation soon ran down the windows and glistened on the walls. There was no support band, just a couple of thumping, crashing drum beats before the curtains pulled open and in a red and golden glow Robert Plant ripped into Immigrant Song. That was the lead track off the most recent album and it just blew the roof off the place. It is now many years ago but I still can feel the power of that performance and touch the intimacy of the softer songs which also characterised that third album, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones sitting on either side of Robert Plant, playing acoustic and mandolin while he sang That's the Way and Going to California. Yes, that was off the next album which was not to be released for another eight months. And so was Black Dog, with the doubled-up four-bar introduction from Out On The Tiles and also, for the first time, Stairway to Heaven. But Plant got the words wrong, or at least did not sing them as they have become so well known. The show was essentially that which they recorded for the BBC on John Peel's Rock Hour a couple of weeks later and broadcast on 4 April. But if that was a studio show and a little contained, the one at the Bath Pavilion was raw and alive. The band were back in the West Country and, as Plant said, things seemed to go particularly well here. The chat which is expunged from the studio recording gave intimacy to the performance. Dazed and Confused was introduced teasingly as Days of Confusion, but it didn't matter; we knew what it was. Then Plant's harmonica failed him and he called angrily for another. And when he threw his tambourine out into the audience it was caught by an eager hand, so close it could have been a handshake. Standing on that bench for over two hours began to hurt, as did the volume in the ears, but by the next morning all that was left was the ringing, the tinnitus — that, and one of John Bonham's drumsticks which I still have, displayed on the wall beside me at I write this. I saw Led Zep seven times in all, but I did not manage to see them tonight, 10 December 2007. More's the pity.

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February 20, 2009 3:48pm B-Fisch

Sorry to say, but no, that was not the first performance of "Stairway To Heaven". The first live performance of "Stairway" was 8 days prior, in Belfast, Ireland.

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It was definitely a preview
June 5, 2010 5:51pm Jane

It was definitely a preview as the album hadn't come out, but not sure it was the first public performance. What a night! Anyone see The Who at the Pavilion later that year (July, I think?). That was 50p too, as I remember. Very hot night, band members throwing water at the audience as we chanted 'hosepipe, hosepipe'.

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I remember it well!
February 26, 2013 11:34am Adrian D'Cruz

Had to get in line all night to be sure of tickets for this gig. I recall the first number was actually The Immigrant Song which came on so loud that I had to put the hood-up on my parka to save my ears. I also recall them saying the performance of Stairway To Heaven was the first public airing.

Fantastic concert anyway and a memory to cherish.

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the who at bath pavilion
June 29, 2012 6:56am Trish

I saw The Who at Bath Pavilion and what a night! Great stuff but I fainted half way through the perfomance and got carried outside into the cool air and missed a good half hour of the act. Shame.

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My friend Fran also fainted
April 25, 2020 3:46pm Sally

My friend Fran also fainted at the Who concert but she was luckier - got taken up on stage and Roger D gave her his harmonica. I'll have to see if she's still got it..

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Up close and personal
October 13, 2014 12:34pm Ian

Queued overnight outside Virgin in Bristol for this, limited to two tickets per person. Whe I got out I found that the (freshly printed) tickets had stuck together and I had 4!

Got out to the show early, first dozen or so at the door, tiny venue so got within feet of the stage and spent a blissful hour and a half as close to my the heroes as I would ever get.

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i was there
September 7, 2016 3:46pm gordon

myself and 3 friends qued all night out side pavillion for tickets well worth the wait a fantastic night .i got married a week later and were still to gether still going to any concerts involving any members of led zeppelin we were lucky enough to see zeppelin 7 times those were the days

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One of the most memorable
July 1, 2017 8:46am Vic Terry

One of the most memorable concerts I have been to in my life. Only 18 at the time and now 64 and I still remeber it like it was yesterday.