Led Zeppelin: a precious 1969 film has been unearthed – Watch the video

A previously unseen document from the Led Zeppelin archives has resurfaced. A color film from 1969, long believed lost, has been located within the University of Georgia's collection, bringing back to light footage of the band from its very first months of activity.

The discovery was made by an enthusiast, who described being left "speechless" by the find: it's a promotional video tied to “Good Times Bad Times,” the opening track of the English band's debut album. The footage shows Led Zeppelin miming the song, offering a rare visual document that's remarkably sharp for the era.

Watch the video below.

The footage dates back to February 1969 and was filmed at the Thee Image Club in Miami Beach, Florida. A black-and-white video of the band performing “Communication Breakdown” at the same venue was already known, though of very poor quality. This new clip, by contrast, stands out for its color quality and for the fact that it went unseen for over fifty years.

According to Loudersound, both performances were recorded for “The Rick Shaw Show”, a music television program in which touring artists mimed the hits of the moment. Host Rick Shaw, a pseudonym for James Harold Hummel, would later move on to “The Now Explosion”, an Atlanta show known for its choreography and psychedelic visual effects.

It is precisely the materials from “The Now Explosion” that are now held at the University of Georgia's Walter J. Brown Media Archive & Peabody Awards Collection. It was there that the fan, known as Zep Head, requested the digitization of several pieces of content related to the band, uncovering not only the “Good Times Bad Times” video but also other recordings featuring artists such as Three Dog Night and James Brown.

In describing the research process, Zep Head explained that he had tracked down various Led Zeppelin titles linked to dance sequences, including “Whole Lotta Love,” “What Is and What Should Never Be” and “Living Loving Maid.” The biggest surprise, however, came with the color footage, which likely offers the clearest images available of Jimmy Page's famous Dragon Telecaster from that early stage of the band's career.

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