Bilko McFish:

Back in 1969 (I think it was '69 anyway) I got to see Jethro Tull blow Led Zeppelin off the stage in San Diego. People were screaming for Tull halfway through LZ's set. As I remember the story, Tull was canned from the rest of the tour. Anybody else remember this? I actually went to see Jethro Tull but must confess that, even as a snot nosed 15 year old kid, I knew about the Pillage Of The Delta Bluesmen's tunes by Page And The Boys. I actually own some LZ recordings and every so often listen to them but, they don't deserve the All Time Rock Hero status they seem to have maintained. Granted that ALL music is repetition and there's a certain amount of "stealing/borrowing" in all forms of it from classical to rock and beyond. I play guitar and lapslide and when I want to write stuff, I have to stop listening to other people's music so I'm not being influenced on a conscious level. I doubt that it works. End of the story: Music will always borrow from what came before and unless there is a conscious plaugerism at work, it's probably just the nature of memory to repeat and embellish.

 

-Bilko

Somewhere in the hinterlands of Northern California

That's funny, I have a book that completely refutes your story.  Sunday, August 10, 1969 San Diego, CA Sports Arena, support from Jethro Tull. Tracks magazine reports:

"All the conditions were there to make it a usual run-of-the-mill dull concert; it took place at the super-hype Sports Arena, a large rent-a-Gestapo was present, and it was a sit down affair.  When Zeppelin came on, several thousand music lovers ignored that stupid unwritten law which says you should sit perfectly still in your numbered seat like a respectable citizen, and converged to the floor area and felt free. Two encores cost the promoters an additional couple of grand and it was with their approval that the encores were permitted.  Instead of the usual 11 pm deadline, the concert ended at 12:05."

I have several recordings of Zep from the summer of 1969 and they more than back up this story.  It seems the ravages of time have caused you to remember what you want to remember.

P.S. This is he only time LZ played with Tull in San Diego, and Tull wasn't "canned" from the rest of the tour either.