“Really quite erotic”: Jimmy Page on the weirdest gig he ever played
Led Zeppelin had a special spark within their music that meant when people listened to them, they felt an undeniable jolt of energy. Their mix of different styles and sounds made it so that their shows were filled with a fun mix of music, and their musical talent made the band a sight to behold. Jimmy Page and his guitar ability were massive contributing factors towards this.
This was apparent from the very start. When the band first jammed together, despite not playing music as a unit in the past, they had a sound that led them to recognise they were onto something special. Even though Jimmy Page intended for the band to play a variety of different genres, such as blues, acoustic, and rock, it all came together in a euphoric way.
Robert Plant recalled the first time they played together and knew that something bigger than any project they’d been involved in was happening. “I could feel that something was happening to myself and to everyone else in the room,” he said, “It felt like we’d found something that we had to be very careful with because we might lose it.”
It was clear that this feeling resonated with others, as Led Zeppelin would go on to break records with the number of people their crowds drew in. They quickly went from playing small venues to stadiums, and every gig they did felt like an otherworldly experience for many of those in attendance.
One of their biggest gigs came at the Silverdome in ’77 when people lined up queuing for them for hours. Gerry Baron, the stadium promotions director at the time, remembered the morning well, saying, “At 11am, we issued announcements telling people not to come to the stadium because of traffic jams… At noon, we announced we were closing the ticket office at 3. We stayed open until 10 and sold out.”
The point is that Led Zeppelin were no strangers to driving fans wild at their gigs, which is exactly what happened at what Jimmy Page described as one of the weirdest shows that the band ever did. This was long before the days of Led Zeppelin, but Page’s ability with a guitar had always been prevalent and has always had an impact on people, regardless of what band he was in.
“Holloway Prison, when I was playing with Neil Christian and the Crusaders,” he said, recalling the events, “Heaven knows how that happened. I remember we had to go to the warder’s office beforehand, and we were put on a vow of secrecy not to reveal who we saw on the inside. The women in there had cotton print dresses in four different colours which were washed out.”
Page concluded, “It was very interesting and really quite erotic. After we left, there was a riot. It was probably because Neil Christian had wound the girls up. It was a terrific experience – though not quite like Johnny Cash as San Quentin.”