50 years ago in Tampa, a sold-out Led Zeppelin show beat the Beatles (Tampa Bay Times)

[sam_webmaster]

“Tampa is the last place I would expect to see nigh on to 60,000 people,” Robert Plant would later say.

By Gabrielle CaliseTimes staff | Published May 4, 2023

Fifty years ago this month, 56,800 fans crammed into Tampa Stadium to watch Led Zeppelin play their new album, “Houses of the Holy.” Just four years prior, they had played to 7,000 at Curtis Hixon Hall.

The May 5, 1973, Tampa concert wasn’t just a killer show. It also shattered the attendance record for the biggest crowd at any single-act concert. Up until that point, the Beatles held that honor with their 1965 performance at New York City’s Shea Stadium, which drew about 55,000.

“Between us we’ve done something nobody’s ever done before,” singer Robert Plant told the Tampa crowd that humid Saturday night.

An aerial view of Tampa Stadium, which would later be nicknamed the Big Sombrero, during Led Zeppelin's sold-out concert on May 5, 1973. [ Times (1973) ]

 

[ FULL ARTICLE HERE ]

https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/history/2023/05/04/50-years-ago-tampa-sold-out-led-zeppelin-show-beat-beatles/

[Strider]

As usual, errors abound by the writer...in this case Gabrielle Calise. "Stairway To Heaven" was not the last song of the set and there was no intermission.

[JMH]

Maybe the writer blacked out due to the smoke during MB?