JERRY RITZ:
LED ZEPPELIN’S FIRST-EVER TOUR MANAGER
Jimmy Page playing White Summer in early 1969.
Courtesy: Howard Mylett Collection, used with permission. Enzepplopedia Publishing, Inc
In August of 2007, my sister and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the Ritzes, thanks to an introduction by Jørgen Angel. Jerry, Annie and their son, Oliver were in Canada visiting relatives. They very graciously made a side trip to Fort Erie to speak with us, en route to Niagara Falls. It was an evening Lou Anne and I will never forget! Jerry and Annie regaled us with their firsthand accounts of that first-ever gig of Led Zeppelin’s. Oliver proved to be a Rolling Stones fan, but still had some positive comments about the band for whom his father had managed its first-ever tour, of Scandinavia as The New Yardbirds in 1968/69.
REDDON:
Hi, Jerry. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Annie and Oliver. I’m forever grateful to Jørgen Angel for making it possible! To get things rolling, it would be great if you could give me an overview of how you got started in the music business, how your career unfolded and tell me about some of the bands whose tours you managed. Please take it away!
RITZ:
I’ve always loved music. I especially liked The Who and The Yardbirds. My mate, Jan Bonfils, and I went to London in the summer of ’65 to meet with Jane Relf (lead singer Keith Relf's sister) who worked for their first manager, Giorgio Gomelsky. Jane ran The Yardbirds Fan Club worldwide. As you know, they were at the forefront of the Limey Blues Boom of the mid-’60s, paving the way for later acts like Cream, The Who and Led Zeppelin. More importantly, three faces on classic rock’s Mt. Rushmore of Guitar Heroes – Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page – passed through The Yardbirds’ nest. So before I joined the music business professionally, while still in school, Jan and I ran The Yardbirds Official Fan Club of Scandinavia.
In 1965, I contacted The Who’s management and offered to do a programme for them. They said I could, so my friend and I did up the programme.
My parents were very frightened when I dropped out of business school at the age of 17 to go on the road with The Who. You know, sex and drugs and rock’n’roll! But I kept my distance from the performers in those early days. I had a professional relationship with all the bands. I still had a lot of fun but I never saw them as rock stars, just good mates. I wanted them to respect me and never to think of me as a fan. I think that’s why I didn’t collect anything or even have my picture taken with the bands!
I was born in 1948, so I was about the same age or even younger than many of these musicians. As a result, I took my job very seriously because I felt it was a great responsibility for me. As tour manager, some of the things I did included getting “the boys” out of bed, checking us out of the hotel (without too many extra bills for damages to pay!), making sure we arrived at the next venue on time (in all kinds of weather) and fulfilling the contracts with the local promoters and club owners so we were paid the full fees.
From 1966 to 1972, I worked for the Scandinavian tour organizer/agency Bendix Music as a booking agent, promotion and tour manager. Later Bendix became known as ICO (International Concert Organization). While I was there, I was Scandinavian tour manager for Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Small Faces, The Herd (with Peter Frampton), Manfred Mann, The Move, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (with Mick Taylor pre-Stones), ELO, The Pretty Things, The Spencer Davis Group (with Steve Winwood), Eric Burdon & The Animals, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, The Jeff Beck Group (with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood) and The Faces (again with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood pre-Stones) as well as many other British groups that toured the Scandinavian countries during those six years.
Since the mid-sixties, I worked in the entertainment business in almost every field, as a promoter, a record executive (head of international A&R with EMI/Capitol Denmark), record producer, music publisher, personal manager for some of the most popular local Danish artists, music director for a theatre/concert hall, TV producer, show and play producer and much, much more. Today I run my own agency/management company called KulturKontakt.dk and the record/publishing company TUBA Entertainment.
REDDON: Why did so many British acts tour Scandinavia?
RITZ: Denmark is fairly close to England About a day’s ferry ride.
REDDON:
What an incredible career you’ve had, Jerry! How and when did you meet Jørgen Angel?
RITZ:
I was the Scandinavian tour manager for Led Zeppelin in 1968-69. When I heard The Yardbirds were breaking up, I definitely introduced the group as The New Yardbirds on that first tour. There was some mention of the name “Led Zeppelin”, too. But it was just talk at the time and that name wasn’t used; I introduced them as The New Yardbirds for most of those gigs. I met Jørgen when he and my wife-to-be, Annie, were working as volunteers at the Gladsaxe Teen Club, where The New Yardbirds were booked for their first public performance. Annie and I have been married for 35 years now.
Teen Clubs had sprung up in Gladsaxe and Brøndby because high-rises in the area brought a growing population. People wanted somewhere safe for their youngsters to go and have fun, because there were lots of them!
When I toured with Led Zeppelin that first time, I really liked their music and I tried to be professional by distancing myself from them a bit. I never took pictures. No one said I couldn’t but taking pictures seemed like something a fan would do. I always wanted to be as professional as possible with all the groups I worked with. In this case, I wanted the members of Led Zeppelin to respect me as their tour manager/promoter. So I didn’t take any photos and, while being friendly with them, I kept my distance so I could maintain a professional relationship with them.
I have very few photos taken “on the road”. One picture that I have kept, though, was taken on the second day of Led Zeppelin’s career as a touring band. The day before the picture was taken, we had done two shows. The first was at the Gladsaxe Teen Club in the Egegård School where Jørgen took his pictures and I met Annie. The second was later that evening at the Brøndby Pop-Club in the Noerregaardshallen.
Getting back to the day that the photo was taken – September 8, 1968. It was between an afternoon gig at Fjordvilla in Roskilde (where the supporting act was a topless all-girl band called The Ladybirds) and an evening performance in Rewentlowparken, Lolland. At the time, it was normal that the band plus their only roadie/driver and I were sitting in the front two rows of the van (no windows for the guys in the back!). Behind the second row of seats were all the equipment, PA-system, mikes, amplifiers, guitar cases, drum kit, etc. All in one Ford Transit van!
I think that Peter Grant was with us on the road for the first dates on that tour, which meant we needed a little more space! So we hired Ivan Riel (his brother, Alex, is a famous Danish jazz/rock drummer) and his American 1956 Ford Fairlane convertible for transportation that day. Ivan was a well known chauffeur/roadie for local bands at the time. Today he’s a retired airline pilot!
Since we had plenty of space, we invited some friends along on the road to the two gigs, which was very unusual at the time. I remember there was a good, relaxed atmosphere - very easy. Almost like “Let’s go and play some rock’n’roll and have
