Led Zeppelin North American Tour Summer 1970

North America Summer 1970
Tour by Led Zeppelin
Poster for Led Zeppelin's concert at Seattle, used to help promote its Summer 1970 North American tour
Location
  • United States
  • Canada
Associated albumLed Zeppelin III
Start date15 August 1970
End date19 September 1970
No. of shows20 (29 planned)
Led Zeppelin concert chronology

Led Zeppelin's Summer 1970 North American Tour was the sixth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour commenced on 10 August and concluded on 19 September 1970.

Overview

This concert tour was a massive success for Led Zeppelin, as they played to wildly enthusiastic audiences. It was their highest-grossing tour to date (for the two New York City concerts alone, the band grossed $100,000).[1][2][3] With The Rolling Stones off the road at the time, only The Who could now compete with Led Zeppelin for the title of the world's top concert attraction.[1] The band were widely hailed as bigger than The Beatles, dethroning them in the polls for the first time in rock history.[4]

This concert tour was originally scheduled to commence on 5 August at Cincinnati. However, the first week was rescheduled due to the ill health of the father of bass player John Paul Jones. The itinerary was amended several times, leading to much confusion, with the band erroneously being billed to appear at the Strawberry Fields Festival on the weekend of August 8–9.[1] The tour eventually commenced on August 10 at Hampton.[5]

During this tour the band mixed their third album at Ardent Studios, Memphis, in August 1970. The album was released in October 1970, shortly following the conclusion of this tour.

Tour set list

The fairly typical set list for the tour was:

  1. "Immigrant Song" (Page, Plant)
  2. "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
  3. "Dazed and Confused" (Page)
  4. "Bring It On Home" (Page, Plant, Dixon)
  5. "That's the Way" (Page, Plant)
  6. "Bron-Yr-Aur" (Page)
  7. "Since I've Been Loving You" (Page, Plant, Jones)
  8. "Organ Solo"/"Thank You" (Page, Plant)
  9. "What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page, Plant)
  10. "Moby Dick" (Page, Jones, Bonham)
  11. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant)

Encore:

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.

Tour dates

The original itinerary before John Paul Jones' father's illness was:

Date City Country Venue
5 August 1970 Cincinnati United States Unknown
6 August 1970 Detroit Olympia Stadium
7 August 1970 Cleveland Cleveland Public Auditorium
8 August 1970 Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Civic Arena
9 August 1970 Boston Boston Garden
10 August 1970 Hampton Hampton Coliseum
11 August 1970 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum
12 August 1970 Jacksonville Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
13 August 1970 Hollywood Hollywood Sportatorium
14 August 1970 Chestnut Hill Boston College Alumni Stadium
15 August 1970 New Haven Yale Bowl
19 August 1970 Kansas City Kansas City Municipal Auditorium
20 August 1970 Oklahoma City Oklahoma State Fair Arena
21 August 1970 Tulsa Tulsa Assembly Center
22 August 1970 Fort Worth Tarrant County Arena
23 August 1970 San Antonio HemisFair Arena
24 August 1970 St. Louis Kiel Auditorium
25 August 1970 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium
27 August 1970 Milwaukee Milwaukee Arena
29 August 1970 Winnipeg Canada Winnipeg Arena
1 September 1970 Seattle United States Seattle Center Coliseum
2 September 1970 Oakland Alameda County Coliseum
3 September 1970 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
4 September 1970 Inglewood The Forum
5 September 1970 Honolulu Neil S. Blaisdell Arena
6 September 1970
7 September 1970 Raleigh J.S Dorton Arena
12 September 1970 Cleveland Cleveland Public Hall
14 September 1970 Rochester War Memorial Auditorium
17 September 1970 Philadelphia The Spectrum
19 September 1970 New York City Madison Square Garden
20 September 1970 Washington, D.C. Cole Fieldhouse

While the final tour dates were:

Date City Country Venue
10 August 1970 Hampton United States Hampton Roads Coliseum
15 August 1970 New Haven Yale Bowl
19 August 1970 Kansas City Municipal Auditorium
20 August 1970 Oklahoma City State Fair Coliseum
21 August 1970 Tulsa Assembly Center
22 August 1970 Fort Worth Tarrant County Convention Center
25 August 1970 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium
26 August 1970 Cleveland Public Auditorium
28 August 1970 Detroit Olympia Stadium
29 August 1970 Winnipeg Canada Man-Pop Festival, Winnipeg Arena
31 August 1970 Milwaukee United States Milwaukee Arena
1 September 1970 Seattle Seattle Center Coliseum
2 September 1970 Oakland Oakland Coliseum
3 September 1970 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
4 September 1970 Inglewood The Forum
6 September 1970 Honolulu Honolulu International Center
2 shows
9 September 1970 Boston Boston Garden
19 September 1970 New York City Madison Square Garden
2 shows

References

  1. ^ a b c Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4, pp. 52-53.
  2. ^ Chris Welch (1994) Led Zeppelin, London: Orion Books. ISBN 1-85797-930-3, p. 58.
  3. ^ Michael Leonard, "Heaven Sent", Q Led Zeppelin Special Edition, 2003.
  4. ^ Luis Rey (1997) Led Zeppelin Live: An Illustrated Exploration of Underground Tapes, Ontario: The Hot Wacks Press, p. 126.
  5. ^ Led Zeppelin official website: concert summary

Sources

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