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Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1975

 
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North America 1975
LedZep1975.jpg

Poster for Led Zeppelin's concert at Baton Rouge, used to help promote its 1975 North American tour
Concert tour by Led Zeppelin
Locations North America
Start date January 18, 1975
End date March 27, 1975
Legs 2
Shows 38 (and two European warm-up shows)
Led Zeppelin tour chronology
North America 1973 North America 1975 Earls Court 1975

Led Zeppelin's 1975 North American Tour was the tenth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into two legs, with performances commencing on January 18 and concluding on March 27, 1975. It was preceded with two European warm-up shows, performed at Rotterdam and Brussels respectively.

Contents

History

This tour took place almost two years since the band had completed their most recent concert tour, which was the longest break between concerts yet taken by the band. As a result, some critics have suggested that the band seemed sluggish and rusty upon their return to the stage, with the group lacking dynamics and giving rather 'heavy' performances.[1]

To make matters worse, guitarist Jimmy Page suffered a broken ring finger after slamming its tip in a train door prior to leaving England for this tour. This forced him to take pain killers and to develop a three finger playing technique during the first portion of the tour.[2] In addition, Robert Plant contracted a bad case of influenza early in the tour, causing the cancellation of one show and negatively affecting his singing ability for much of the rest of the tour, leading to some unfavourable reviews.[3] However, toward the end of the tour it was noted that group seemed to be recovering, leading to some memorable performances.[1][4] Indeed, by the end of this series of dates, Plant himself stated that:

This has been our most successful tour on every level and I had a great time all the way through.[2]

For this stint of concerts, Led Zeppelin employed a much grander light show than had been used on previous tours, featuring a large neon-lit 'Led Zeppelin' backdrop and krypton laser effects for Jimmy Page's violin bow interlude.[5]

One scheduled concert in this tour, on February 4 at the Boston Garden, was canceled by the Mayor of Boston, Kevin White, when fans, who waited in the freezing cold for the tickets, were taken pity on by the stadium owners and were let in inside but rioted and trashed the stadium. A concert at March 8 at the West Palm Beach Speedway in Florida was also canceled following the promoters' failure to make property improvements at the venue.

Led Zeppelin live at Chicago Stadium, January 1975.

The concert tour was promoted by the Concerts West firm, and it marked one of the first tours ever where an individual concert promotion firm promoted the whole U.S. tour of an artist or group. The company further established its mark by promoting the band's subsequent 1977 tour of North America.

During this tour Led Zeppelin hired The Starship - a former United Airlines Boeing 720B passenger jet, to transport them between cities. This was the second and final time the band used this plane, having initially done so on their previous tour of North America in 1973.

Towards the end of this tour, Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of Charles Manson's "Family", confronted Led Zeppelin's publicist Danny Goldberg. She stated that she had to see Page, because she had foreseen something evil in his future and thought it might happen that night during the band's concert at the Long Beach Arena. She swore that the last time this had happened, she had seen someone shot to death before her eyes. Goldberg persuaded her to write a long note to Page, after which she left. The note was burned, unread.[6] Later that year, Fromme made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford

Recordings

Audio recordings from many of the tour's shows have been preserved on unofficial bootleg recordings. Several soundboard bootleg recordings of shows from this tour have surfaced in recent years, including the February 12 Madison Square Garden, February 14 Nassau County Coliseum, and February 16 St. Louis Arena dates.

Tour set list

The new set list included material from the band's recently-released album, Physical Graffiti. Songs from that album which were played for the first time on this tour included "Sick Again", "In My Time of Dying", "Kashmir", "The Wanton Song" and "Trampled Under Foot". This was in spite of the fact that the album itself was not released until the second half of the tour. Unforeseen delays in the production of the album's elaborate sleeve prevented its release before the commencement of the tour.[2]

Initially, both "When the Levee Breaks" and "The Wanton Song" were included in the set; the only period during which these songs were played live by Led Zeppelin. Both were dropped after a few weeks. It was also the last time "How Many More Times" was played, being temporarily brought back to replace "Dazed and Confused" which Page was unable to play until his injured finger healed.[2] "Since I've Been Loving You", the other song that Page was unable to play due to his finger injury, was played only three times on the tour: February 14 at Nassau Coliseum,[7] March 21 at Seattle Center Coliseum[8] and March 27 at the Los Angeles Forum.[9]

The fairly typical set list for the tour was:

  1. "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)
  2. "Sick Again" (Page, Plant)
  3. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant)
  4. "In My Time of Dying" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)
  5. "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant)
  6. "The Rain Song" (Page, Plant)
  7. "Kashmir" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
  8. "No Quarter" (Page, Plant, Jones)
  9. "Trampled Under Foot" (Page, Plant, Jones)
  10. "Moby Dick" (Bonham)
  11. "Dazed and Confused" (Page)*
  12. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant)

Encores (variations of the following list):

*Performances of this song during the first leg of the tour included "San Francisco", while the band switched to "Woodstock" during the second leg.

Tour dates

European warm-up shows

North America

References

  1. ^ a b Luis Rey (1997) Led Zeppelin Live: An Illustrated Exploration of Underground Tapes, Ontario: The Hot Wacks Press, p. 302.
  2. ^ a b c d Chris Welch (1994) Led Zeppelin, London: Orion Books. ISBN 0-85797-930-3, pp. 71-73.
  3. ^ Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4, pp. 103 ff.
  4. ^ Dave Lewis (2003), Led Zeppelin: Celebration II: The 'Tight But Loose' Files, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-056-4, p. 30.
  5. ^ Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4, p. 103.
  6. ^ Davis, Stephen (July 4, 1985). "Power, Mystery And The Hammer Of The Gods: The Rise and Fall of Led Zeppelin". Rolling Stone (451). http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/ledzeppelin/articles/story/17537975/power_mystery_and_the_hammer_of_the_gods. Retrieved 2008-01-15. 
  7. ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary
  8. ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary
  9. ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary

External links

Sources

  • Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4.
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