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outdoor concerts


bram

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I have not but I will list Led Zeppelin's outdoor concerts as I can recall them from quick memory, and in no chronological order (but somewhat order):

Bath (the first one) with other groups and about 12,000 fans.

Bath (the second one) with many other big name groups and about 200,000 fans in attendance (Mick Bonham being there with his brother John).

Central Park, New York. This is the gig with the Jeff Beck Group and Ten Years After. Bonzo got drunk and began to take off all of his clothes on stage. Peter Grant told Bonzo that if he did not put on his clothes by the time the police busted down the door that he would be fired from the Band.

Milan, Italy. Outdoor gig that turned into a full-fledged riot. Led Zeppelin never played Italy ever again.

Australia and New Zealand. I believe that Led Zeppelin broke attendance records in both of these countries with outdoor shows in 1972.

Atlanta and Tampa. First two shows on the 1973 tour broke records. In Atlanta at the Braves Stadium (50,000+) and in Tampa (56,800) to break the Beatles record at Shea Stadium. Led Zeppelin in Tampa put Led Zeppelin in the Guinness Book of World Records. The biggest single performance by one act in the history of the world. Think about that fact. The single biggest performance by one act in the history of the world. Absolutely amazing!!!

Also outdoors in 1973. Pittsburgh.

1975. None that I recall.

1977. Tampa again but rained out after 3 numbers. Oakland, California. Believe it or not, Judas Priest opened Led Zeppelin in Oakland. As most of Us already know, the second gig in Oakland was marred by what has become known as the "Last Brawl". It is a known fact that these last two Oakland concerts were the last concerts that Led Zeppelin would ever play in the United States of America.

Knebworth, England. August 4 and August 11, 1979.

Like I said, this is what I can recall at this very late time (for Me). I know that I probably missed a few or a lot. I look forward to anyone detailing the ones that I could not think of.

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  • 4 years later...

Given that summer heat is here, I was wondering if I could figure out what was the hottest day Zep ever played outdoors. 

Here is what I found.  It looks like July 5, 1969 Atlanta was it.  94 degrees F at 5 pm and 90 F at 8 pm.  From the photos it looks like they played late afternoon/early evening before it got dark.

I checked all the others in summer months in areas that tend to get hot.  (I did not have good data on historical temps in Australia.  I did check Perth Feb 16, 1972 since Perth has the highest average temp of cities they played in Australia during Feb.  The Feb average high says 89F, but when I look up Feb 16, 1972 it says the high that day was 68 F.)

I had at one time thought the cancelled Aug 13, 1977 outdoor day time show in Philly would have been a beast, but the temp in Philly that day was in the mid 80s.  It would have likely been humid, but not a real scorcher.  Sometimes in Philly in mid August it can be upper 90s F and very humid.

July 13, 1985 Live Aid in Philly.  The high was 88 F and it was about 85 F by 6 pm.  I am sure it was humid.  I was not in Philly but the whole Northeast US was humid that day.

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1 hour ago, John M said:

Given that summer heat is here, I was wondering if I could figure out what was the hottest day Zep ever played outdoors. 

Here is what I found.  It looks like July 5, 1969 Atlanta was it.  94 degrees F at 5 pm and 90 F at 8 pm.  From the photos it looks like they played late afternoon/early evening before it got dark.

I checked all the others in summer months in areas that tend to get hot.  (I did not have good data on historical temps in Australia.  I did check Perth Feb 16, 1972 since Perth has the highest average temp of cities they played in Australia during Feb.  The Feb average high says 89F, but when I look up Feb 16, 1972 it says the high that day was 68 F.)

I had at one time thought the cancelled Aug 13, 1977 outdoor day time show in Philly would have been a beast, but the temp in Philly that day was in the mid 80s.  It would have likely been humid, but not a real scorcher.  Sometimes in Philly in mid August it can be upper 90s F and very humid.

July 13, 1985 Live Aid in Philly.  The high was 88 F and it was about 85 F by 6 pm.  I am sure it was humid.  I was not in Philly but the whole Northeast US was humid that day.

 I'm guessing it was pretty toasty in the Dallas area on 8/31/69. I couldn't find the exact temperature, but before "You Shook Me" Robert says: 

Quote

Thank you very much. Thank you really. It's really nice of you. It's amazing you're not asleep because ah, the heat of the day. I'm obviously, um We'd like to carry on with a thing written by Willie Dixon. ah This is a thing called You Shook Me.

I checked the Plantations database (http://www.ledzeppelin-database.com/geekbaseweb/speechpage.aspx) and that was the only quote I found from him regarding temperature. Obviously that database only covers shows for which there are recordings, but we have recordings from other festivals that summer and he didn't talk about the heat during them.

Edited by SteveZ98
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7 minutes ago, SteveZ98 said:

 I'm guessing it was pretty toasty in the Dallas area on 8/31/69. I couldn't find the exact temperature, but before "You Shook Me" Robert says: 

I had checked that one.  According to one website Weather Underground it was 91 F at 7 pm and 85 F at 9 pm.

But I forgot to check Milan July 5, 1971.  I cannot find the data for that date, but the average high in Milan on July 5 is 86 F.

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Robert was quite the diplomat that night in Texas. He TRASHED Texas in Toronto only a few weeks earlier!

But getting back to outdoor shows, I've been interested in comparing the sound of outdoor soundboard recordings vs. indoor, but it's curious how there are so few outdoor soundboards. The mystery soundcheck has had many theories as to its location. Start of the 73 N.A. tour? Dunno if I'm believing it's outdoors.

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49 minutes ago, Zep Hed said:

Robert was quite the diplomat that night in Texas. He TRASHED Texas in Toronto only a few weeks earlier!

But getting back to outdoor shows, I've been interested in comparing the sound of outdoor soundboard recordings vs. indoor, but it's curious how there are so few outdoor soundboards. The mystery soundcheck has had many theories as to its location. Start of the 73 N.A. tour? Dunno if I'm believing it's outdoors.

Yeah, the last third of the Kezar '73 is the only outdoor soundboard I can think of other than Texas Pop.

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