Tour Over Europe 1980


Tour Over Europe 1980 was the last concert tour by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The tour ran from 17 June to 7 July 1980. Ten of the tour's shows were performed in cities throughout West Germany, as well as one show each in Brussels, Rotterdam, Vienna, Zürich, and West Berlin.

History

This was the first series of concerts performed by the band since their shows at Knebworth almost a year before. Singer Robert Plant was reluctant to tour the United States, and the band wanted to avoid some of the negative press attention that had dogged them in the United Kingdom, so as a compromise Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant decided to schedule a short European tour. He hoped that being on the road again would rejuvenate Plant's enthusiasm for touring and eventually inspire Plant's desire to tour the U.S. again.
The band performed rehearsals for the tour at the Rainbow Theatre and Victoria Theatre in London, and then at Shepperton Studios, Middlesex.
During the tour the band played small venues with a scaled-down PA and a modest stage and lighting setup. As such, it had a much more low-key feel than on recent tours. The set list was also shorter, at approximately two hours, with some of the band's longer songs such as "No Quarter" and "Moby Dick" discarded. Material from the band's most recent album, In Through the Out Door, was also limited. The concerts opened with "Train Kept A-Rollin'," which had not been a regular feature of their live sets since 1969. Press coverage of the tour was minimal.
Generally speaking, there was a playful and generous spirit about the tour, with guitarist Jimmy Page even handling some of the stage introductions himself for the first time in the band's twelve-year career. However, some on-stage problems were experienced. The 26 June show at Vienna was interrupted during "White Summer" when Page was struck in the face by a firecracker. The organizer stepped up and talked to the audience, and asked the person responsible to come to the stage to have a word with him. After a delay, the band returned to play "Kashmir" to conclude the show. The 27 June show at Nuremberg came to an abrupt end after the third song when John Bonham collapsed on stage and was rushed to a hospital. Press speculation arose that Bonham's problem was caused by an excess of alcohol and drugs, but the band claimed that he had simply overeaten.
The tour's poster listed a second concert at Berlin, on 8 July, but this show was never performed. The final full-length concert Led Zeppelin played until 2007 was on 7 July, with "Whole Lotta Love" being the closing number at this gig.
In an interview, bass player John Paul Jones recalled of this tour:

Recordings

Audio bootlegs

All the shows of the tour were released by the bootleg label Tarantura on a 26-disc box set, and as separate releases during 1996 and 1997. Most of the shows are complete and are sourced from soundboard recordings; the Rotterdam show is missing the first four songs, and the Vienna and Munich shows are sourced from audience recordings. There is, however, a complete audience recording of the Rotterdam show in existence.

Video

On Led Zeppelin's website, there are 8mm films featuring parts of the Rotterdam, Zürich and Munich shows.

Tour set list

  1. "Train Kept A-Rollin'"
  2. "Nobody's Fault but Mine"
  3. "Out on the Tiles" / "Black Dog"
  4. "In the Evening"
  5. "The Rain Song"
  6. "Hot Dog"
  7. "All My Love"
  8. "Trampled Under Foot"
  9. "Since I've Been Loving You"
  10. "Achilles Last Stand"
  11. "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side"
  12. "Kashmir"
  13. "Stairway to Heaven"
Encores:
The tour was pushed back a month. The original itinerary consisted of:
DateCityCountryVenue
22 May 1980ViennaAustriaWiener Stadthalle
23 May 1980MunichWest GermanyOlympiahalle
25 May 1980DortmundWest GermanyWestfalenhalle
26 May 1980CologneWest GermanySporthalle
28 May 1980BremenWest GermanyBremen Stadthalle
29 May 1980BerlinWest GermanyEissporthalle
30 May 1980BerlinWest GermanyEissporthalle
31 May 1980MannheimWest GermanyEisstadion
1 June 1980MannheimWest GermanyEisstadion
2 June 1980ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadion
5 June 1980BrusselsBelgiumForest National
14 June 1980Saint-OuenFranceSport Center

The dates performed were:
DateCityCountryVenue
17 June 1980DortmundWest GermanyWestfalenhalle
18 June 1980CologneWest GermanySporthalle
20 June 1980BrusselsBelgiumVorst Nationaal
21 June 1980RotterdamNetherlandsRotterdam Ahoy
23 June 1980BremenWest GermanyStadthalle
24 June 1980HanoverWest GermanyMessehalle
26 June 1980ViennaAustriaWiener Stadthalle
27 June 1980NurembergWest GermanyMessezentrum Halle
29 June 1980ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadion
30 June 1980FrankfurtWest GermanyFesthalle Frankfurt
2 July 1980MannheimWest GermanyEisstadion am Friedrichspark
3 July 1980MannheimWest GermanyEisstadion am Friedrichspark
5 July 1980MunichWest GermanyOlympiahalle
7 July 1980West BerlinWest GermanyEissporthalle an der Jafféstraße