As crazy as it sounds, Woody Herman opened for Led Zeppelin on May 30-31 1969 at Fillmore East. In fact, during that concert the orchestra even played a rendition of Light My Fire, the psychedelic rock anthem by The Doors.
Here is a link to Woody Herman and his Orchestra performing the song on May 12, 1969 on the BBC, just weeks before his appearance with Led Zeppelin. This link is timestamped to begin at Light My Fire, but if you rewind and watch the entire playlist, you will have a pretty good idea of how Woody’s half of the concert with Led Zeppelin went:
The Doors first recorded Light My Fire in August 1966 at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood California. It spent three weeks at number one in 1967 and then spent more time on the Billboard Hot 100 once Jose Feliciano covered the song. His version was so good that he won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Woody Herman than picked up the song in 1969, which was during his band’s experimental rock era. He published an album of the same name in 1969 which featured the song, as well as additional songs by Smokey Robinson and Edu Lobo. A second album in 1969 featured songs by Stevie Wonder and Sly and the Family Stone.
Woody was also touring at the time and notably opened for Led Zeppelin on May 30, 1969 at Fillmore East. Below is a link to a bootleg copy of Led Zeppelin’s half of the performance. No copy of the Woody Herman performance has been discovered yet. In June, Woody played Fillmore West with The Who, Santana, and Ike and Tina Turner. Woodstock was just a few months away, where both the Who and Santana performed. During that time, Woody Herman was co-headlining at the Summer Music Festival Review at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Meanwhile, The Doors were performing in Bakersfield and San Diego. Ike and Tina were on their way to California for September performances. Led Zeppelin also notably opened for Jose Feliciano May 17, 1969 in Athens, Ohio.
Led Zeppelin never recorded a studio or live version of the song. However, they occasionally teased the iconic organ riff and melody during live improvisations, usually during extended versions of their song Dazed and Confused.