Tampa, FL... 6/3/77

[nirvana]

Led Zeppelin concert June 3rd 1977 Tampa Florida.

Concert postponed then canceled after just 3 songs (TSRTS, Sick Again, Nobody's Fault) due to severe thunderstorms causing havoc on stage as well as in the audience.

Riot police move in to control about 4,000 concert-goers trying to rush the stage and who are angry that the concert is being delayed.

Police get physical with fans causing bottles and objects to be thrown at the strike force.

Estimate 50 people hurt, 19 or so arrested. Police also injured.

Various announcements lead fans to believe that the concert would resume shortly, then that it would be postponed until the next night, and finally that it was being canceled by city officials.

Zeppelin would be banned from the city of Tampa shortly there-after.

Fans and SHOW-Co personnel state that the thunderstorms were no surprise as they could be easily seen forming off in the distance well before the start of the show.

Weather services were announcing severe t-storms warnings early on and anyone familiar with the summers in Tampa realize that these storms were not unusual and they would come and go frequently, usually lasting 1/2 hour or so.

As the rains and lightning fell all around them Zeppelin continued the show until it was a life-threatening condition and then Robert announced they would be back within 15 minutes.

SHOW-Co lighting guys heard in their communications that members of the Zep camp made the initial decision to go on despite the on-coming bad weather.

SHOW-Co had guys in light towers and scaffolding who were at risk for lightning strikes and had a distance to go in order to leave their posts, unlike the band members who were exited stage right in a few steps. Surely the lighting guys risked their lives by climbing to their spots during this storm when there was no easy exits.

Fans were put at risk by the weather and by over-zealous police who were prepared for use of force before the concert even began. Why send police in riot-gear unless trouble is expected. They got their wish, although in a bigger way than imagined!

Nothing like a good clubbing to make one's concert experience complete....it was so "70's".

My point here is that had the decision been made to simply delay the concert one hour or so all this trouble and injury could have been avoided. The stroms were no surprise, even Zeppelin had been to Tampa and FLorida many times before and knew these storms didn't last long.

How on earth did they expect to come on stage and continue the show without trouble during this deluge? Lightning, water and high wattage stage equipment don't mix well...Zeppelin security pounded people for taping shows never-mind putting Zep's lives at risk...why chance it then?

Who made the final choice to go on and why or was it a case of them feeling "the Hammer of the Gods" and living on the edge and saying "fuck it - let's play!".

Whatever, lives were at stake, and somehow that show should have been postponed another 60 minutes and everything would have been great.

I am working on a book defining this event form various sources. If anyone can help with more details please feel free to add your comments.

Led Zeppelin in Tampa '77 - Thunder, Lightning, and the Billy-clubs of the Tampa Police.

[nirvana]

Led Zeppelin concert June 3rd 1977 Tampa Florida.

Concert postponed then canceled after just 3 songs (TSRTS, Sick Again, Nobody's Fault) due to severe thunderstorms causing havoc on stage as well as in the audience.

Riot police move in to control about 4,000 concert-goers trying to rush the stage and who are angry that the concert is being delayed.

Police get physical with fans causing bottles and objects to be thrown at the strike force.

Estimate 50 people hurt, 19 or so arrested. Police also injured.

Various announcements lead fans to believe that the concert would resume shortly, then that it would be postponed until the next night, and finally that it was being canceled by city officials.

Zeppelin would be banned from the city of Tampa shortly there-after.

Fans and SHOW-Co personnel state that the thunderstorms were no surprise as they could be easily seen forming off in the distance well before the start of the show.

Weather services were announcing severe t-storms warnings early on and anyone familiar with the summers in Tampa realize that these storms were not unusual and they would come and go frequently, usually lasting 1/2 hour or so.

As the rains and lightning fell all around them Zeppelin continued the show until it was a life-threatening condition and then Robert announced they would be back within 15 minutes.

SHOW-Co lighting guys heard in their communications that members of the Zep camp made the initial decision to go on despite the on-coming bad weather.

SHOW-Co had guys in light towers and scaffolding who were at risk for lightning strikes and had a distance to go in order to leave their posts, unlike the band members who were exited stage right in a few steps. Surely the lighting guys risked their lives by climbing to their spots during this storm when there was no easy exits.

Fans were put at risk by the weather and by over-zealous police who were prepared for use of force before the concert even began. Why send police in riot-gear unless trouble is expected. They got their wish, although in a bigger way than imagined!

Nothing like a good clubbing to make one's concert experience complete....it was so "70's".

My point here is that had the decision been made to simply delay the concert one hour or so all this trouble and injury could have been avoided. The stroms were no surprise, even Zeppelin had been to Tampa and FLorida many times before and knew these storms didn't last long.

How on earth did they expect to come on stage and continue the show without trouble during this deluge? Lightning, water and high wattage stage equipment don't mix well...Zeppelin security pounded people for taping shows never-mind putting Zep's lives at risk...why chance it then?

Who made the final choice to go on and why or was it a case of them feeling "the Hammer of the Gods" and living on the edge and saying "fuck it - let's play!".

Whatever, lives were at stake, and somehow that show should have been postponed another 60 minutes and everything would have been great.

I am working on a book defining this event form various sources. If anyone can help with more details please feel free to add your comments.

Led Zeppelin in Tampa '77 - Thunder, Lightning, and the Billy-clubs of the Tampa Police.

Bad Karma...Going to Oakland, CA

[SteveAJones]

Who made the final choice to go on and why or was it a case of them feeling "the Hammer of the Gods" and living on the edge and saying "fuck it - let's play!".

Whatever, lives were at stake, and somehow that show should have been postponed another 60 minutes and everything would have been great.

I am working on a book defining this event form various sources. If anyone can help with more details please feel free to add your comments.

Led Zeppelin in Tampa '77 - Thunder, Lightning, and the Billy-clubs of the Tampa Police.

Peter Grant made the decision to go on, with 70,000+ in attendance. He knew the band had set aside the next night as the rain date, as Jimmy explained to Scott Muni in New York the following week (6/9/77) (but quickly added it did rain thru that night as well.

Stage banter: "We want you to bear with us because there seems to some water falling on the electrical equipment", a roadie says from the stage. "So we're gonna give it a 15-minute break, are you cool? A 15-minute break, we're gonna try it". They tried but

apparently, it didn't work.

Tickets stated "rain or shine"; when cancellation was announced about 3,000 of the 70,000 in attendance started to riot, the result of which was Led Zeppelin being unable to announce the new date on account of Mayor William F. Poe banning the group from

the city. The promoter issued a public apology to the group in the local newspaper.

This is one of many eyewitness accounts:

Tampa Stadium: Memories Of the Zep Concert

I was 9 at the time and remember running up and down the steps of the stadium watching the storm getting closer and closer. Zeppelin finally came on when it was raining and the rain kept getting harder and harder. The lightning was spectacular! Then the music stopped and about an eternity to a 9 YO, my step-father took me in his arms and began to run down the steps into the stadium, seeking refuge under the steps while all hell broke loose. I remember there were several other people there with us and a couple of kids as well, crying. The TPD came in and pulled us to safety away from the madness. One crazy night. This was my 2nd concert. -- "tampa 77"

[nirvana]

Peter Grant made the decision to go on, with 70,000+ in attendance. He knew the band had set aside the next night as the rain date, as Jimmy explained to Scott Muni in New York the following week (6/9/77) (but quickly added it did rain thru that night as well.

If this is true, it was just one of many bad decisions made by Peter during the '77 Tour.

[SteveAJones]

If this is true, it was just one of many bad decisions made by Peter during the '77 Tour.

Your kidding right? 70,000 Florida fans were already in place and ready to rock. They did the best they could to get the show in despite the threat of rain. However,

the combination of too much water on the stage and the presence of lightning made

this impossible.

[reids]

A good friend of mine went to that show and said it was crazy (after 3 songs and it all went to chaos as quite a few were injured and a few arrests resulted).

Interesting that "Nobody's Fault But Mine" was the last song performed right when the skies opened up and rain poured down

I believe that I read somewhere that Jason Bonham said that he was at that show, too.

That was the last time Led Zeppelin performed in Florida, too.

R

[nirvana]

Your kidding right? 70,000 Florida fans were already in place and ready to rock. They did the best they could to get the show in despite the threat of rain. However,

the combination of too much water on the stage and the presence of lightning made

this impossible.

Steve, I'm not saying Peter should have cancelled the show. What he should have done was DELAYED the show 1 hour and the storms would have passed and the fans would have gotten the show they wanted and waited for.

Peter had always looked out for the band with a ferocious intensity. To risk their lives along with so many support crews and fans was reckless and irresponsible.

Again, that is if HE was responsible for the final decision to go on. Something tells me that Jimmy may have been consulted also.

Whomever made it - the right call was to delay, not cancel and certainly not go on while the storms raged.

[SteveAJones]

Whomever made it - the right call was to delay, not cancel and certainly not go on while the storms raged.

The storm didn't start until a full twenty minutes after the show began, and a delay would not have kept the water off the stage, nor the lightning at bay. It's easy for

us to armchair quarterback this 30 years after the fact, but it seems to me Peter

made the best decision he could given the information available at the time.

Edited to add: what makes you think "a one hour delay" would have sufficed? It rained

throughout the next night as well, according to Jimmy.

[dpat]

Steve, I'm not saying Peter should have cancelled the show. What he should have done was DELAYED the show 1 hour and the storms would have passed and the fans would have gotten the show they wanted and waited for.

Peter had always looked out for the band with a ferocious intensity. To risk their lives along with so many support crews and fans was reckless and irresponsible.

Again, that is if HE was responsible for the final decision to go on. Something tells me that Jimmy may have been consulted also.

Whomever made it - the right call was to delay, not cancel and certainly not go on while the storms raged.

I agree 100%, nirvana. Anyone with familiarity with Florida thunderstorms knows they come in like all hell is busting loose, and then they are gone within the hour, leaving pleasant weather. Poor Peter (bless his soul) MIGHT have had his nose too buried in the powder on the mirror to think clearly that night.

[SteveAJones]

I agree 100%, nirvana. Anyone with familiarity with Florida thunderstorms knows they come in like all hell is busting loose, and then they are gone within the hour, leaving pleasant weather. Poor Peter (bless his soul) MIGHT have had his nose too buried in the powder on the mirror to think clearly that night.

What I'd like to see is a post confirming the weather forecast for that evening. Jimmy

said it rained throughout the next night as well, leading me to wonder if a storm front may have been anticipated and they were, again, trying to get the show in before it

hit. However, powder on the mirror sounds plausible as well.

[gator74]

I was at this concert and a hell of a thunderstorm started when they were playing NFBM.

The storm did not last that long and if the fans did not crash the stage I believe they would

have finished the show.

[longdistancewinner]

I agree 100%, nirvana. Anyone with familiarity with Florida thunderstorms knows they come in like all hell is busting loose, and then they are gone within the hour, leaving pleasant weather. Poor Peter (bless his soul) MIGHT have had his nose too buried in the powder on the mirror to think clearly that night.

But then again, anyone who's ever been familiar with Floridian storms will know that waiting an hour is not worth it. You don't want to be stuck outside whilst it's thundering, lightening, raining, etc. Tornadoes manifest, flash floods occur - you said yourself, all hell lets loose. And, then, there's the equipment to worry about. You want to delay it an hour whilst there's a possibilty stuff can be damaged? What about the crowd? Wouldn't there be just as much a problem with crowd control if people are trying scramble for cover?

There's also the fact that Led Zeppelin were a British band. This kind of weather is considered freak weather in the UK. It doesn't happen. I've been going to Florida annually since I was 7 (I'm now 23) and it's scary as shit being caught in a thunderstorm. They may have been regular visitors to the US, but I'm willing to bet they wanted to get the fuck out of there once the clouds opened. Peter made the best decision at the time. His habit is irrelevant and it was always going to be beyond his control.

This is all my opinion, by the way.

[SteveAJones]

They may have been regular visitors to the US, but I'm willing to bet they wanted to get the fuck out of there once the clouds opened.

FWIW, they were staying at a hotel overlooking Miami Beach so they did have to fly back that night on the small chartered jet they had used instead of the larger Starship.

[nirvana]

To be scientific about the Tampa t-storms phenomena:

What happens is the warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, which warms rapidly in the Spring and Summer months, clashes with the cooler air coming from the Atlantic ocean side and Tampa and its surrounding area just happen to be in the middle of the "Clash of the Titans" air masses.

The results of which are violent thunderstorms, winds, and heavy lightning.

These storms rage until the air cools enough to balance the 2 different air currents.

This usually takes less than but sometimes up to 1 hour. Rarely much longer.

Yes, it's like all Hell breaking loose, but when it all subsides the air clears and it results in a beautiful summer night.

It did rain the next night in Tampa but it wasn't a continuation of the storm from the night before.

Continuous announcements to the effect that the concert would start late but would start could have calmed the "storm" of Zeppelin fans and the police.

70,000 people all jacked up though poses lots of variables, certainly for trouble. Concert promoters have to be all over situations like Tampa 77, right from the start.

Zeppelin playing for 20 minutes only heightened the volatility of the anxious crowd.

Let's face it, a delayed Zeppelin concert wasn't a rarity!

Bad Karma, culminating in Oakland, CA.

[SteveAJones]

Continuous announcements to the effect that the concert would start late but would start could have calmed the "storm" of Zeppelin fans and the police. 70,000 people all jacked up though poses lots of variables, certainly for trouble. Concert promoters have to be all over situations like Tampa 77, right from the start.

Which brings me to my point - the promoters cocked it up by selling "rain or shine" tickets, putting Peter and the group in a no-win situation. It takes a good while for

70,000 people to retreat to the safety of the corridors and their cars, wait out the

storm, and then be reseated. Meanwhile, you've got a soaking wet stage and there

is no fucking way Peter was going to risk electrocution, having named and managed Stone The Crows, whom saw singer Leslie Harvey killed onstage in this way in 1972.

[longdistancewinner]

Which brings me to my point - the promoters cocked it up by selling "rain or shine" tickets, putting Peter and the group in a no-win situation. It takes a good while for

70,000 people to retreat to the safety of the corridors and their cars, wait out the

storm, and then be reseated. Meanwhile, you've got a soaking wet stage and there

is no fucking way Peter was going to risk electrocution, having named and managed Stone The Crows, whom saw singer Leslie Harvey killed onstage in this way in 1972.

Exactly. Waiting an 'hour' to ride out a potentially violent storm is not worth it, especially when electricals are nearby. It doesn't matter that it could've lasted only an hour, it's the fact that within that hour a lot worse could've happened than just pissed off fans rioting. Is it something they would've wanted on their conscience? The crowd's reaction was beyond their control when they went off stage. It wouldn't have been if they'd weathered (excuse the pun) the storm and stayed put.

You can get away with weathering a storm at a gig in the UK, but not somewhere as volatile as Florida. It was a risk they obviously weren't willing to take.

[nirvana]

...The particular thing to learn is how to get to the crack between the worlds and how to enter the other world. There is a crack between the two worlds, the world of the diableros and the world of living men. There is a place where these two worlds overlap. The crack is there. It opens and closes like a door in the wind. To get there a man must exercise his will. He must, I should say, develop an indomitable desire for it, a single-minded dedication. But he must do it without the help of any power or any man..."

Tampa, June 3rd,1977.

Thanks to everyone's' contributions, they will come in handy when researching for my book.

[SteveAJones]

...The particular thing to learn is how to get to the crack between the worlds and how to enter the other world. There is a crack between the two worlds, the world of the diableros and the world of living men. There is a place where these two worlds overlap. The crack is there. It opens and closes like a door in the wind. To get there a man must exercise his will. He must, I should say, develop an indomitable desire for it, a single-minded dedication. But he must do it without the help of any power or any man..."

Oh, so your actually seeking the crack between the two worlds? It was last seen at Musicland Studios, located down in the basement of the Arabella Hotel in Munich.

[SteveAJones]

Excerpt from the book 'Peter Grant - The Man Who Led Zeppelin' by Chris Welch:

[Walter]

I was just about to post that section of the book on Grant. I finished reading it a couple of months ago and remember Peter being remorseful about what happened that night. Thanks for your usual follow through with great info.

[RN007]

Thanks Steve for the good info.....I along with several high school friends were at the show and am thankful that we had the chance to see them if only for a few songs. They were awesome! We entered Tampa Stadium as soon as the gates opened in the morning and spent the day enjoying typical Florida sunshine. I'd have made the same call to start the show -and although brief it was very exciting. We had a great location, front and center about fifty feet back from the elevated stage. When they stopped it was very unfortunate that some fans began to throw things and tear down the stage barriers -once this behavior started we left. This was not the first 1977 Zeppelin related riot I experienced -when purchasing the show tickets I had to wait through tear gas, fans throwing rocks, and national guardsman clubbing fans at the Miami Orange Bowl -which sustained a couple hundred thousand dollars of damage by rioting fans the night before tickets went on sale. A combination of variables made this tour and this particular show what it was –all said it was nice to have seen them play.

[nirvana]

Excerpt from the book 'Peter Grant - The Man Who Led Zeppelin' by Chris Welch:

Thank you Steve! Spot on, to the point, and the 6/3/77 Case is closed!

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

This does not surprise me at all, I lived in Central Florida twice and in the summer time it was like this....At around 3 PM (most every day) you go in side and hope your house (and all the electronics's in it) doesn't get struck by lightning from the storm's that pass thru. Most of the time they do just that, pass thru and in an hour or so it clears up and some times comes back a bit later in the after noon.

The worst place (I think) was the 2 years I lived in Orlando, this is just the way it is in most of Florida at that time of year so you just have to live with it.

Bonzolikedrumer

I spell it like that because I like it that way.

[Kayte]

Resurrecting an old thread to deposit a blog posting I came across:

http://toycameraplay...bert-plant.html

I think it's a good pic for a seventeen-year-old in the rain at the cusp of a riot. Didn't wanna post it in any of the "hot" threads because I thought it should be added to content about Tampa.

[Cameron Carlin]

I was there sittlng on the west side of the stadium, the storm came from the east. So I watched it approach. I belive the music set the storm off something terrific. It was raining so hard and the lightning was scaring everyone. The crowds went for cover in the exits but no one was leaving so it became very dangerous. I had two hunderd people pushing on my in a crowd. Very wild.