Press Reviews: Zeppelin Makes It  - Draws Capacity Crowd. Wednesday night a near capacity crowd filled Dorton Arena, anticipating a concert by one of England’s top rock groups, Led Zeppelin. By the evening’s end the concert had become a tremendous “happening” with hordes of screaming fans massed around the stage, grooving to the Zeppelin’s hard rock sounds.

The show started nearly an hour late due to a traffic jam, which held up the performers, and was further delayed by technical difficulties with one of the amplifiers. The audience, impatient at first, warmed up quickly as the Zeppelin began their show.

The performers displayed amazing energy, starting the performance with a fervor that takes most groups an hour to acquire. As the program progressed, they danced, leaped, cavorted, and literally covered the stage with their movements, especially Robert Plant, the lead singer. Each member of the group possesses enough talent to create a sensation alone. This was proven by their long solos which kept the crowd’s rapt attention and drew repeated rounds of applause.

 Jimmy Page proved himself a true master of lead guitar, creating numerous sounds and special effects. One of his most unique effects was his use of a bow to produce violin-type sounds on the electric guitar. Page’s solo performance of White Summer was versatile beyond description and drew a standing ovation from the audience, as did a drum solo by John Bonham, and an organ solo by John Paul Jones.
The varied Zeppelin program included transitions from blues to hard rock, even to country sound, which they displayed with their version of V-8 Ford. By the show’s end, nearly the entire audience was on its feet, with as many fans as possible crowded around the stage in a screaming mob.

Robert Plant, who performed brilliantly as lead singer, kept the audience captivated. The crowd was completely in his hands, practically hypnotized, hanging on his every word. The group was called back for four encores, with many fans remaining after the show was ended, begging for more. Led Zeppelin was a definite hit in Raleigh. In the opinion of many it was the best rock concert the Capital City has seen. [-M. Haynes / 4/70]
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ZEPPELIN IS LATE, LOUD, GOOD

Raleigh News and Observer
April 9, 1970 | By Gerry Ligon

Playing to an audience ranging from babes-in-arms to the "over thirty generation", Led Zeppelin put wings on Dorton Arena and piloted the audience on a musical tour from blues, to jazz, to boogie, to pure hard rock.

The performance had a very slow start. After waiting more than 45 minutes for the show to begin, the patient audience was rewarded with five minutes of ear-splitting feed back.

In order to avoid the echo within the arena, which Jimi Hendrix encountered recently, the performers had to present their music at their maximum volume. Because of this, the audience had to adjust to the powerful beat of sound.

However, anyone who arrived for the performance with a negative point of view had to be somewhat persuaded by the audience's acceptance of the reverberating sound. As in most rock concerts, each performer gave his solo.

Unlike most rock concerts, the audience spent a great portion of the show saluting the solos in standing ovations.Undoubtedly, anyone who refuses to listen to any music on his own phonograph above one-half volume, would not have lasted 30 minutes in the arena; but those who know how to listen to the rock and jazz of today were the ones who would not let the performers quit.

If this show is an example of how the music of today will be accepted in Raleigh, we can expect to see many more concerts of this type in the future. The reaction of the audience at last night's performance said so. (courtesy: Steve A. Jones)