It’s one of the biggest mysteries debate Led Zeppelin fans; did the band play at the Wheaton Youth Centre in January of 1969? Now 50 years on, we’re taking a look back at this divisive mystery.

Following the breakup of The Yardbirds back in 1968, a bunch of English musicians came together to form a new band. Dubbed The New Yardbirds, this band played their first concert in Denmark in September of that same year

Barely two months later, they’d revised their moniker and taken on the name Led Zeppelin.

By this time, their live shows were already becoming something of legend, with the blistering blues riffs of Jimmy Page, the powerful drumming of John Bonham, and the wild stage antics of frontman Robert Plant giving audiences all over Europe and the UK plenty to talk about.

By late December of 1968, the group were heading out on their first tour of North America. Kicking off in Denver, Colorado on December 26th, the band travelled all over the continent, played a total of 36 of their 41 planned shows.

However, one of these shows has divided fans for years. On January 20th, 1969, Led Zeppelin ostensibly walked into the Wheaton Youth Centre in Wheaton, Maryland and played to an audience of approximately 50 people.

That’s all well and good, right? A small show from one of the biggest bands in the world? Unforgettable, yes? Well, the thing is that no one can confirm that this gig happened.

No photos, recordings, ticket stubs, or documentation exists confirming that this show happened, with only the shared recollections of the small crowd substantiating its occurrence.

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Back in 2009, a small “reunion” of those who claimed to have witnessed the show took place. “They were definitely here,” explained Anne Marie Pemberton – who was 17 at the time – to The Washington Post as she paced the venue’s floor.

“Page was over here. John Paul Jones was over there. Plant the showman was right here. And right behind was John Bonham with his hellacious drum set.”

However, Sharon Ward Ellis – the venue’s former director – disputes that the gig ever took place, as does Ruth Lynn Youngwirth, a frequent attendee of the Wheaton Youth Centre, whose meticulously-kept scrapbook is absent of any reference to Led Zeppelin’s fabled show.

So what gives? Why do so many people remember this show, while so many others don’t?

That’s exactly the question that filmmaker Jeff Krulik attempted to answer many years ago.

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You might recall Jeff Krulik from his famed documentary Heavy Metal Parking Lot, which saw intriguing interviews with Judas Priest fans outside of the band’s 1986 concert in Landover, Maryland.

A devoted fan of this mystery, Krulik attempted to get to the bottom of this infamous Led Zeppelin show once and for all, releasing the documentary Led Zeppelin Played Here in 2014.

Conducting hours of interviews and digging through treasure troves of memorabilia, Krulik’s final ruling was that Led Zeppelin might have played at the Wheaton Youth Centre, but he can’t prove it.

“Most of the stories make sense,” Krulik explained to WAMU recently, noting that interviews painted the picture of sub-par sound, and a tired, well-travelled band.

“This was considered a phantom concert,” Krulik noted. “But in this day and age, people want concrete proof.”

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While the gig is these days listed on the official Led Zeppelin website (albeit as an “unconfirmed rumour”), members of the band have never addressed its existence, despite repeated efforts by fans to contact them.

The group’s touring manager, Richard Cole, claimed to have no memory of the show, though it seems that the best evidence we have comes from local DJ Barry Richards, who claims to have organised the show.

During an interview with The Washington Post back in 2009, Richards explained that the show was a last-minute affair, designed to take place on a night between the band’s shows in Detroit (eight hours away from Wheaton) and Pittsburgh (just four hours away).

However, this last-minute nature of the gig was its downfall, with Richards noting he had barely any time to promote it.

This of course would explain the lack of physical evidence such as posters, tickets, and documentation, while the gig itself was likely overshadowed by the inauguration of US President Richard Nixon happening that very same day.

As Barry Richards claimed, Led Zeppelin’s manager Peter Grant was incensed about the poor turnout to the show, reportedly confronting Richards in the venue’s parking lot. “He was [angry],” Richards explained, “he got in my face.”

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50 years later, the story of Led Zeppelin’s unconfirmed 1969 concert still lingers. While the band were far from the musical heavyweights they’re known as today (their self-titled debut had been out for all of one week prior to the gig), it’s possible that many people just forgot about this gig as time went by.

Of course, with so many conflicting reports and stories, it’s no wonder that this mystery remains. After all, it’s one of those things that sounds ridiculous; how can one of music’s biggest bands have played a show that no one can confirm?

However, for many music fans, it sounds as though this is going to be one of the great unanswered questions in all of musical history. Maybe one day we’ll find a definitive answer, but until then, this mystery might just leave us… dazed and confused.

Check out Led Zeppelin’s ‘Dazed And Confused’:

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