Led Zeppelin In Holland

There was no special bond between Led Zeppelin and Holland, like certain cities in the U.S.A. Like elsewhere they started in average sized halls and from 1972 they performed in halls that could hold around 10.000 people. I've made a little comparison between the 3 main sources for Led Zeppelin' live history. These are; Led Zeppelin Live by Luis Rey,The Press Reports by Robert
Godwin and The Concert File by Dave Lewis and Simon Pallet.

1968;
Nothing,however they did a tour of Scandinavia which Holland is no part of but is very close. So maybe ?

1969;
In an update in TBL magazine there's a date mentioned; 03/10/1969 Circus Theater, Scheveningen. Godwin mentions October, Rey
has nothing on this year. In Aloha magazine there's mentioning of another date on 10/10/1969 Concertgebouw, Haarlem. What's really exciting is that there's also mentioned that there were 12 minutes of colour footage of 'Dazed & Confused' from this show broadcasted on Dutch television on a program called 'Dit Is Het Begin'. There's other filmed footage, on 29/03/1969 on a show called 'Jam' they performed 'Good Times,Bad Times'. Not sure if this is a studio or live version.

1970;
Both Rey and Lewis/Pallet have them in Amsterdam on 27/02/1970. Lewis/Pallet also have a venue; het Concertgebouw.

1971;
Rey has a speculative date; 09/05/1971 in Amsterdam. Godwin mentions early 1971. Lewis/Pallet only mention that other European dates were performed.

1972;
Everybody agrees on this date; R.A.I./oude R.A.I. Amsterdam 27/05/1972. This was a warm up show for the 8th American tour. This is also the first concert from which a recording is available. It's a reasonable sounding recording with a few cuts and (probably) some of the acoustic set missing. There's also a fragment which was shown on Dutch television with the hilarious
part of Richard Cole smashing down the briefcase with money which he also mentions in his somewhat sensational book. This concert has been terrible reviewed in one of Holland' major music magazines. I have it somewhere and will post some parts of it when i've located it.

The following is very interesting. In Aloha (Dutch music magazine) there's a story of how the Dutch footage of 1972 was a strong contender to be part of the official DVD. It was offered to Jimmy by a man who is/has a fanatic collector/archive of music on Dutch television. The promoter versus Richard Cole part was not wanted, but 'Immigrant Song' was. The guy tells that he was unpleasantly surprised that they used the footage from Australia with the sound from L.A./Long Beach. He claims that they could have used a version with good sound and footage from one show. So there must be more in better sound and picture somewhere, because you can't say that the known part has good sound and visuals and is extremely short.

And the proof was on the telly Friday 31/12/2004 !! Extremely clear footage of 'Immigrant Song' with very good sound and an extended Cole versus promoter ! Where's the rest ?

1973;
Both Rey and Godwin have them in Ahoy Rotterdam on 11/03/1973 during their sensational European tour. There is also a recording but some sources (TBL Underground Uprising) believe this recording is from Aberdeen/25/01/1973.

1975;
Everybody has them in Ahoy Rotterdam 11/01/1975. This was a warm up show for the 10th American tour. I've had contact with somebody who claimed he taped this show, but lost the tape over the years. Cole also mentions this concert in his book, but talks about a roof which is too low. I think he is confused with 1972 (he also places the events of 1972 concerning the cash and the TV crew in 1975) because the roof in Ahoy is unreachable jumping, maybe only with large amounts of drugs. He also talks about pillars throughout the building. I think he's reffering to the local coffeeshop/red light district but certainly not Ahoy.

1977;
Just America.

1980;
Everybody agrees on Ahoy Rotterdam 21/06/1980. There are 2 recordings from this show, a complete audience and an incomplete soundboard. I started to do concerts around this period but being short of money i opted for a Judas Priest show in Amsterdam. Shame,shame.

After 1980 Robert was the most frequent visitor. Page/Plant only performed here on the 1995/1996 tour. They played at Ahoy Rotterdam which i attended, which was quite an experience. They skipped Holland in 1998 because (this is my theory) Ahoy was
not available. That terrible 'Lord of the Dance/Feet Of Flames' or whatever occupied Ahoy for a good part of December (one more reason to hate them). I traveled with a friend to lovely Oberhausen in Germany to see them as was (again) not disappointed.