How Led Zeppelin shocked Vanilla Fudge ?
Live shows are what truly define an artist. It is under a spotlight where many bands are truly forged. “I realised what Led Zeppelin was all about around the end of our first US tour,” Robert Plant once recalled. They had begun as unknown entities, decided to skip the usual British invasion trick of conquering the UK before going overseas, and after a jaunt in Scandinavia, they headed to the States.
“We started off not even on the bill in Denver,” the golden frontman continues, “And by the time we got to New York we were second to Iron Butterfly, and they didn’t want to go on.” This fearsomeness was also ratified by Vanilla Fudge, who claimed that Led Zep were the only band that could match them.
”We played with Hendrix, Cream, The Who, and at times, we blew everybody off the stage,” Fudge drummer Carmine Appice told Songfacts. ”We were a very hard act to follow. We were known for being very aggressive live and different from anyone else. We were wondering who was going to blow us off the stage – it was Led Zeppelin.”