The contract
- concluded with Yardbirds but it was Led Zeppelin that came

Click on the contract to see a bigger version in pdf format.

Gladsaxe Teen Club's contract with Yardbirds was concluded on 15 August 1968. At that time nobody knew that the group was about to split up, and that Gladsaxe Teen Club in stead had a contract with world rock history: Led Zeppelin's first performance before an audience.

And the price? DKK 7,000.- (approx. € 935) for a performance of 30-45 minutes. In today's money it would correspond to a little less than DKK 50,000.- (approx. € 6,700.-). Did someone call it a bargain?...

Gladsaxe Teen Club photo gallery
See more photos of Led Zeppelin and other famous groups like Deep Purple, Pretty Things and Ten Years After here

The Led Zeppelin revival concert in London
When 20,000 people gathered in London's 02 Arena on 10 December 2007 to witness Led Zeppelin's first concert since 1980 it is a qualified guess that only 5 of those 20,000 also were present at the very first concert in Gladsaxe. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were there of course; but then there was also Jerry Ritz and his wife Annie.

Annie and Jerry were among the lucky few to win the right to buy tickets for the London concert. And nothing could be more appropriate. Back in 1968 Jerry was working for Bendix Music and was the tour manager for Led Zeppelin during their Scandinavian Tours in 1968 and 1969.

Jerry met Annie in Gladsaxe Teen Club in 1968 where she was one of the voluntary staff members. They have stayed together ever since and were married in 1972. It all started - like for Led Zeppelin - in Gladsaxe Teen Club!

and Led Zeppelin did return to Gladsaxe...
Already six months after their debut Led Zeppelin returned to Gladsaxe Teen Club.


On 15 March 1969 Led Zeppelin entered the stage at Egegård Skole in Gladsaxe again. And now their fame was growing.

In connection with their second visit to Denmark they found time to pass DR in TV-byen (DR is the Danish equivalent to British BBC) which was then situated in Gladsaxe, where they filmed a few of their songs for Danish television.

These tracks are included on the DVD "Led Zeppelin" from 2003. On the DVD the tracks are wrongly labeled as having been filmed in Gladsaxe Teen Club. Unfortunately this was not the case - it would have been great though!

Read more about the Led Zeppelin DVD wikipedia

A few Led Zeppelin links

The official Led Zeppelin homepage: ledzeppelin.com

A new Canadian homepage - with some of Jørgen Angel's photos: enzepplopedia.com

Danmarks Radio's Led Zeppelin theme page that i.a. includes an interview with Jerry Ritz (unfortunately only in Danish)
dr.dk/musik/tema/led_zeppelin

Led Zeppelin's first gig

7 September 1968 at Gladsaxe Teen Club

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page
Photo: Jørgen Angel - www.angel.dk

7 September 1968 - as on every Saturday during the season - there was a Teen Club ball at the Egegård School in Gladsaxe (a suburb in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark) This evening's top orchestra was "The New Yardbirds". Ahead of the event some disappointment could be noted among the Gladsaxe Teen Club members. Only one of the members of the "old" Yardbirds - Jimmy Page - was part of the new version of the group. Was the new quartet really something compared to the well known and very popular Yardbirds?

Today, what those lucky few (probably around 1,200 - 1,400 youngsters) were to witness in the small school aula in Gladsaxe has become part of rock history. Shortly afterwards "The New Yardbirds" changed their name and became "Led Zeppelin". And the gig at Egegård School was the first time that now legendary Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant played together before an audience. Actually the group had only been formed very short time before this - their first Scandinavian tour.

The speaking note of Teen Club President Lars Abel introducing"The New Yardbirds".
Click on the paper to view a pdf version.

As president of the Gladsaxe Teen Club it was Lars Abel who had the pleasure to enter the stage and introduce the group. His old speaking note from that evening - with some of the names of the new group handwritten into the manuscript only minutes before he made the presentation (a small mistake was made Plant became Plat!) - tells of how the group had been rehearsing all afternoon at the school to the great delight of the voluntary Teen Club work staff who were preparing that evening's ball. Lars Abel could therefore also state that the audience would get something that was even better than the old Yardbirds!

When this evening has earned its place in rock history it is of course because of Led Zeppelin's later status as one of the worlds absolutely biggest rock legends. But when we today are able to get an impression of the intensity and ambience of this first evening we are primarily to thank the young Teen Club photographer Jørgen Angel. Using his mother's holiday camera he took a number of fabulous pictures of this first Led Zeppelin concert ever. Photos that over the years have been used in rock magazines and shown at exhibitions all over the world.

You may read more about Jørgen Angel - his meetings with Led Zeppelin - and his life as a rock photographer here (sorry only in Danish at the moment) or visit his homepage on www.angel.dk (in English) A larger number of his photos from Gladsaxe Teen Club can be found here.

In addition to the many well known photos taken by Jørgen Angel we have been very lucky in connection with the creation of this web page to find a few never before published photos from the concert on 7 September 1968. These photos were shot by one of Gladsaxe Teen Club's other regular photographers Karsten Schmidt.

Robert Plant was giving it all in Gladsaxe on 7 September 1968.
Photo: Karsten Schmidt.

John Paul Jones at Led Zeppelin's first concert on 7 September 1968 in Gladsaxe Teen Club.
Photo: Karsten Schmidt

In Teen Club Nyt (Gladsaxe Teen Club's monthly members' magazine) in October 1968 Bent Larsen (who was the magazine's normal reviewer) gave this rave review of the new Yardbirds first concert:

"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."

John Bonham at the drums in Egegård Skole in Gladsaxe
Photo: Jørgen Angel - www.angel.dk