their music is definitely still alive. There was a very special moment after the last encore when the young Bonham went down onto his knees and, with his hands over his head, bowed low before his father’s three old colleagues. He need not have been so humble, though. His performance on the drums was well worthy of his father and kept the “new” Led Zeppelin act well together.
BAAGØ:
Well thank you, Jerry. Your report has been so good, I almost feel I attended the concert myself!
RITZ: You should have been there! It did completely live up to all our expectations.
ANNIE RITZ
RECALLS LED ZEPPELIN’S FIRST-EVER PUBLIC PERFORMANCE
Portrait of Jimmy Page in his days with The Yardbirds.
Courtesy: Howard Mylett Collection, used with permission. Enzepplopedia Publishing, Inc.
Annie Ritz experienced the popular music scene of the 1960s firsthand in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, Annie experienced one aspect of rock’n’roll history that few people can ever lay claim to. She was in the audience the night of Led Zeppelin’s first-ever public performance. It was Saturday, September 7, 1968 at the Gladsaxe Teen Club which was located in the Egegård School in Copenhagen. At the venue, a soft drink sponsored sign announced the act as “The New Yardbirds”. The group would be renamed Led Zeppelin in a few short weeks.
Annie was also a volunteer at the Gladsaxe Teen Club where she spent many happy Saturday nights with her friends. It was here that she met her husband-to-be, Jerry Ritz, who was the tour manager for The New Yardbirds in September 1968.
REDDON:
It’s great to be speaking with you in person, Annie! Let’s get started by having you tell me how the Gladsaxe Teen Club came about.
RITZ:
In the 1960s, there was tremendous growth in the Gladsaxe area. Lots of new baby boomers, if you like. There were many high rise apartments going up. Lots of young people were in all the new families moving into Gladsaxe and the surrounding suburbs. The Gladsaxe Teen Club was started by young people who wanted to have somewhere for all these even younger people to go and enjoy themselves safely. There were other smaller clubs in the area too, but the Gladsaxe Teen Club was the main one.
In nearby Brøndby, they modelled another club after ours. It was a great idea and it was very successful at providing somewhere for young people to go and enjoy themselves. There was a lot of great music played at the Gladsaxe Teen Club.
REDDON: How did you become involved in the Gladsaxe Teen Club?
RITZ:
I was at the Teen Club one night with a friend of mine. We were sitting there and one of the organizers of the Teen Club events pointed at me and asked Jørgen Angel, “Who’s that?” Jørgen replied, “This is my friend, Annie. She’s from Kgs. Lyngby.” The organizer asked me if I would like to become a volunteer, since my friends and I were coming to the Teen Club anyway. Then I would save the dollar admission each time. I liked that idea! So I agreed to become a volunteer. That way, I would get in for free and get to see the performances. It was lots of fun volunteering, too.
We had so much fun at those performances. We would drink Jolly Cola, eat Mars chocolate bars and all hang around together. It was such a great time; not only the first time we saw Led Zeppelin there, but on all of the Teen Club nights.
REDDON:
I was very fortunate to interview Jørgen Angel, who took those spectacular and historic photos of Led Zeppelin’s first-ever public performance at the Gladsaxe Teen Club on Saturday, September 7, 1968. He kindly introduced me to you and your husband Jerry, after he told you about my early Led Zeppelin research. I’m very grateful for that.
RITZ:
Yes, I actually knew Jørgen from the Teen Club before I met Jerry! We often laugh about that. Jørgen took the photos for the Gladsaxe Teen Club programme, the Teen Club Nyt. So we were all there at the Gladsaxe Teen Club that night to see “The New Yardbirds” who would later become Led Zeppelin.
REDDON: How did you get interested in popular music like The Yardbirds?
RITZ:
I have a brother who is four years older than I am. He had some Yardbirds records that I listened to very often. So I was very much looking forward to seeing The Yardbirds that night. I was very surprised to find out about The New Yardbirds. But it turned out to be a happy surprise!
REDDON: What did you think of The New Yardbirds when you saw them that night?
RITZ: I thought it was the best band in the world, right away!
REDDON:
How does it feel to know that you saw The New Yardbirds play their first-ever public performance on Saturday, September 7, 1968?
RITZ:
It feels wonderful! I am very lucky I was there. I have a funny story about this fact. I have a friend who is a famous radio host in Denmark. One day, I was listening to him on the radio. He was talking about how Led Zeppelin made its debut at the Brøndby Pop Club in September 1968. He said that was their first performance ever. However, Led Zeppelin actually played two shows as The New Yardbirds on Saturday, September 7, 1968. They played first at the Gladsaxe Teen Club and then they went to Brøndby Pop Club later that evening to play a second show there. I wanted to set the record straight, so I phoned him up and told him! It was very funny and we’ve had a great deal of fun over the years, going back and forth with that event. It’s all in good fun but it is a fact that the Gladsaxe Teen Club was the first performance Led Zeppelin ever played.
REDDON:
That’s a neat story and your friend the radio host must have been very shocked when he was brought to task for saying Brøndby Teen Club was the first performance of Led Zeppelin.
RITZ: Yes, he was very surprised when I called in!
REDDON:
Do you remember if they were called “The New Yardbirds” on that night of their first appearance?
RITZ: Yes, I remember the sign at the Teen Club said “The New Yardbirds”.
REDDON: Jørgen Angel also told me about that sign that read “The New Yardbirds”.
RITZ:
Yes, he would know that as well. I also have recently been going through a box of materials from those Gladsaxe Teen Club days. They bring back so many great memories! I came across something in that box that says “The New Yardbirds”. The programme said “The Yardbirds” because it was printed ahead of time. But this was something else. I’ll look for that for you.
I’m going through these old things because we’re having our own 40th Anniversary
