Led Zeppelin Japanese Tour 1971

Japan 1971

Concert by Led Zeppelin
Poster for Led Zeppelin's concerts at Tokyo, used to help promote its 1971 Japanese tour
Start date	September 23, 1971
End date	September 29, 1971
Legs	1
No. of shows	5
Led Zeppelin concert chronology

Led Zeppelin's 1971 Japanese Tour was the first concert tour of Japan by the English rock band. The tour commenced on September 23 and concluded on September 29, 1971. It was one of the first tours of Japan by a western rock band.

One of the concerts from this short tour, at Hiroshima on September 27, was organised as a benefit show. As an expression of thanks, the city of Hiroshima presented the band with a letter of appreciation and the city medal by the local mayor.

During this tour, singer Robert Plant allegedly punched drummer John Bonham before one of the shows. This was not the only incident of turmoil which occurred during the tour. As manager Peter Grant explained:

There were rows. One bloody amazing one happened in Japan when Robert came off stage with a split lip. It was over some dispute over some money from some tour. He still owed Bonzo some petrol money for 70 quid or something, but that's how it was!

The concerts were recorded at the insistence of the Japanese Warner Pioneer label, which was owned by the band's record company Atlantic Records. However, upon hearing the recordings guitarist Jimmy Page found the audio quality to be so inferior that he decided to wipe over the tapes and use them again.

Tour set list

The fairly typical set list for the tour was:

1. "Immigrant Song" (Page, Plant)
2. "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
3. "Since I've Been Loving You" (Page, Plant, Jones)
4. "Black Dog" (Page, Plant, Jones)
5. "Dazed and Confused" (Page)
6. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant)
7. "Celebration Day" (Jones, Page, Plant)
8. "That's the Way" (Page, Plant)
9. "Going to California" (Page, Plant)
10. "Tangerine" (Page)
11. "What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page, Plant)
12. "Moby Dick" (Page, Jones, Bonham)
13. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant)

Encores (variations of the following list):

• "Thank You" (Page, Plant)
• "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page)
• "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. On September 24 "Your Time Is Gonna Come" was played for the only time in a "Whole Lotta Love" medley which went something like this: "Whole Lotta Love"/"Boogie Chillen"/Cocaine"/"Rave On!"/"Your Time Is Gonna Come"/"I'm A Man"/"The Hunter"/"Hello Mary Lou/"Oh, Pretty Woman"/"How Many More Times"

The only known live performance by Led Zeppelin of the song "Friends" was performed on this tour on 29 September 1971 in Osaka, as is exhibited on a number of Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings of the show.

Tour dates

• 23/09/1971 Budokan Hall - Tokyo, Japan
• 24/09/1971 Budokan Hall - Tokyo, Japan
• 27/09/1971 Municipal Gymnasium - Hiroshima, Japan
• 28/09/1971 Festival Hall - Osaka, Japan
• 29/09/1971 Festival Hall - Osaka, Japan

External links

• Comprehensive archive of known concert appearances by Led Zeppelin (official website)
• Led Zeppelin concert setlists

Sources

• Lewis, Dave and Pallett, Simon (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4.