Forum | Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? by dickie

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? 21:51 - Aug 24 with 2163 views

Just read that they're reopening it for the Sound City fest and they're hoping to put on future gigs as well. Was wondering what it was like seeing Zep or Cream there back in the day and what the rough capacity of the place might be?

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 07:17 - Aug 25 with 2014 views

hochiblue

It was phenomenal! Crammed, not sure how many but hundreds, both on the floor and the balconies.
We were level with the big old glass lights, and they started vibrating like mad when JPJ played the bass opening to Dazed and Confused. Very loud but good acoustics, my ears were ringing for days afterwards. One of my mates had ear plugs in throughout and said it sounded brilliant.

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 08:48 - Aug 25 with 1947 views

WeWereZombies

I was there, bought one of the first tickets but I worked over the road so I was able to get over in my morning tea break. No internet, no queue and I had put some cash aside so I didn't have to wait until Thursday payday.

I girl I later went out with had her bum touched up by Robert Plant as he was returning to the dressing room before the gig (she says).

I think the hall capacity was sixteen hundred and they went and sold over two thousand tickets. It was, unusually for those times, all ticket. I didn't bother trying to get to the front and stood at the back head banging with line of, well, headbangers that included a friend who had also left Northgate the previous summer. Whether that increased the hearing damage from the amplification is debatable as the rumour was that Zep were still using the speakers that they had just done their first stadium tour of the States with, two speakers were so tall that they couldn't be fitted on stage upright so they were lain on their side at the in front of the stage - further reducing the postage stamp space available to concertgoers.

Poor guy in the chip shop on Norwich Road had to content with a queue of people who couldn't make out what he was saying because their ears were still ringing as they went for scoff after the gig - those were the days when you could be sure of finding a chippie open after the pubs closed.

As for the music, at sixteen I was too young to appreciate it despite having the 'Runes' album already, but I did appreciate them doing two and a half hours and then almost half an hour of encores. A bootleg of the gig called 'In At The Deep End' has been pressed, don't know if it ever got picked up commercially.

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 09:13 - Aug 25 with 1913 views

ElephantintheRoom

It held about 2,000 - plus a good few extra that night I believe.

At about the same time a night club in the Prince's Street roundabout provided another unlikey venue - it was popular with Ipswich art students - but in a senior moment I cant remember what it was called

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 09:19 - Aug 25 with 1901 views

Lord_Lucan

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 09:13 - Aug 25 by ElephantintheRoom
It held about 2,000 - plus a good few extra that night I believe. At about the same time a night club in the Prince's Street roundabout provided another unlikey venue - it was popular with Ipswich art students - but in a senior moment I cant remember what it was called

It had many names. Bogarts, Mirandas, - need to think about the others.

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 10:08 - Aug 25 with 1832 views

jaykay

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 09:19 - Aug 25 by Lord_Lucan
It had many names. Bogarts, Mirandas, - need to think about the others.

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 10:08 - Aug 25 with 1834 views

ghostofescobar

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-30454764

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 10:45 - Aug 25 with 1803 views

ITFC_Forever

I didn't realise the building was still there, I thought it had been knocked down when they built the offices etc.

Would be great to get it back as a live venue.

I was too young to go to any gigs there, but I can remember starting to learn to swim there before Crown Pools opened.

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 13:29 - Aug 25 with 1725 views

Colin_Viljoen

They had quite a few well known groups there;

Gary Glitter
The Sweet
Dave & Ansel Collins
Greyhound

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 14:55 - Aug 25 with 1695 views

WeWereZombies

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 13:29 - Aug 25 by Colin_Viljoen
They had quite a few well known groups there; Gary Glitter The Sweet Dave & Ansel Collins Greyhound

The Glitter Band played the Baths Hall without their dodgy leader but I can't recall Paul Gadd appearing there. More significant acts I saw there as well as Zep included:

Fleetwood Mac (but without Peter Green)
Lindisfarne
Kilburn and the High Roads (WITH Ian Dury)
Elephant's Memory (but no John Lennon)
Focus
and less well known but Seventies stalwarts such as Stray, Gong, Kraan, Brinsley Schwarz, Stackridge to name a few.

Poll:

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 15:10 - Aug 25 with 1681 views

BLUEBEAT

I nearly did a jizz after misreading and thinking LZ were going to open the festival at the Lido.

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 16:51 - Aug 25 with 1643 views

dickie

This all sounds amazing! Fingers crossed it can become the decent touring venue that Ipswich has needed for years

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 17:24 - Aug 25 with 1618 views

Merthyrblue

Slightly before my time. We had swimming lessons there from Chantry.

I had to put up with the Manor Ballroom for gigs c1976. I recall Groundhogs, Vinegar Joe et all. Also used to go to Essex Uni - remember seeing Gong there. Hmmm

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 18:03 - Aug 25 with 1590 views

Colin_Viljoen

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 17:24 - Aug 25 by Merthyrblue
Slightly before my time. We had swimming lessons there from Chantry. I had to put up with the Manor Ballroom for gigs c1976. I recall Groundhogs, Vinegar Joe et all. Also used to go to Essex Uni - remember seeing Gong there. Hmmm

Rod Stewart played the Manor Ballroom in 1971/2 just before he got famous with "Maggie May"

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 20:56 - Aug 25 with 1540 views

Oldsmoker

I was in the seats on the side.
They covered the pool with a wooden floor on top of scaffolding.
A friend said the floor bounced a bit.
Plant asked if the band was at the deep end.
Yes, said the crowd.

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 08:56 - Aug 26 with 1419 views

WeWereZombies

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 20:56 - Aug 25 by Oldsmoker
I was in the seats on the side. They covered the pool with a wooden floor on top of scaffolding. A friend said the floor bounced a bit. Plant asked if the band was at the deep end. Yes, said the crowd.

Never knew there was scaffolding under the boards, maybe I would have risked trying to find a nine inch square to sit on in the middle rather than keeping to the shallow end by those very Sixties glass partitions which somehow had a network of wire in the middle of the glass. I always thought that the floor was just very strong boards...

Another thing that occurred to me was how people found out about gigs back then, I think there was a front page in the Melody Maker about Zep doing a small halls tour and I clocked Ipswich Baths straight away. I may even have made enquiries about when the tickets were available. My tea break purchase was within an hour of them going on sale and there was no queue, I just went up to the same window by the door that you went to when you bought your swim session and got something that looked like a cloakroom ticket (which I still have somewhere, think it is number eighteen.)

Think about it, going for a swim these days you would be told 'no diving', going to a gig 'no stage diving', Bournemouth...

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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 11:19 - Aug 26 with 1357 views

Oldsmoker

Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 08:56 - Aug 26 by WeWereZombies

If I remember correctly, a mate got the heads-up from the hairdresser at Nutters. He took the chance, just like you, and bought 5 tickets with all the money he had. Sold 4 of them to us with a £1 mark-up + promise of a lift to the gig + blunts.
Five 6 footers crammed into a mini (?).
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Any of you lot see Led Zep at St Matthew's Baths in '71? on 11:37 - Aug 26 with 1338 views

brazil1982

Looking at google maps, and seeing an article from the Star a few years back I was stunned to see the building is still there - mostly identifiable from the skylight. The building has been divided into two floors - whether the pool is still there, I don't know, but presume, under flooring that it is.

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