Led Zeppelin United Kingdom Tour 1972–1973

The tour was preceded by two warm-up shows in Montreux, Switzerland, and rehearsals at the Rainbow Theatre in London, before formally kicking off at Newcastle upon Tyne.

This was Led Zeppelin's longest ever tour of the United Kingdom, and the original 110,000 tickets for the 25 dates sold out within four hours of box offices opening simultaneously on 10 November. Tickets were charged £1 for all the concerts, except for the shows at Manchester which charged £1.25.[1]

Two dates, in Bradford[2] and Preston[3] respectively, needed to be postponed as a result of singer Robert Plant contracting influenza after the car in which he and drummer John Bonham were travelling broke down on the way to a concert in Sheffield on 2 January.[1] An additional date was also added at Southampton University on 22 January.[4]

Led Zeppelin archivists Dave Lewis and Simon Pallet have characterised this concert tour as something of an end of an era for the band:

Overall, this lengthy set of dates reaffirmed their status in the U.K. It would however prove to be the last opportunity for British audiences to see Led Zeppelin in their homeland at such close quarters. Venues such as the Aberystwyth Kings Hall with its capacity of under 800 would soon be a thing of the past. The stadium era beckoned.[1]

This would be the last full UK tour Led Zeppelin would undertake. The five Earl's Court 1975 shows and two Knebworth Festival 1979 shows would be their only subsequent performances in Britain before Bonham's death in 1980.

High-quality stereo soundboard bootleg recordings have been distributed on the internet from the show of 7 January at Oxford and the show of 22 January at Southampton. The ambiance is very intimate on these recordings, as these were small theatre-size venues. The Southampton show was professionally recorded and intended for an official release, but the performance quality was not deemed adequate. Instead, Jimmy Page selected the Madison Square Garden shows from later in the year for the live album The Song Remains the Same (1976). The mellotron track from "Stairway to Heaven" which was included on the live album How The West Was Won (2003) was actually from 22 January Southampton show; all of the other material on this album came from the 1972 shows in Southern California.

The recordings from this tour reveal further strain in Robert Plant's voice that began on the previous tour of Japan. He struggled to sing "Over the Hills and Far Away" at the Oxford show, and for all remaining live performances of this song through 1979, he changed the melody to a lower register. Plant also changed the melody of the song "Rock and Roll", singing it in a lower register.

The set list pattern was virtually the same as that played during the previous Japanese tour. The fairly typical set list was:

1. "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)
2. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant)
3. "Out on the Tiles" (intro) (Page, Plant, Bonham) / "Black Dog" (Page, Plant, Jones)
4. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Jones, Page, Plant)
5. "Since I've Been Loving You" (Page, Plant, Jones)
6. "Dancing Days" (Page, Plant)
7. "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (Page, Plant, Jones)
8. "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant)
9. "The Rain Song" (Page, Plant)
10. "Dazed and Confused" (Page)
11. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant)
12. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant)

Encores (variations of the following list):

• "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
• "Immigrant Song" (Page, Plant) (On 30 November, 4, 8, 12, and 22 December, and 18 and 30 January)
• "Thank You" (Page, Plant) (On 30 November, 4, 11, 12, and 22 December, and 22 January)
• "The Ocean" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) (On 11 and 17 December and 14 January)
• "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page) (On 4 and 8 December and 22, 27, and 30 January)

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. "How Many More Times" was also played on 22 January, and "What Is And What Should Never Be" was played on 25 January.

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

• Comprehensive archive of known concert appearances by Led Zeppelin (official website)
• Led Zeppelin concert setlists
• Tour Programme