CELEBRATION DAY

Any photographer worth their salt will tell you that being in the right place at the right time is an essential part of getting a great shot and for Jørgen Angel, the place was the Teen Club in Gladsaxe, Denmark and the date was 7 September 1968. Fans of Led Zeppelin will know the date and the venue well – it was the first time that Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together live, fulfilling an existing contractual obligation to tour Scandinavia left over from Page’s Yardbirds days.

When Page and co rolled into town, Angel was an aspiring photographer who had become the Teen Club’s in-house snapper and made a point of shooting the many bands that came through Gladsaxe. “I’d been looking forward to hearing The Yardbirds again, but when I arrived I saw a handwritten poster stating ‘The New Yardbirds’!” he recalls. “Then I knew something was wrong. Imagine that you had bought tickets to The Beatles and then ‘The New Beatles’ turned up instead!

“Only one of the original members was left in the band – three completely unknown musicians. But when The New Yardbirds came on the stage and started playing, I was happily surprised by their energy. I was so captivated that I used a roll-and-a-half of film on them – and that was expensive for a school boy!”