* [http://www.classic-rock-legends-start-here.com/led-zeppelins-1977-tour.html Article about the tour by rock journalist Steven Rosen]
* [http://www.classic-rock-legends-start-here.com/led-zeppelins-1977-tour.html Article about the tour by rock journalist Steven Rosen]
*[http://www.led-zeppelin.com/LZitin1.html Comprehensive archive of known concert appearances by Led Zeppelin (official website)]
*[http://www.bootledz.com/setlists.htm Led Zeppelin concert setlists]
Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour was the last concert tour of North America by the Englishrockband. The tour was divided into three legs, with performances commencing on April 1 and concluding on July 24. The tour was originally intended to finish on August 13, but was cut short following the death of lead singer Robert Plant's son.
History
This was the first tour by the band after their enforced layoff caused by Plant's car accident in Greece in 1975. Rehearsals for the tour took place at Manticore Studios, Fulham in early 1977, where the band worked on a new set list, including a revived acoustic section which had been discarded since 1972. Only two songs from their most recent album, Presence (1976), were used: "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Achilles Last Stand"
Forty nine concerts were originally scheduled over a three-leg period, for 1.3 million ticket holders. The tour was scheduled to commence on February 27 at Fort Worth, Texas, but Plant contracted laryngitis and the schedule was postponed for a month. It eventually kicked off on April 1, at Dallas, Texas.
Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour was a massive fiscal success, as the band sold out large arenas and stadiums. On April 30 they performed to 76,229 people at the Pontiac Silverdome, a new world record attendance for a solo indoor attraction, beating the 75,962 that The Who attracted there in December 1975. Lengthy stints were spent in New York and Los Angeles, where the band performed six shows each at Madison Square Garden and the Los Angeles Forum. In New York alone, enough ticket applications were received to sell out a further two nights, had time permitted.
Though profitable financially, the tour was beset with problems. On June 3, after a concert at Tampa Stadium was cut short because of a severe thunderstorm, a riot broke out amongst the audience, resulting in several arrests and injuries. Police ultimately resorted to tear gas to break up the crowd.[1] Guitarist Jimmy Page's ongoing heroin addiction also caused him to lose a noticeable amount of weight on this tour, and arguably began to hamper his on-stage playing performances.[2][3]
The tour also experienced some unsavory off-stage problems, exacerbated by the the hiring of London gangster John Bindon as security coordinator. After a July 23 show at the "Days on the Green" festival at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California, Bindon, band manager Peter Grant and band member John Bonham were arrested after a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff was badly beaten during the performance. A member of the staff had allegedly slapped Grant's son when he was taking down a dressing room sign; when Grant heard about this, he went into the trailer, along with Bindon and John Bonham, and savagely assaulted the man.[4]
The following day's second Oakland concert would prove be the band's final live appearance in the United States. After the performance, news came that Plant's five year old son, Karac, had died from a stomach virus. The rest of the tour was immediately cancelled.[4]
Recordings
At least one concert from this tour (Seattle on July 17) was professionally filmed for the band. When reviewing material for the Led Zeppelin DVD in 2003, some 1977 footage was considered but it was not ultimately included. Producer Jimmy Page was unable to locate multi-track sound recordings from any 1977 shows, and it is unknown if any exist.
However, audio recordings from many of the tour's shows have been preserved on unofficial Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings. Notable bootlegs from this tour include The Destroyer (the soundboard recording from Cleveland on April 27), Listen To This Eddie (an audience recording from Los Angeles on June 21) and For Badgeholders Only (an audience recording from Los Angeles on June 23).
