Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1973
Tour by Led Zeppelin | |
Location |
|
---|---|
Associated album | Houses of the Holy |
Start date | 4 May 1973 |
End date | 29 July 1973 |
Legs | 2 |
No. of shows | 34 |
Led Zeppelin concert chronology |
History
The tour took place shortly after the release of Led Zeppelin's chart-topping fifth album, Houses of the Holy. Prior to its commencement, Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant hired PR consultant Danny Goldberg for promotion and booked large stadium venues.[1] The resulting tour broke box office records across North America.[2] On May 5 at Tampa Stadium, Florida, they played to 56,800 fans (breaking the record set by The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965), and grossed $309,000 (US$2,120,843 in 2023 dollars[3]).[4][5] In total, this tour grossed over $4,000,000 (US$27,454,273 in 2023 dollars[3]).[1]
Led Zeppelin's shows evolved from those on previous tours, with the introduction of dry ice, laser effects, backdrop mirrors, hanging mirror balls and Catherine wheel pyrotechnics.[1][6] Their dress attire also took on a more flamboyant nature, evidenced in particular by guitarist Jimmy Page's hummingbird jacket and John Paul Jones' Spanish matador jacket.[1] This increase in on-stage theatricality was later referred to by Page during an interview he gave with rock journalist Mick Wall:
Originally, we saw the whole essence of our live performance as something that the audience listened to very carefully, picking up on what was going on, the spontaneity and musicianship. And you can’t do that if you’re running around the stage all night, or at least we couldn’t back then." By 1973, however, "we were much more ambitious, in that respect. We really wanted to take the live performances as far as they could go.[7]
Three sold-out shows at
Led Zeppelin hired for the first time
Flying on The Starship, Led Zeppelin was now no longer required to change hotels so often. They could base themselves in large cities and travel to and from concerts within flying distance.[11] After each show, the band members would be transported directly by limousine from the concert venue to the airport, as depicted in the concert film, The Song Remains the Same.
In an interview with
[W]e were playing [sets] for three hours solid, and physically that was a real... I mean, when I came back from the last tour I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know where I was going. We ended up in New York and the only thing that I could relate to was the instrument onstage. It was like swinging on liana from one city to the other… I was just totally and completely spaced out.[13]
In a more recent interview, Page recalled:
We arrived in America and we did 53,000 at Atlanta and then 55,000 at the following concert in Tampa, Florida — it was quite clear that if people were going to come along to see us in those kind of numbers we weren’t going to have problems doing concerts that would fulfil the demand. It was phenomenal though — the audience reaction was just so with us, y’know.[14]
Vocalist Robert Plant said:
I remember that tour rather like the lyrics to "The Battle of Evermore". A flash. Really fast. Lots of battles and conquests. And the din of the hordes. So much happened in such a short time. It was phenomenal.[15]
The kind of speed we were moving at, the creative juices in the air, the whole thing was just an absolute mixture of adrenaline, chemical, euphoria ... and there were no brakes. We couldn't stop what was happening. We had no idea what it even was. But we just kept trying, pushing forward, every show.[8]
"I got to see Led Zeppelin at very close quarters on that tour, travelling as part of their entourage," recalled Roy Harper. "The level of their success then was unbelievable… Being so close to them at the time, it was difficult to be objective about it all – you know, I was going along on the bus. But Zeppelin in full flight was an incredibly intense experience."[16]
Tour set list
The song "No Quarter" from the band's recent album release, Houses of the Holy, was played for the first time on this tour. The band also dropped their acoustic set, which was not revived until the Earl's Court shows in May 1975.
The fairly typical set list for the tour was:
- "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)
- "Celebration Day" (Jones, Page, Plant)
- "Bring It On Home" (intro) (Dixon, Page, Plant) / "Black Dog" (Page, Plant, Jones)
- "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant)
- "Misty Mountain Hop" (Page, Plant, Jones)
- "Since I've Been Loving You" (Page, Plant, Jones)
- "No Quarter" (Page, Plant, Jones)
- "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant)
- "The Rain Song" (Page, Plant)
- "Dazed and Confused" (Page)
- "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant)
- "Moby Dick" (Page, Jones, Bonham)
- "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
- "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant)
Encores (variations of the following list):
- "The Ocean" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant)
- "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page)
- "Thank You" (Page, Plant) (Played on 3 June and 29 July)
- "Dancing Days" (Page, Plant) (Played on 13 July)
There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.
Tour dates
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
Leg 1 – Southeast/Southwest United States | |||
4 May 1973 | Atlanta | United States | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium |
5 May 1973 | Tampa | Tampa Stadium | |
7 May 1973 | Jacksonville | Jacksonville Coliseum | |
10 May 1973 | Tuscaloosa | Memorial Coliseum | |
11 May 1973 | St. Louis | St. Louis Arena | |
13 May 1973 | Mobile | Municipal Auditorium | |
14 May 1973 | New Orleans | New Orleans Municipal Auditorium
| |
16 May 1973 | Houston | Sam Houston Coliseum | |
18 May 1973 | Dallas | Dallas Memorial Auditorium
| |
19 May 1973 | Fort Worth | Tarrant Country Convention Center | |
22 May 1973 | San Antonio | Convention Center Arena
| |
23 May 1973 | Albuquerque | University Arena | |
25 May 1973 | Denver | Denver Coliseum | |
26 May 1973 | Salt Lake City | Salt Palace | |
28 May 1973 | San Diego | San Diego Sports Arena
| |
31 May 1973 | Inglewood | The Forum
| |
2 June 1973 | San Francisco[17] | Kezar Stadium | |
3 June 1973 | Inglewood (Los Angeles) | The Forum | |
Leg 2 – Midwest/Northeast/Northwest United States & Canada | |||
6 July 1973 | Chicago | United States | Chicago Stadium |
7 July 1973 | |||
9 July 1973 | Saint Paul | St. Paul Civic Center | |
10 July 1973 | Milwaukee | Milwaukee Arena
| |
12 July 1973 | Detroit | Cobo Hall
| |
13 July 1973 | |||
15 July 1973 | Buffalo | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | |
17 July 1973 | Seattle | Seattle Center Coliseum
| |
18 July 1973 | Vancouver | Canada | Pacific Coliseum |
20 July 1973 | Boston | United States | Boston Garden |
21 July 1973 | Providence | Providence Civic Center
| |
23 July 1973 | Baltimore | Baltimore Civic Center
| |
24 July 1973 | Pittsburgh | Three Rivers Stadium | |
27 July 1973 | New York City | Madison Square Garden Concert footage and audio for The Song Remains the Same film and soundtrack album | |
28 July 1973 | |||
29 July 1973 |
References
- Dave Lewis; Simon Pallett (1997). Led Zeppelin: The Concert File. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-5307-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7119-5307-9.
- Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ a b 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary
- ISBN 0-330-43859-X.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85797-930-5.
- ^ Mick Wall, "The truth behind the Led Zeppelin legend", Times Online, November 1, 2008
- ^ a b Liner notes by Cameron Crowe for The Song Remains the Same, reissued version, 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-7119-5307-9.
- ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7119-5307-9.
- ^ Led Zeppelin :: Achilles Last Stand[usurped]
- Crawdaddy!, June 1975.
- ^ James Jackson, "Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin IV, the band's peak and their reunion, The Times, January 8, 2010 .
- boxed set.
- ^ "Live albums". Classic Rock supplement: The Live Albums That Changed The World. December 2011. p. 14.
- ^ "Kezar Stadium, 2 6 1973".