Lewisville TX us Texas International Pop Festival – August 31, 1969

Press Review (Star): Not until Sunday, the second night of the festival; was a group “synched” With the audience. Led Zeppelin, tired after a long schedule of American concerts, mustered the strength to “get it together” on the eve of their return home. Relying on longer sets to lure the gathering into its atmospheric web, the group played only five numbers (one encore).

JIMMY PAGE, lead guitarist (electric, pedal, steel, and acoustic), was devastatingly effective with his electronic techniques. Page, who has played with the Yardbirds, Rolling Stones, and Donovan, elicited the greatest response with his use of a variable lag system. This technique, achieved with the pedal steel guitar, is merely a sound delay. The sound would emit from the speakers about a second and a half after he struck a chord. The tones were highly modulated and at times hung on the edge of a plunge into screeching feedback.

Page added haunting sight gimmicks. After striking a chord, he would raise his arm in the air – only with the variable-lag, the sound burst forth on his upstroke, giving the appearance that he was playing the air above him.  Another techniquie involved using a violin bow with a fabric-like tail attached to its end. Still using the pedal guitar, he would slowly pull the bow across the strings and then bob the tail over them. The resulting unearthly sound which broke into the air was just short of phenomenal.

ROBERT PLANT, lead vocalist, was often able to simulate and blend with Page’s guitar sounds. (in “You Shook Me”, and “I Can’t Quit You Baby”). His gyrations on stage fit a pattern with the music.

Jphn Paul Jones’ bass and organ back-up lent important balance to the total sound. John Bonham’s drumming was superb, and one mid-set solo rivaled the best moments of the Cream’s Ginger Baker. A good deal of the crowd left after Led Zeppelin finished, although the highly-capable Chicago Transit Authority had yet to play. They sensed, most probably, “the moment” had come and gone, and they chose not to risk being brought down.”

Led Zeppelin, incidentally, will perform here next spring as part of a Concerts West production. [S. Weber / Star]

Setlist:

Train Kept a Rollin’, I Can’t Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, You Shook Me, How Many More Times (medley incl. Suzie Q, Eyesight To The Blind, “Lemon Song”, Bye Bye Baby (Baby Good-Bye), Communication Breakdown

Notes:

Portions of this show are filmed for a documentary which airs a few times in the early 1970s. Several 8mm & 16mm amateur films also exist.

Press: The Vanguard of an expected 100,000 rock fans were already encamped Friday in the sprawling federal park lands around Garza-Litlle Elm Reservoir, Lewisville, Texas (near Dallas). The park is near the Dallas International Motor Speedway, where a three-day festival opens today. Among the attractions at the Texas festival were Janis Joplin, Herbi Mann, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Winter and Tony Joe White.