Oh, to have grown up as a teenager in the 1970s, with bands like Zeppelin touring the country. If you were one of those lucky teenagers on Monday, February 10th, 1975, you were probably at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland to witness Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones with 18,000 other crazed fans.

The Post wrote a review of the show the following day.

“It’s been a long time since I rock ‘n’ rolled,” was Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant’s greeting to the 18,800 young and extremely passionate fans last night who witnessed a concert marred by more than 20 arrests and sporadic outbursts of violence inside and outside the Capital Centre arena.

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For Plant and the other three members of Led Zeppelin it had indeed been a long time. The group, near the midway point of a tour expected to gross more than $5 million before it ends, was making its first area appearance since July, 1973.

Last night’s long-awaited show contained large doses of the patented heavy-metal sound that has made Led Zeppelin the world’s most popular rock group. Singer Plant is up front, prancing about and singing in an oddly androgynous voice that is reminiscent of Janis Joplin when it is not hoarse or cracked, but the man who really makes the music move is guitarist Jimmy Page.

Ex-Yardbird Page, with his strong rock and blues background, has given the group a respectability that other heavy-metal bands lack. Ever since its inception in late 1968, Led Zeppelin has served as a bridge that connects the first wave of British bands with the styles developed by the younger generation of English rock musicians.

There are signs, though, that the group’s powers are leveling off. The material featured from the upcoming double album “Physical Graffiti” was uniformly loud and monotonous, and after a while Page’s solos seemed to sound alike.

I’ll go out on a limb and guess that at least a handful of GoDCers were at this concert.

For those interested in what was played, here is the setlist from that night.

Rock and Roll
Sick Again
Over the Hills and Far Away
In My Time of Dying
The Song Remains the Same
Rain Song
Kashmir
No Quarter
Trampled Underfoot
Moby Dick
Dazed and Confused (incl. San Francisco)
Stairway to Heaven
Whole Lotta Love
Black Dog
Heartbreaker