During
their twelve-year activity, Led Zeppelin made no less than 33 full tours,
playing live gigs from the United Kingdom, through North America, Japan,
Australia and New Zealand. They performed over 600 concerts, initially
playing small clubs and ballrooms and then, as their popularity increased,
larger venues and arenas as well. In the early years of their existence,
the band made a concerted effort to establish themselves as a compelling
live music act. However, though the band made several early tours of
the United Kingdom, the majority of their shows were performed in the
United States, which was settled on as the primary foundation for their
fame and accomplishment. Only between 1968 and 1971 they made no fewer
than 9 tours of North America. Led Zeppelin also performed at several
music festivals over the years, including the Atlanta International
and the Texas International Pop Festivals in the 1969, the Bath Festival
Of Blues And Progressive Music in 1969 and the next one in 1970, the
Days On The Green events in Oakland, California in 1977, and the both
Knebworth Music Festival in 1979. They also played as one of the first
major foreign rock acts in Japan in 1971, visiting this country again
in 1972.
Near
the mid-1970s, the band established a reputation as one of the most
respected and desired rock acts in the world, playing a massive number
of shows throughout Europe and, especially, the United States. When
the punk movement was beginning to conquer the music scene, Led Zeppelin
was preparing its largest-ever North American tour divided into three
separate legs, which between April and July 1977 resulted of 51 performances
in many major cities, including six sold-out appearances in a row at
the prestigious Madison Square Garden and the Los Angeles Forum. The
tragic circumstances that befell them at the end of this tour resulted
in an almost two-year break, from which Led Zeppelin never fully recovered.
John Bonham's untimely death ultimately ended any chance of any action,
but the 1980 summer visit of Europe was a foretaste of what the band
was preparing for their upcoming tour of North America at the turn of
1980 and 1981.
The
list below will allow you to select any period of the band's concert
activity and obtain detailed information about each played or cancelled
live show. Any date, where any audio and video recording is available,
along with a detailed list of available official and bootleg releases,
is attributed as well. The information to the best of my knowledge is
correct and has been derived from a variety of sources, namely low gens
list, my own bootleg collection, the book "An Evenings With Led
Zeppelin: The Complete Concert Chronicle" (written by Dave Lewis
and Mike Tremaglio, Omnibus Press, 2021), and several online resources.