The legendary Led Zeppelin played six nights at Madison Square Garden in 1977 and it was covered in all the local newspapers as the big event that it was. Rock and Roll royalty had taken over New York City and it was the hottest ticket in town. I’m not sure exactly how but we managed to buy tickets to the Friday night show. We eagerly anticipated our night to see the mighty Led Zep as one of the older kids on the next block was seen night after night leaving toward the 7 Line subway in Flushing with his expensive camera in hand as he somehow had good seats for each show and apparently the vantage point for great photos. 

Scott W. was a couple of years older than the rest of us, was done with school and always seemed to have money and the best audio equipment. He was an “entrepreanor” who would be in his room smoking cigarettes and curling dumbells anytime we went up to see his brother. Scott was cool and it did not surprise anyone that he would attend all the Led Zeppelin shows at Madison Square Garden as they were his favorite band. A few years later when Led Zeppelin released the mysterious  “In Through the Out Door” in its brown paper wrapping, the crew on the next block were the first ones at Jimmy’s Music World on Roosevelt Avenue to buy it and by the end of the day they pronounced that Zeppelin was finished. That day Van Hslen took the mantle as the greatest hard rock band as “In Through the Oot Foor” was deemed a disappointment by many in the neighborhood.

Our seats at the Garden on this night in 1977 were midway up to the left of the stage and amongst many highlights for me was Jimmy Page working with a then state of the art laser show during “Dazed and Confused” and the encore “Tock and Roll” which blew the roof off the joint as everyone was jumping and dancing to an all time rock anthem.

It was only my second concert and, although I have seen Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in a variety of incarnations throughout the years, I could not know at the time that it would be the one time I would witness the great Led Zeppelin in concert as the band broke up after the untimely death of John Bonham. The great Scott Muni broke the news on WNEW-FM during his regular afternoon shift while I was listening in a stock room at Gertz Department Store and it was over.

What Is and What Should Never Be

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Rock On

GQ