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Largest Led Zeppelin Concert


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Not long after the Detroit gig in 1977 durring the 3rd leg of the 77 tour Zeppelin were set to perform in New Orleans "Superdome" on July 30th. the attendance was to be 80,000+..... and in Robert Godwins book it has the adds for (I think) 3 shows to be played at RFK Stadium? or maybe just 2. with a attendance of 93,000+ but that never happened......

I do know one thing for sure: Zeppelin would have shattered the Silverdome attendance durring the month of August of 1977.

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^ Here are the dates that were scheduled.

30 Jul 1977 Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (cancelled)

02 Aug 1977 Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (cancelled)

03 Aug 1977 Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (cancelled)

06 Aug 1977 Rich Stadium, Buffalo, New York (cancelled)

09 Aug 1977 Arena, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

10 Aug 1977 Arena, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

13 Aug 1977 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

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Dave Lewis has the Buffalo show slated for Monday August 8th?

I have Robert Godwins CD eddition in storage right now. :angry: but if anyone else has it. look in the back of the book and you will see the advertisement for the RFK shows....

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my,my,my, maybe 200,000 or something people at the first Knebworth show? What's not usually stated is that the show was advertised as just led zeppelin on an otherwise blank page in the large format nme,sounds and melody maker. The support bands were added much later. The initial ad's just had Led Zeppelin at the top ,lots of space and ticket details at the bottom. So, then..the first K'worth show will be the answer....or is it...I always trust and hope that a simple ,direct answer can be twisted, turned, misunderstoodand and subjected to all sorts of over-assertive nonsense. Without it..

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y'all see...i can see how this will pan out....knebworth 1. that's it. a pussy show compared with some sort of show that the band forgot to play or could have attracted 370,000 to[but it was cancelled in boise idaho ?] yep..that'll be american money being bigger than ...euros now or somewhathing? no...there actually only were real people at that real show, so...sorry...

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Not long after the Detroit gig in 1977 durring the 3rd leg of the 77 tour Zeppelin were set to perform in New Orleans "Superdome" on July 30th. the attendance was to be 80,000+..... and in Robert Godwins book it has the adds for (I think) 3 shows to be played at RFK Stadium? or maybe just 2. with a attendance of 93,000+ but that never happened......

I do know one thing for sure: Zeppelin would have shattered the Silverdome attendance durring the month of August of 1977.

I had tix for the Superdome show and Zep had arrived in town 3 days before the concert date when Robert recieved the news about his son. There was an interview with the superdome manager on a local radio station. He said that ticket sales to this general admission show were brisk and had reached 98,500+ up to that point and then went on to talk about how many cups of beer,hot dogs,bags of popcorn,t-shirts,memorabilia etc... they lost due to the cancelation. There was an uproar from the local fans about this and the radio stations phone system was jammed. People were like "The man lost his son" screw all that other bull.

Based on sales and the size of the dome it may have well reached a possible sellout of 129,625. 50k on the floor and 79,625 in the seating. With the latest upgrades seating capacity has been reduced due to adding suites and such.

Led Zeppelin would have blown the roof of the dome!

The Stones hold the indoor attendance world record in the Superdome

http://www.neworleansarena.com/site17.php

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y'all see...i can see how this will pan out....knebworth 1. that's it. a pussy show compared with some sort of show that the band forgot to play or could have attracted 370,000 to[but it was cancelled in boise idaho ?] yep..that'll be american money being bigger than ...euros now or somewhathing? no...there actually only were real people at that real show, so...sorry...

in a way you are right....but why are you so angry? :(

On May 22,1979 Peter Grant and promoter Freddie Bannister anounced that Led-Zeppelin would be head-lining the giant Knebworth Festival on August 4. ticket's went on sale in June and sold out! so Grant told Bannister to add another show. it was later on that month that other bands were announced. so yes this should be considered Led-Zeppelin's biggest show....I agree :)

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^ Here are the dates that were scheduled.

30 Jul 1977 Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (cancelled)

02 Aug 1977 Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (cancelled)

03 Aug 1977 Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (cancelled)

06 Aug 1977 Rich Stadium, Buffalo, New York (cancelled)

09 Aug 1977 Arena, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

10 Aug 1977 Arena, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

13 Aug 1977 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

To this I would possibly consider adding the San Diego Sports Arena (recollections of an alleged ticket holder) (date unconfirmed) and a South American tour in the Autumn (recollections of Peter Grant).

August 7th 1977 was the pre-scheduled rain-out date for the August 6th concert.

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I had tix for the Superdome show and Zep had arrived in town 3 days before the concert date when Robert recieved the news about his son. There was an interview with the superdome manager on a local radio station. He said that ticket sales to this general admission show were brisk and had reached 98,500+ up to that point and then went on to talk about how many cups of beer,hot dogs,bags of popcorn,t-shirts,memorabilia etc... they lost due to the cancelation. There was an uproar from the local fans about this and the radio stations phone system was jammed. People were like "The man lost his son" screw all that other bull.

Based on sales and the size of the dome it may have well reached a possible sellout of 129,625. 50k on the floor and 79,625 in the seating. With the latest upgrades seating capacity has been reduced due to adding suites and such.

Led Zeppelin would have blown the roof of the dome!

The Stones hold the indoor attendance world record in the Superdome

http://www.neworleansarena.com/site17.php

Off topic...I love the picture of the dog in your sig. I don't know the sex but it's a cutey! :)

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^ Here are the dates that were scheduled.

30 Jul 1977 Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana (cancelled)

02 Aug 1977 Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (cancelled)

03 Aug 1977 Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (cancelled)

06 Aug 1977 Rich Stadium, Buffalo, New York (cancelled)

09 Aug 1977 Arena, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

10 Aug 1977 Arena, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

13 Aug 1977 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (cancelled)

Was there also a JFK date cancelled in 1975 ?

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Was there also a JFK date cancelled in 1975 ?

A 33-date USA tour was announced on July 7th 1975. All of these were postponed on

August 11th (a week after Robert's car crash in Rhodes) and ultimately cancelled. I've

confirmed 11 of the 33 cities but Philadelphia isn't among those. Perhaps someone here can confirm Philadelphia is one of the others in addition to Oakland (2), Pasadena, Kansas City, Louisville, New Orleans, Tempe, Denver, Tampa, Atlanta & Pittsburgh.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You know I've seen the numbers for the Aug 11th Knebworth I attended say 200-300k, but I sewar being there sure seemed to equal Cal Jam 2 in numbers closer to 450K. I often wonder if the numbers were just sold tickets or how many people were allowed in because when we walked up as some of the first to the closest gate a guy yealled out go around to the other side and when we got there they were just letting people in without checking thier tickets. I ened up coming home with mine.

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  • 1 year later...
their largest show performing by themselves would probably have been the Pontiac Silverdome show in 1977, in front of 76,000 fans. But their biggest overall show was probably the first Knebworth show in 1979, estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000.

At that time, at that show, in 1977 at the Pontiac Silverdome on the outskirts of Detriot, Led Zeppelin officially made the Guiness Book of World Records for being the first band in history to sell out a show with 76,229 in attendance without any support or opening act on the bill. I also believe that their gross income for that gig came to a reputed $792,361.50. Of course I wasn't there to witness this massive achievement in history (much to my regret), but I am pretty sure that these facts are (at that time) true and undisputed.

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I had tix for the Superdome show and Zep had arrived in town 3 days before the concert date when Robert recieved the news about his son. There was an interview with the superdome manager on a local radio station. He said that ticket sales to this general admission show were brisk and had reached 98,500+ up to that point and then went on to talk about how many cups of beer,hot dogs,bags of popcorn,t-shirts,memorabilia etc... they lost due to the cancelation. There was an uproar from the local fans about this and the radio stations phone system was jammed. People were like "The man lost his son" screw all that other bull.

Based on sales and the size of the dome it may have well reached a possible sellout of 129,625. 50k on the floor and 79,625 in the seating. With the latest upgrades seating capacity has been reduced due to adding suites and such.

Led Zeppelin would have blown the roof of the dome!

The Stones hold the indoor attendance world record in the Superdome

http://www.neworleansarena.com/site17.php

"The Stones hold the indoor attendance world record in the Superdome"

Scroll to 1981 at the following link

http://www.superdome.com/index.php?option=...0&Itemid=38

or for a larger picture, see the 2nd pic in the slideshow on the homepage.

http://www.superdome.com/

Imagine Zep there!

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I had tix for the Superdome show and Zep had arrived in town 3 days before the concert date when Robert recieved the news about his son. There was an interview with the superdome manager on a local radio station. He said that ticket sales to this general admission show were brisk and had reached 98,500+ up to that point and then went on to talk about how many cups of beer,hot dogs,bags of popcorn,t-shirts,memorabilia etc... they lost due to the cancelation. There was an uproar from the local fans about this and the radio stations phone system was jammed. People were like "The man lost his son" screw all that other bull.

Based on sales and the size of the dome it may have well reached a possible sellout of 129,625. 50k on the floor and 79,625 in the seating. With the latest upgrades seating capacity has been reduced due to adding suites and such.

Led Zeppelin would have blown the roof of the dome!

The Stones hold the indoor attendance world record in the Superdome

http://www.neworleansarena.com/site17.php

I was going to the Superdome in 77. As I had seen them in 73 and 75...I was very, very sad and I could not understand why anyone would be so selfish, but I remember the uproar. I thought how these people were not really fans. As you said the man had lost his beloved son.

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  • 7 years later...

ive just read the Freddie Bannister book - there must be a better way. in it he states his belief that for the first knebworth show there were approx. 105000 and for the second approx. 45000.

he also states that the idea from the start was for two shows there and that the second date wasn't added because the first one was sold out. he says he wasn't confident in ticket sales and wanted to cancel the second show but Grant was adamant it went ahead. as we know there was a dispute with Grant as to the attendance at the first gig so Grant had his men on the gates for the second show and they gave up early as attendance was much lower than the first week and bannister quotes grants people as saying they only thought there was around 45000 there.#

we also know the story that Grant supposedly got NASA to check the photos and do a head count but he never produced any evidence of this to bannister or anyone else, and if he could prove 200000 were there surely he would have shown his proof? suggesting it was likely paranoid ramblings on Grant's part

his estimate to the first weeks attendance was calculated by multiplying the number of acres at the site and using a number of 4000 per acre, the council used a figure of 3000 per acre but bannister used the higher number. aerial photographs show the first week crowd and it doesn't extend beyond the official perimeter thus he concludes it cant have been much above 105000.

Ive never seen an aerial photo for the second show, has anyone else?

for any Zeppelin fans its a very good read as there are references to the Bath shows, gigs at Bath Pavillion, in addition to chapeters on both Knebworths and how they had hoped for a 74 show but the news was leaked and Zeppelin pulled out leaving the allman Bro's as the headline act.

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