1969 - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin appeared at the Wheaton Youth Center, Wheaton, during their first North American tour. Some reports suggest that only 55 fans attended this show, (if so, this would make it the smallest audience they ever played to). This show was on a Monday and the night of Richard Nixon's inauguration. Zeppelin were paid $250 to appear.

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Did Led Zeppelin really play in Wheaton, Md.?

wtopstaff
August 30, 2013, 8:09 PM

WASHINGTON – No fliers, photos or physical evidence support it. But a mysterious local legend has it that Led Zeppelin played a show in 1969 at maybe the least likely of local venues — the Wheaton Youth Center. ... Or did they?

Documentary filmmaker Jeff Krulik has spent the past four years trying to answer that question. His documentary “Led Zeppelin Played Here” explores the Wheaton show, which supposedly happened on Jan. 20, 1969 — the day of Richard Nixon’s inauguration. ... The AFI Silver Theatre is screening the full-length documentary beginning at 9:15 p.m. Friday. ... To gather footage and interviews for the film, Krulik held a reunion to conduct interviews with people who say they were at the Wheaton show, The Washington Post reported in 2009. ... From there, Krulik began to compare stories.

“You kind of cross reference everyone’s stories and make sure they sound legit,” he tells WTOP. “The (show’s) promoter, who happened to be a very famous DJ around here named Barry Richards, says that it happened. But people who worked closely with Barry Richards denied that it happened.” ... There’s no confirmed evidence from Led Zeppelin either, Krulik said. The band’s website said the show “is officially unconfirmed and no proof has yet surfaced.”

Krulik said Georgia Avenue’s Wheaton Youth Center itself became a major part of the documentary. ... “It turned out a lot of people have a lot to say about it,” he says. “Many claim they were there in the audience seeing this concert on the very night that Richard Nixon was being inaugurated and right when Led Zeppelin was starting out. No one knew who they were.”

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Boundarystones

Did Led Zeppelin Play Here?

2/11/2013 / in Maryland / by Nick Scalera



Did Led Zeppelin play at the Wheaton Youth Center on January 20, 1969? (Photo: Jeff Krulik)

A few months back we posted about the legendary double bill of The Who and Led Zeppelin at Merriweather Post on May 25, 1969. There's ample documentary evidence about that epic performance — posters, newspaper articles, photos, ticket stubs. But did you know Led Zeppelin's first live show in the DC area may have been at the Wheaton Youth Center — a nondescript multi-purpose room and gym in a Maryland suburb on January 20, 1969? It was also the night of Richard Nixon's Inauguration. And the weather was terrible. And 50 people were there, tops. But there are no photos, articles or a paper trail of any sort to prove it.

Surely this must be an urban legend. Or is it?

Local filmmaker Jeff Krulik, best known for his classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot, has spent 5 years on the trail trying to find out if this concert (which would have been the lowest-paying gig in the band's history) ever really happened. The result of this investigation is Krulik's new film, Led Zeppelin Played Here, which was recently screened for the first time to an appreciative packed house at the AFI Silver Theatre. We caught up with Jeff via email after the show to ask about this intriguing project.

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Going Out Guide

Sneak a peek at new documentary ‘Led Zeppelin Played Here’

By Stephanie Merry
August 22, 2013

Just imagine being in the audience at the Wheaton Youth Center on Jan. 20, 1969. The same day Richard Nixon took office, a little band called Led Zeppelin was rocking 50-odd concertgoers at a humble venue on Georgia Avenue. But did the show even happen? That has been among Washington's great mysteries. Some remember the concert vividly while others that lived nearby or worked at the center insist it's just myth.

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Reunion for 1969 Led Zeppelin concert in Wheaton

By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 9, 2009

Some stories sound preposterous, if delightfully so -- like the one about the night Led Zeppelin played the Wheaton Youth Center. ... Robert Plant doing a whole lotta lovin' on Georgia Avenue? Jimmy Page climbing a stairway to suburbia?

No ticket stubs, posters, pictures or news clippings of the gig are known to exist. Yet some people passionately insist they saw the performance. Zeppelin-in-Wheaton is Washington's own rock-and-roll Loch Ness Monster. Could it possibly be real?

Yes. No way. Depends whom you ask.

To appreciate the monumental improbability, you had to be there Saturday afternoon, amid the motley crowd of graying Zeppelinheads -- with their T-shirts, ticket stubs and precious original LPs -- gathered for an earnest experiment in the nature of truth, myth, memory and dreams.

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