Associated album Led Zeppelin End date 29 June 1969 No. of shows 13 | Start date 8 June 1969 Legs 1 | |
Led Zeppelin's Summer 1969 United Kingdom Tour was a concert tour of the United Kingdom by the English rock band. The tour commenced on 8 June and concluded on 29 June 1969. It included a single show in Paris, France, performed for French television. This was the band's final ever television appearance, portions of which were later released on the Led Zeppelin DVD.
The band's tour was supported by Blodwyn Pig and The Liverpool Scene, and was promoted by the booking agency, Chrysalis.
On this tour, three of Led Zeppelin's performances were recorded and later broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The performance on 16 June was broadcast on Chris Grant's "Tasty Pop Sundae", the recording on 24 June was broadcast on John Peel's "Top Gear", and the 27 June show was broadcast on the "Radio One In Concert" series. Selected songs from all of these recordings were subsequently made available on the 1997 album BBC Sessions.
Tour set list
The fairly typical set list for the tour was:
- "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page)
- "I Can't Quit You Baby" (Dixon)
- "Dazed and Confused" (Page)
- "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side" (Page)
- "You Shook Me" (Dixon, Lenoir)
- "How Many More Times" (Bonham, Jones, Page)
There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.
Despite having been previewed during previous Led Zeppelin concert tours, tracks from their second album were not played live on this tour. These songs included "Pat's Delight" (a.k.a. "Moby Dick)", "Whole Lotta Love", and "Killing Floor" (a.k.a. "The Lemon Song"). Instead the band concentrated solely on tracks included on their first album. Some commentators have speculated that this was a deliberate promotional surprise strategy in lieu of the release of their second album.
As some of the bootlegs (and many official documents, including the Led Zeppelin DVD) show, many of the performed songs during this tour were played in a quite different way from their studio versions. "You Shook Me" and "How Many More Times" were much extended, as was "Dazed And Confused", for which Page's bow solo was now no longer accompanied by the input of other band members. Also, the coda of "Communication Breakdown" incorporated a funky jam that included parts of "Just A Little Bit" and "It's Your Thing". Only "I Can't Quit You Baby" was played in a version closely resembling the original.