Page Places: Egegaard School (Site of the First Led Zeppelin Show)

Interior of the Egegaard School (2008)

On September 7th, 1968, a band played a gig at a school outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. They were billed as The Yardbirds, but of that legendary British group, only one original member remained. In the months to come, they would drop the name of the old group, and become Led Zeppelin. That night in Denmark, was the first night the public would witness Led Zeppelin take flight. The show began promptly as 7:30 pm, and it only cost 5 or 7 Danish Krones to see them.

Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page had been formally a group for less than a month at the time of that first show. Outside of Page, nobody in the audience knew any of the other members. The Danish crowd of roughly 1,400 people was painfully aware that this was not THE Yardbirds, but they came out anyway, and provided the band a warm, if not bemused welcome, as Page described in an interview just three months later, "They don't cheer too madly there, you know? We were really scared, because we only had about fifteen hours to practice together. It was sort of an experimental concert to see if we were any good. I guess."

Teen Club President Lars Abel's Handwritten Introduction of the Band from 1968

Despite, Jimmy's perception of a tepid response, Danish music reviewer Brent Larsen would write this the next month in Teen Club NYT, "The English group YARDBIRDS had been rehearsing their new set most of the afternoon. So when they entered the scene they were really hot to get started and give it all. Their performance and their music were absolutely flawless, and the music continued to ring nicely in the ears for some time after the curtains were drawn after their show. Let me in particular give my praise to JIMMY PAGE who has made a great job with the 3 new men. They really succeeded and in particular the guitar solo by Jimmy Page created huge applause. We can therefore conclude that the new YARDBIRDS are at least as good as the old ones were."

Details on what the group played that night are hazy, but below is a list of the most likely songs:

Train Kept a Rollin' 

Dazed and Confused

White Summer

 For Your Love

Communication Breakdown

I Can't Quit You Baby

You Shook Me

Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

How Many More Times

 As Long As I Have You

Jimmy Page at the First Led Zeppelin Show

The school still stands to this day, and actually in 2008, the Gladsaxe Teen Club put on a concert headlined by a Led Zeppelin cover band to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the historic event. If you ever find yourself in Denmark, make sure to stop by the Egegaard School, and pay homage to the sight of the first place the magic of Led Zeppelin was experienced.