Today’s a special day in music history: It’s the 50th anniversary of the first time the Led Zeppelin we know and love performed together, in 1968, at a spot called Teen Club in Denmark.
Of course, back then they were called The New Yardbirds, an updated version of a band called the Yardbirds that changed its name when Jimmy Page came aboard in 1966.
Internal factions led members to come and go, and it wasn’t until 1968 that John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham came aboard, rounding out the magic mix that soon took the world by storm — under a new name, a play on “lead balloon,” thanks to a cease and desist letter from a former Yardbird.
Anyway, here’s Led Zeppelin with “Immigrant Song,” from a 1972 show. The footage is… lively.