Led Zeppelin had the plug pulled on Grand Funk Railroad at a major concert in Olympia. Mark Farner told the story in a Radio Forrest interview.
Was it The Stones or Zeppelin you blew off the stage at the Olympia [in Grand Funk’s hometown of Detroit, MI]?
“It was Zeppelin, yeah. Their manager [Peter Grant] came out and grabbed [Grand Funk manager/producer] Terry Knight, physically picked him up – he had him dangling in the air about two feet off the floor.
“He was a big guy, Peter Grant, he was a big-time wrestler and a manager of Zeppelin, and he told Terry Knight that he had to stop the band. Terry Knight had the power pulled down on us…
“And he walked out with a different microphone that’s hooked up through a different channel, and he starts speaking to the audience. I remember the audience was like, ‘What the hell’s going on here?’
“When it stopped, dude, I’m playing, we got massive volume, we’re just fixing to go into ‘Inside Looking Out,’ it’s just like somebody jerked the power, and the only thing you could hear was [Don] Brewer back on the drums…
“I turn around, ‘What is this?’, and Terry comes walking out with his microphone, going, ‘Due to contractual obligation, Grand Funk Railroad has to leave the stage now…’
“And the audience goes, ‘Boo! Boo!’ They’re throwing wine bottles and whiskey bottles and beer bottles – oh my god – they didn’t want Grand Funk to leave the stage.
“An hour and a half later, Zeppelin took the stage to less than half the house, it took them an hour and a half to get on the stage after that fiasco.
“But it gave Melvin [bassist Mel Schacher] and I an opportunity to go and sit in Olympia about halfway back in the center and check out Led Zeppelin. Nobody knew we were there.” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his comments.
