Led Zeppelin's 1972 Japanese Tour was the second and final concert tour of Japan by the English rock band. The tour commenced on October 2 and concluded on October 10, 1972.

This tour took place shortly following the recording of the band's fifth album, Houses of the Holy. Two tracks from the album were played live for first time, namely "The Song Remains the Same" and "The Rain Song". For these tracks, Jimmy Page used his characteristic Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck guitar. Other songs from the album were also played, but these had already been debuted on previous concert tours.

It was on this tour that John Paul Jones played his mellotron for the first time. He used it for the tracks "Stairway to Heaven", "The Rain Song" and "Thank You". He also introduced an arco stand-up bass, which he played during "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp".

Some observers have noted that it was during this tour that the vocals of singer Robert Plant began to show signs of damage, as he arguably started to lose the extremely high-pitched wail which was evident on previous concert tours and album releases.

Whilst on this tour, Jones bought a traditional Japanese string instrument called a Koto. He later used this instrument on his solo album Zooma (1999).

Tour set list

The dropping of the acoustic set by the band resulted in shorter set lists than those played on more recent tours, with shows now extending to a more manageable length of around two hours. The fairly typical set list for the tour was:

1. "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)
2. "Black Dog" (Page, Plant, Jones)
3. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant)
4. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Jones, Page, Plant)
5. "Since I've Been Loving You" (Page, Plant, Jones)
6. "Dancing Days" (Page, Plant)
7. "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (Page, Plant, Jones)
8. "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant)
9. "The Rain Song" (Page, Plant)
10. "Dazed and Confused" (Page)
11. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant)
12. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant)

Encores (variations of the following list):

• "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Page, Plant)
• "Immigrant Song" (Page, Plant)
• "Thank You" (Page, Plant)
• "The Ocean" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant)
• "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page)
• "Stand by Me" (King, Leiber, Stoller), performed in Osaka on October 9

There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.

Tour dates

• 02/10/1972 Budokan Hall - Tokyo, Japan
• 03/10/1972 Budokan Hall - Tokyo, Japan
• 04/10/1972 Koseinenkin Kaikan (Festival Hall) - Osaka, Japan
• 05/10/1972 Kokaido - Nagoya, Japan
• 09/10/1972 Festival Hall - Osaka, Japan
• 10/10/1972 Kyoto Kaikan - Kyoto, Japan

External links

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

References

Sources

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