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Set List For 1980/81 North American Tour


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Very little is known about what Zeppelin had planned for their 1980/81 North American Tour. From what I understand, the band was hoping to refresh their set list a bit. I've heard that the band had worked up a live version of "Carouselambra" which had never been played live before. That would've been interesting to hear. Were there any other rumored songs that were going to be included in the set list that the band had never played before live? How about tracks that they hadn't played for awhile, or dumped after a few tries like "The Wanton Song"??

Ah...what the heck, a fantasy set list of mine for 1980/81 (of course I would've voted for rotating songs):

1) Train Kept A Rollin'

2) Heartbreaker

3) Black Dog

4) For Your Life

5) Dancing Days

6) All My Love

7) Carouselambra

8) The Rover

9) Trampled Under Foot

10) White Summer

11) Kashmir

12) Achilles Last Stand

13) Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

14) The Ocean

15) Stairway To Heaven

ENCORE:

16) Wearing And Tearing

17) Whole Lotta Love

18) Rock and Roll

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1. Wearing and Tearing (a nice fast rocker that isn't too difficult so Jimmy can get his fingers warmed up without having to worry about pulling off a difficult solo)

2. Nobody's Fault But Mine

3. The Rover

4. Celebration Day

5. Over the Hills and Far Away

6. Southbound Saurez

7. Fool in the Rain

8. Misty Mountain Hop

9. Tea For One or I'm Gonna Crawl (alternating every other night)

10. For Your Life

11. In the Light 

12. Ten Years Gone

13. Hot Dog

14. Royal Orleans

15. Trampled Under Foot

16. Carouselambra

17. Bow solo intro (optional)/Achilles Last Stand

18. Kashmir

Encores can rotate among the following songs:

19. Stairway to Heaven

20. Whole Lotta Love

21. The Ocean

22. Rock and Roll

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4 hours ago, NorthBoundSuarez said:

Very little is known about what Zeppelin had planned for their 1980/81 North American Tour. From what I understand, the band was hoping to refresh their set list a bit. I've heard that the band had worked up a live version of "Carouselambra" which had never been played live before. That would've been interesting to hear. Were there any other rumored songs that were going to be included in the set list that the band had never played before live? How about tracks that they hadn't played for awhile, or dumped after a few tries like "The Wanton Song"??

Ah...what the heck, a fantasy set list of mine for 1980/81 (of course I would've voted for rotating songs):

1) Train Kept A Rollin'

2) Heartbreaker

3) Black Dog

4) For Your Life

5) Dancing Days

6) All My Love

7) Carouselambra

8) The Rover

9) Trampled Under Foot

10) White Summer

11) Kashmir

12) Achilles Last Stand

13) Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

14) The Ocean

15) Stairway To Heaven

ENCORE:

16) Wearing And Tearing

17) Whole Lotta Love

18) Rock and Roll

Please God no more Black Dog and White Summer! Or Carouselambra!

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Since this is fantasy I'll say by the 1980/1981 tour there would have been a support act(s).

During 1980 Def Leppard had opened for AC/DC. I could see AC/DC as support for Zeppelin across North America. To make things interesting, as they made their way through the Southern United States; they would have picked up a little unknown band called R.E.M. for a couple of dates, and then U2 for larger venues. 

Set List:

Warm up:  Walk Don't Run

Houses of the Holy

Night Flight

Carouselambra

Celebration Day

The Song Remains The Same > Rain Song (back together again)

Kashmir

That's The Way 

Going to California

Black Country Woman

10 Years Gone

What Is And...

Stairway...

Encore Break

How Many More Times inc bow segment

WLL inc medleys 

Encore Break II

Over The Hills

The Rover > end show

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I would have liked to have heard Carouselambra live in 80/81. When P&P incorporated the slow middle section into In the Evening at Glastonbury it sounded amazing.

I've heard some rehearsals tapes of Carouslembra from 80(?) and it sounded so much heavier with Page and Bonham a lot higher in the mix.

Hell, who knows, they might have even changed the cheesy keyboard sound on the main motif, or altered the keyboard rhythm slightly, as it quickly becomes irritating.

Apart from that, I think the US tour could have been an opportunity to slip in a few shorter melodic numbers again like Ramble On and Good Times, Bad Times. Could have rejuvenated things, but I doubt it would have happened. 

The US tours always demanded epicness.

 

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1 hour ago, Boleskinner said:

I would have liked to have heard Carouselambra live in 80/81. When P&P incorporated the slow middle section into In the Evening at Glastonbury it sounded amazing.

 

I just looked that up, I didn't know about it but that was amazing. Anyone know the effect Jimmy uses for that slow part in Caouselambra? He seemed to get it live at Glastonbury.

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In The Evening

Celebration Day

Fire

Kashmir

opening Plantations "Good Evening!..."

Whole Lotta Love>Wanton Song

Wearing and Tearing

The Rover

In My Time Of Dying inc. various Jennings Farm Blues/Hats Off To Harper/Gallows Pole jams

Bron-Yr-Aur

Down By The Seaside

Ten Years Gone

Prelude

Carouselambra inc. JPJ improvisation

Over The Top>Bonzo's Montreux

Noise Solo>Achilles Last Stand

I'm Gonna Crawl

Stairway To Heaven

encore break

Trampled Underfoot

South Bound Suarez

Hot Dog>Darlene>jam

Rock and Roll

 

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I really like all the set lists provided. At least from a fantasy perspective. In reality, Jimmy couldn't even work out a

proper or even musically proper solo from Hot Dog. Has anyone EVER noticed this ?..? Page was simply not up to

anything even mildly demanding which wasn't played on the 80' Europe trek. Now about the band getting back to 

epic, that would have been great in theory, but Bonzo and particularly Jimmy did not have their previous stamina.

Some may argue, well the band would be tremendously psyched to get back to the states. Yes, to some degree,

but Robert was kind of tentative and not enthusiastic about touring again. I think the idea was that once Robert hit

the stage again in the states, he couldn't resist further ventures. Maybe so, maybe not.

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My perfect set list:

 

Wanton song

The Rover (full version)

Sick Again 

For Your Life

Tea for One 

No Quarter

Ten Years Gone

Tangerine

Thats the Way

Going to California 

Black Country Woman

Bron Yr Aur Stomp

Kashmir

In the Light

Noise solo/Achilles Last Stand

Stairway to Heaven

Encore 1 

Whole Lotta Love

The Ocean 

Encore 2

Bring it on Home

Thankyou 

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On ‎20‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 3:15 AM, Boleskinner said:

I've heard some rehearsals tapes of Carouslembra from 80(?) and it sounded so much heavier with Page and Bonham a lot higher in the mix.

Where did you hear those?

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On 1/19/2017 at 10:15 PM, Boleskinner said:

I would have liked to have heard Carouselambra live in 80/81. When P&P incorporated the slow middle section into In the Evening at Glastonbury it sounded amazing.

The Carouselmabra part is OK.  ITE is horrible, way too slow, and Page is completely lost in the mix, did he forget to plug in his guitar?  If I didn't see him solo I would have guessed that he skipped it.

Good potential setlists for US 1980!

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3 hours ago, in_the_evening said:

The Carouselmabra part is OK.  ITE is horrible, way too slow, and Page is completely lost in the mix, did he forget to plug in his guitar?  If I didn't see him solo I would have guessed that he skipped it.

Good potential setlists for US 1980!

Yeah I agree, the main section of ITE at Glastonbury dragged something rotten, but I thought the slow section from Carouselmbra was really good. A glimpse of what could have been.

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I love these suggestions,  however  as much as I do enjoy Zep's acoustic stuff live;  in 1980 -
81  I don't know if  a typical North American youth  would have appreciated that,   so it
wouldn't  have fit into my "what if"  set list.   Not that Zeppelin's music was political,  still by
1980 music had taken such a sharp turn from the late '60s early '70s  protesting  the American
Draft,  Vietnam War,  hippy folk all la-la-la Kumbayah holding hands headed out San Francisco
with bell bottoms and flowers in their hair.   I think the acoustic songs would have been a
perfect  fit  '68 through '72.    Maybe dabble a few in a night here and there in  '73  '75,   but by
'77 - '80  songs mentioned like White Summer  or Going to California  should have been
given a hiatus -- especially for an  1980 - '81 audience.   The '90s onward who can predict what
would have worked.   Pop culture mainstream media influences so much.   Even for Led
Zeppelin
;   otherwise Jimmy would have had the dragon and poppy gear on at Knebworth
instead taking the stage dressed as  a middle school teacher.  Ha-ha  sorry I went  with so
many  damn stereotypes. 
:lol:

Something else to ponder with in the '80s.   What could Zep have done with some supporting
musicians in the studio and/or on the road?   The recipe of  4 was brilliant,  but probably very
taxing,  so maybe a couple of extra musicians could have helped rejuvenate them creatively IF
the band was running on empty.    I'm not saying Zep was  washed up by any means,   but the
'80s were different musically than what Zep had been previously,   and they were all about
experimentation.  Am I right?!?  

I guess the above idea is moot since the problems the guys were having during the final
chapter were running much deeper than simply adding some extra musicians into the
equation. 

Sorry I didn't do a set list.  You all have it pretty much covered!! :drinks:

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On 25/01/2017 at 7:08 AM, KellyGirl said:

Something else to ponder with in the '80s.   What could Zep have done with some supporting
musicians in the studio and/or on the road?   The recipe of  4 was brilliant,  but probably very
taxing,  so maybe a couple of extra musicians could have helped rejuvenate them creatively IF
the band was running on empty.    I'm not saying Zep was  washed up by any means,   but the
'80s were different musically than what Zep had been previously,   and they were all about
experimentation.  Am I right?!?  

I guess the above idea is moot since the problems the guys were having during the final
chapter were running much deeper than simply adding some extra musicians into the
equation. 

Would all depend on the power struggle, for want of a better phrase, in the band. Plant was calling the shots when he returned in '78 because the band were petrified of him quitting, but Page/Bonham (depending on their addiction) may have began to assert more control in the early 80s.

I think Plant would have been open to using some extra musicians for certain live tracks, not sure about the others members. I think the studio material was a closed shop, bar string overdubs and the like which required an orchestra. But again, Plant may have had some ideas to freshen things up as you say, but I doubt the others would have agreed to it. It's true that when Billy Preston played on the Let it Be sessions he had a harmonious effect and the Beatles didn't squabble as much.

My gut feeling is that Plant would have left shortly after the '80 US tour anyway. The Tour over Europe was patchy, but didn't get much press coverage. and slipped under the radar. If Page's playing was as inconsistent in the US, it would have been exposed and their legacy could have been tarnished.

A lot of music in the 80s was quite precise. As Plant said in one interview, Page's loose Wagnerian approach didn't really fit with those times.

Zep were a quintessential 1970s band.

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100% Boleskinner. It would not have gone well or ended well unless Page, Bonham and Grant - along with any other key members cleaned up and completely got off the gear. I don't think that would have been the case, and the car wreck of a US tour would have indeed tarnished them. The set list for the European tour was a bit shit. I don't think Jimmy was making good decisions through the fog he was in and that would probably have been the case for a US tour (more White Summer? ugh...). Plant I don't think would have hung around even if somehow they managed a great US tour. Surely that would be it for him.

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The 1980 Tour over Europe was nowhere near as bad as some of you guys are trying to make it out to be...it was meant to be a reload tour without all of the pomp and circumstance of 1977. It accomplished what it set out to do. There are some great performances from that tour. Some aspects of the set list were okay, but overall it was a solid set list that moved away from the excess of 1977. 

If Bonham doesn't die and they do the 1980 fall tour of the US, it would have gone quite well, as would a subsequent Winter/Spring 1981 tour. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another possibility would have been to complete the 1980/81 North American tour, and then take an extended break to allow band members to do solo albums and get healthy. Perhaps Plant could've given an ultimatum to Page/Bonzo that if they wanted LZ to continue, they needed to get their act in gear. Maybe Led Zep could've turned into the kind of band that Genesis became in the eighties (not musically of course!) where the band would do an album and tour, and then take a big break from each other for solo albums and such. That sort of thing could've possibly worked.

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