Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1973

The tour took place shortly after the release of Led Zeppelin's chart-topping fifth album, Houses of the Holy. Prior to its commencement, Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant hired PR consultant Danny Goldberg for promotion and booked large stadium venues. The resulting tour broke box office records across North America. On May 5 at Tampa Stadium, Florida, they played to 56,800 fans (breaking the record set by The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965), and grossed $309,000 (US$ in dollars). In total, this tour grossed over $4,000,000 (US$ in dollars). Their dress attire also took on a more flamboyant nature, evidenced in particular by guitarist Jimmy Page's hummingbird jacket and John Paul Jones' Spanish matador jacket. The band later sued the Drake Hotel for the theft. Led Zeppelin hired for the first time The Starship – a former United Airlines Boeing 720B passenger jet. During the early part of the tour the band had hired a small private Falcon Jet to journey from city to city, but these aircraft are comparatively light and susceptible to air turbulence. After performing at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on June 2, they encountered bad turbulence on a flight back to Los Angeles. As a result, Grant resolved to hire The Starship for the remainder of the tour, at a cost for $30,000. The exterior of the plane was re-sprayed with Led Zeppelin emblazoned down the side of the fuselage. Flying on The Starship, Led Zeppelin was now no longer required to change hotels so often. They could base themselves in large cities and travel to and from concerts within flying distance. ==Tour set list==

The song "No Quarter" from the band's recent album release, Houses of the Holy, was played for the first time on this tour. The band also dropped their acoustic set, which was not revived until the Earl's Court shows in May 1975. The fairly typical set list for the tour was: • "Rock and Roll" (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham) • "Celebration Day" (Jones, Page, Plant) • "Bring It On Home" (intro) (Dixon, Page, Plant) / "Black Dog" (Page, Plant, Jones) • "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant) • "Misty Mountain Hop" (Page, Plant, Jones) • "Since I've Been Loving You" (Page, Plant, Jones) • "No Quarter" (Page, Plant, Jones) • "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant) • "The Rain Song" (Page, Plant) • "Dazed and Confused" (Page) • "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant) • "Moby Dick" (Page, Jones, Bonham) • "Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Page, Plant) • "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant) Encores (variations of the following list): • "The Ocean" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) • "Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, Page) • "Thank You" (Page, Plant) (Played on 3 June and 29 July) • "Dancing Days" (Page, Plant) (Played on 13 July) There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour. ==Tour dates==