Led Zeppelin open for Jose Feliciano.

Press Review & Backstage Interview: Saturday night was the concert of contrast. Featured were Jose Feliciano, the popular blind guitarist from Puerto Rico, and Led Zeppelin, a hard blues group from England who has recently experienced a rapid growth in popularity.

During the second half of the concert, Feliciano sang and played his guitar, sometimes quietly with a ballad and at other times wailing on his acoustical guitar, always doing his interpretation of old rock n' roll tunes. Between songs Feliciano joked with his audience in traditional concert style.

But while the audience sat back in their seats listening to Feliciano, they were on the edge of their chairs clapping their hands to the time of the music while Led Zeppelin blasted out their heavy blues numbers.

Robert Plant, lead singer for the group, screamed out his hard driving vocals and Jimmy Page, lead guitarist, demonstrated his own versatility. Page, formerly of the Yardbirds, showed his ability of producing special sound effects by using not only his fingers and pick, but also a violin bow on several songs.

But, it was John Bonham who took the audience on a sensational expedition through sound with his drum solo. Playing a 15-minute solo, Bonham thumped heavily on his bass drum, and beat relentlessly on the rest of his set. During one segment of his solo he put his drum sticks aside to use his hands in pounding out his sound.
When asked after the concert if he usually received as great applause as Saturday, Bonham answered ‘yes’, but added ‘The drums are something which everyone seems to like and appreciate no matter what their taste in music.’

The entire group liked the audience and said that a good audience is an integral part of their music. Page explained ‘it is not only their songs that set the mood of their concert, but the audience too.’

He continued to say that ‘audience involvement sometimes leads to new ideas through improvisation while playing.’
Robert Plant explained that each of their concerts is different. ‘We have a basic program, in as much as there is a shell of a song and verses, but from there we each go our own way and play what we feel ,’ he said.

‘This is why so many groups break up,’ Page added. ''When a group has been around for a while, they run out of ideas and stagnate,’ he continued. Page said their music is always changing. "There is a noticeable difference now from our first album,’ he said. ‘Actually, an album is a statement of what you are doing at the time,’ he explained. ‘Each time we play we are heading in a different direction,’ Page said.
So, the J-Prom concert moved from the raw blues of Led Zeppelin to the soft melodies of Jose Feliciano. Despite some difficulty with the public address system, both groups presented an excellent show. [5/19/69, Steve Shanesy]

Robert Plant: "I remember one night playing Ohio University with Jose Feliciano and the P.A. was a cluster of speakers right up to the apex of the room. The statutory sixties students sitting around looking suitable astonished and the P.A. was miles in the air and there no chance the voice could project.So I did have to kick in a lot in those early days." [2004]