Led Zeppelin – January 31, 1975 – Olympia Stadium
It was a cold January night in Detroit. This is the city where I grew up; where my musical tastes were created. Motown. The Beatles. And, three of the greatest Album Oriented Rock Radio Stations in America! It would only become fitting that my musical tastes today span across all of those genres. And in January and February in Detroit … the best entertainment at the time was ‘live’ rock concerts. The Red Wings weren’t very good. The Pistons were just as bad.
But on this particular evening, it was about my second encounter with Led Zeppelin. I witnessed the Led Zep IV tour in 1972 at Cobo Arena and it was incredible …the anticipation of this show was high, to say the least.
The $7.50 ticket price was high for the time; today it seems like the bargain of a lifetime. And, the show was at Olympia Stadium. Now, I need to set the tone for this, unless of course, you are from Detroit. Olympia Stadium, ‘The Old Red Barn’ to locals, was the home of the Detroit Red Wings. It was built in 1927 and did not hot have heat or air conditioning. During concerts in the summer, you sweated … in the winter you froze to death.
The temperatures were in teens and it was freezing cold in The Old Red Barn … The band started off just a cold. Robert Plant was not hitting the high notes and the band just did not seem to syncing. This was just the sixth stop on the tour – this meant we were some of the first in the world to see the songs from Physical Graffiti live in concert. But after about four songs, Zep seemed top catch their groove.
The temps inside The Old Red Barn seemed to get a little warmer and all was well on this cold January night.
I have attached photos that I took with my Instamatic Camera (remember those?), my actual ticket stub from the show and a link to the Led Zeppelin website with a description of the show.
I never saw Led Zeppelin again … I was able to catch the Plant/Page show at UNO Lake Front Arena in New Orleans, that would end being the closest I would ever come to see them again…
Setlist:
Rock and Roll
Sick Again
Over the Hills and Far Away,
In My Time of Dying
The Song Remains the Same
The Rain Song
Kashmir,
No Quarter
Trampled Underfoot
Moby Dick
How Many More Times
Stairway to Heaven
Encore:
Whole Lotta Love
Black Dog
https://www.ledzeppelin.com/show/january-31-1975