Wow, this is gonna be a long post. Led Zeppelin were the quintescential GODS of rock and roll in the Tampa Bay area during most of the seventies. They had played Tampa Stadium only once before, in 1973, and set the Guiness World Record for highest attendance. Seventy One Thousand and another 6 thousand "gate crashers." To get up the money to buy a ticket, I had 2 of my lawn mowing accounts pay me in dime bags, then I cut the pot with Jasmine Tea and rolled bomber joints which I sold at school for a dollar each. I got my ticket from Budget Tapes and Records for 10 dollars plus a $2.50 service charge which was astronomical in those pre ticketmaster days.
On the day of the concert, my stepbrother joined me and my dad took us to Tampa Stadium, and my mom would pick us up after the concert. I may have just finished my high school freshman year, but I was no fool. I hid a dime bag of some good weed between my Levi's and an Aluminum timing chain which also served as a belt/formidable weapon in case any shit went down. I purposely oiled the shit out of it in case the cops wanted to pat me down or some shit. My step brother was scarred shitless when we first went up to the gate and saw all the shit they were confisating from the kids. He had a half pint of rum on him and was afraid to get in line. I bent down and picked up a Frisbee and showed him how to hold the bottle inside the Frisbee with his thumb and fingers. He fuckin held it out to his side as they patted him down and they never knew it was there!!
Once we were inside, the excitement soon wore off as we realized we were in for a long ass wait. We got there around 4pm and they had opened the gates around 10 that morning to allow for smooth crowd control. The Outlaw Motorcyle Club had commandeered the front near the stage and I saw no reason to get my head smashed in, so we hung back. The air was electric, and every time they played a cool song over the p a speakers the crowd would cheer. My stepbrother pointed out a tall black man dressed as a pimp, with a trench coat that contained thousands of bags of every drug known to man fastened to the insides of it. He had on a large purple hat with a huge purple Ostrich feather sticking out. Naturally I was dared to knock the hat off his head with a cup of ice, and naturally I gave it a shot. We spent the next 2 hours ducking a very pissed off Negro.
Finally Led Zeppelin took to the stage. There had been large thunderclouds gathering all afternoon, and halfway through the second song, the sky opened up like a goddamn Charleton Heston biblical movie. Within minutes about 77 thousand freaks were completely soaked to the skin. It was the biggest Wet T-shirt contest I have ever seen, but we all just stood there like idiots waiting for the band to continue. John Bonham the drummer was scared to death of lightning and refused to go back onstage. Jimmy Page managed to get up a few licks once the rain stopped, but was stopped short by a steady drizzle of rain. They packed it in and secretly left the stadium. After about another 30 minutes, the bikers started raising hell and then this promoter faggotty looking bitch wearing the widest pair of bell bottoms I ever saw in my life comes out and announces that the concert has been cancelled due to the weather and to get this......HOLD ON TO YOUR TICKET STUBS!!!! This is where it all started kids. They were supposed to return Sunday afternoon for a special show and then on to Miami that night. I was'nt buying it, and neither were the Outlaws. Soaked fans were scrambling through the mud snapping up the previously "useless" ticket stubs and some were even fighting over them. The Kansas City Faggot was frantically lisping into the microphone for people to remain calm and I just stood there stoned and drunk watching the riot unfold. Presently people began throwing things and even began to storm the stage and trash the drum set. That is when Tampa's Finest decided to do a re-enactment of Birmingham Alabama with a Tampa Twist. These fuckin brutes simply threw up the leashes and let loose about 19 police dogs into the crowd. The place went apeshit almost instantaniously. After seeing bikers turned into ALPO most folks decided it was a good time to take up jogging. Only thing was, they all were jogging towards me in a human tidal wave of panic. I turned around and hauled my 14 year old ass towards the gate I came in at, only now I was on the field, and the gate was up in the stands. I was so fucking scared, I was running over anything in my way, including other people. Finally, I got near my gate and saw that I would have to grab a rail and pull myself up. The jump was gonna be about 7 1/2 feet. I caught the bar on the damn way DOWN folks!!!! I shot down the dark hallway and into the setting sunlight and slid to a stop by this old Stadium Janitor with a handclicker. He boomed out "forty one!" "Forty One what man?" I said gasping for breath. "You the foity fust Zeppelin Dickweed to run through this here gate." I thanked him and went off in search of my stepbrother. It was another 3 hours before order was restored.
