Rare footage of Led Zeppelin performing at the Fillmore East in New York on January 31, 1969 was released online by LedZepFilm.
The footage was shot by Jim Murdock who recalls attending the evening’s late show with his friend Robert, where they planned to film Iron Butterfly. However, they both ended up first filming Led Zeppelin after being captivated by their performance.
Murdock’s footage originates from the same date as Dennis DiMatteo’s footage of Led Zeppelin which previously surfaced online and was used in “Becoming Led Zeppelin”.
Di Matteo’s footage likely show’s the band’s earlier show on the evening of January 31, 1969 and is the earliest video footage of Led Zeppelin that has been made public, meaning Murdock’s film from the late show is the second earliest footage of the band to emerge.
The below video includes most, but not all, of Murdock’s footage from the show:
“For my friend Robert and I, it wasn’t too hard to bring our little standard 8mms in there. It wasn’t exactly warm that late at night, so they were easily concealed in our jackets,” Murdock says. “It may not have been an issue, but we didn’t want to risk anything.”
“We came to see and film Iron Butterfly as we were pretty big fans of psychedelic music back then and had been to the Fillmore East a number of times so we kind of had a plan,” he explains.
“We both shot from different angles because I was supposed to mostly shoot the light show so I was closer to the stage on the left, and he would shoot the band from the right side and a bit further back. Made sense at the time and since we’d been a number of times to the Fillmore, we didn’t really care that we weren’t closer to each other,” Murdock says.
“The only thing I knew about Led Zeppelin was that it had Jimmy Page in it (who even back then I barely knew of until my friend told me he was in The Yardbirds). From the start I noticed they were incredibly loud,” he says.
“I remember not loving the first song ‘Train Kept a Rollin” but really liked the energy of the band and Plant. It only took until the end of ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ that I was completely sold,” he adds. “Page was a blazingly fast guitarist and the solo on that song was much better than anything I had ever heard up to that point.”
“The massive sound they produced was insane,” he continues. “‘Dazed and Confused’ was fantastic, I remember the bow section very very well and I really wish I would’ve filmed it. I was particularly floored by Plant’s vocals as they were unlike anything I had ever heard. I remember him on ‘How Many More Times’ in particular being absolutely amazing as he went through ‘The Hunter’ section and had a huge scream at the end.”
“I knew I didn’t have a ton of film, and I didn’t want to “waste” (funny looking back on that) too much on the opener as I wasn’t supposed to film them at all, but I genuinely couldn’t help but at least grab a few shots,” he says. “I remember shooting Plant a number of times throughout the show as I enjoyed him the most. I remember shooting some banter, a bit during ‘I Can’t Quit You Babe’, and a piece of ‘The Hunter’ quite well as those were sections I wanted to remember for when I’m old like today!”
Murdock’s footage is largely unseen, however it emerged publicly in February as part of a little-noticed YouTube compilation.
“We decided to digitize the film in 2015 as I had a renewed interest in the band again after finding bootlegs online for Led Zeppelin concerts. I also knew the film was becoming quite old and I wasn’t sure how many more years it would be still watchable,” Murdock says.
After years of his film being unseen by the public, Murdock is now excited for people to enjoy his snapshot of one of the band’s earliest live performances.
“I am very excited for people to see this video,” he tells LedZepNews, “it’s been held long enough and I know how few videos we have from these early years. It brings me a lot of joy knowing people can see this band in such an early form and it makes me feel good I can contribute to the community. They deserve it. I think it comes at perfect timing with the new documentary. I only wish we would’ve filmed more!”
Murdock is now publicly appealing to people who would be willing to trade any unreleased Led Zeppelin live audio from May 1969 or earlier for some of his unseen clips of Led Zeppelin. He can be contacted via email on jimthemurdock@gmail.com
Must be going deaf I didn’t hear anything…