honour of Led Zeppelin playing its first concert ever, there at the Teen Club. It should be a fun time. Many of the original volunteers are coming back and we hope to have an excellent Led Zeppelin tribute band perform. We’re beginning to organize it now, and it’s going to be most enjoyable doing that. Jerry and I are very excited about this, as are Jørgen Angel and many others.
REDDON: Speaking of Jørgen Angel, aren’t his photos of Led Zeppelin’s first night incredible?
RITZ:
Yes, those photos are unbelievable. He was using his mother’s camera which was okay, but it wasn’t the best camera in the world. He was the photographer for the Gladsaxe Teen Club. We all had jobs to do and being the photographer for the programme was his. That was a very important job and he captured so many amazing photos when the Teen Club was open. He did a great job with it though; those pictures of Led Zeppelin are breathtaking.
Jørgen has taken so many other great photos of musicians through the years. We also saw many great concerts at KB Hallen and he took photos there, too. KB Hallen was used for tennis matches and other events as well as being a larger place for concerts. Led Zeppelin played there later, too. Jørgen is a fantastic photographer.
REDDON:
What did you think when you heard the Led Zeppelin’s first album, after having seen them play live at the Gladsaxe Teen Club?
RITZ: It is a great album.
REDDON:
Did you see Led Zeppelin perform when the band returned to Copenhagen in March of 1969?
RITZ:
Yes! After the concert, Jerry and I went to a disco with the four guys from Led Zeppelin.
REDDON:
Your husband, Jerry, was the tour manager for Led Zeppelin’s first Scandinavian Tour. What has it been like being married to someone who is in the music business like that? I would imagine it must be quite exciting.
RITZ:
Yes, it is very exciting! It is also very hard work with lots of travel. Jerry has worked with many great musicians since he was very young. Bands like The Small Faces, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, Deep Purple. It’s a very, very big list if you were to write it all down!
REDDON: I guess it would be.
RITZ:
We have had the opportunity to travel for Jerry’s work. I’ve been to Japan, Thailand, China…many, many beautiful and exotic places. I’ve also been able to be a part of so much great music and meet many of the people who make it. That has been a great experience.
REDDON:
Any favourite memories about living your life with music being such a big part of it, both personally and professionally?
RITZ:
Well, the years at the Gladsaxe Teen Club hold such great memories. Seeing Led Zeppelin there at the beginning was great. There were many other groups I saw at the Teen Club like Ten Years After. It was amazing. One great memory is seeing Deep Purple play off to the side of the stage at the Teen Club. I recall that very clearly and they were another of the best bands. Memories like that come to mind immediately and I am so very fond of them all. I have met many, many nice people over the years through my association with the Gladsaxe Teen Club and Jerry’s work with musicians. It has been a wonderful experience.
REDDON:
Thanks very much for your recollections, Annie. It has been great talking to you. I hope you, Jerry and Jørgen have a wonderful time at your 40th Anniversary celebration in September 2008 at the Egegård School to commemorate Led Zeppelin’s first performance there in September 1968.
RITZ: You’re welcome, Frank. Good luck with your book!
JØRGEN ANGEL
CAPTURES THE RAW ENERGY OF LED ZEPPELIN’S FIRST-EVER PUBLIC PERFORMANCE ON FILM
Danish rock photographer, Jørgen Angel’s limited edition The First Performance lithograph captures the raw energy and passion of Led Zeppelin’s first-ever public appearance:
September 7, 1968 at Gladsaxe Teen Club, Copenhagen.
Lithograph reproduced with the permission of Jørgen Angel (www.angel.dk). Enzepplopedia Publishing, Inc.
Jørgen Angel has been a rock photographer since the late 1960s. He has photographed so many groups and people who made the music happen, including: Alice Cooper, Ten Years After, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and a host of others. He has taken photos extensively in Scandinavia, Great Britain and the United States. Angel’s professional accomplishments are considerable.
On one of his most memorable and noteworthy excursions, he took pictures of a rock band from England that was performing at the Gladsaxe Teen Club in Copenhagen on Saturday, September 7, 1968. Much to Angel’s chagrin, he learned that The Yardbirds – which he had seen twice before in Denmark – had become The New Yardbirds, according to a sign outside the venue that evening. Little did he know then that he was about to freeze forever in time the first-ever public performance of the fledgling Led Zeppelin, the brainchild band of guitarist, Jimmy Page.
REDDON:
Hi Jørgen, it’s great to finally talk to you after all the emailing back and forth. Thank you very much for doing the interview. I’ve really been looking forward to it.
ANGEL:
Hi Frank, it’s nice to “meet” you. I’m very happy to offer whatever I’m able to your research project. I’ve scribbled some answers to the questions you sent to me.
REDDON:
Thank you very much. I got a bit carried away and sent a raft of them, I know. Whatever ones you’d like to answer, please do.
ANGEL:
I answered most of them, so we could start at the beginning and work our way through?
REDDON:
That’s fine. We’ll take it from the top, as they say. How did you become interested in music of any type in the first place? Did you play a musical instrument as a child?
ANGEL:
The first kind of music I liked as a boy was…we called it “march music”. What would that be to you?
REDDON:
Military marches? I played trombone in a military band for ages and we used to do all kinds of marches. Mainly American, English and German ones.
ANGEL:
Yes, that’s the type of music I mean. It was partly
