June 3, 1977
Tampa, FL US
Tampa Stadium
Setlist:
The Song Remains The Same, (The Rover intro) Sick Again, Nobody's Fault But Mine.
Notes:
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Click here to view the US '77 Tour Programme (flipbook) |
Show ends early due to rain.
The promoters then ran a full page ad, apologizing to fans for the turn of events – it read:
“Concerts West Apologizes and is sorry for the humiliation & inconvenience to you and your faithful fans at Tampa Stadium, June 3, 1977.
You did everything that you could and wanted to do so much more. You are the best and deserve the best, not the worst treatment.
-Respectfully, Concerts West.
News Report: At Least 100 Injured At Led Zeppelin Concert
TAMPA Fla. - City officials, reeling from a mini riot which erupted when a thunderstorm washed out a Led Zeppelin concert, canceled a rain check rerun Saturday, leaving fans from as far as Michigan and New York holding "rain or shine" ticket stubs.
"If I were in Buffalo, I'd go home right now," said Bonnie Strickland. The 19-year-old youth and three companions had driven 24hours to get to Florida for the concert. Strickland said they were the first ones in the stadium when the doors opened at 11:30 a.m. Friday for the8:30 p.m. concert. After spending the day in 90-degree weather on the sun baked football field, they settled down for the concert.
The British band played for 20 minutes before the thunderstorm hit. About 45minutes later the concert was called off.
The cry "We want Zeppelin. We want Zeppelin" came from the 70,000 fans as rocks and bottles began flying onto the stage."We had what had to be called a small riot. There were between 3,000 and4,000 people who were unruly and disorderly," Tampa Police spokesman Johnny Barker said.
About 250 police officers, all in riot gear and using billy clubs, broke up the rioting and herded the fans out of the stadium. The scene was followed by 26 reported traffic accidents near the grounds. "The cops didn't give any warning," one teen-aged girl said. "They just waded in. I ended up at the bottom of the crowd and a cop kicked me in the head. My brother got a broken leg and broken ribs."
The melee left an estimated 100 fans with injuries. Eight were arrested. Shift Commander Tom Wilson said "in the neighborhood" a dozen officers were treated for injuries." One had a concussion, there was one with a broken hand, one with a broken ankle, one with cut lips and some teeth knocked out, one with a dislocated shoulder..." There were so many people you just couldn't move," a 32 year-old man from West Palm Beach said: "I was just trying to get away. The ticket said rain or shine."
Persons holding ticket stubs can get refunds, but we are encouraging them to mail in their refund requests," Barker said. (Newswire - June 5, 1977)
Comments
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The 6/3/77 show in Tampa Florida.
I was one of the 12 spot light operators working the show that night. We had a feeling that the sky might open up at any moment before the show even started. As I remember, a decision was made by Led Zeppelin to start on time and not wait for the skys to clear. Listening to the lighting director through my headset we were told that the show was about to start which it did, for 3 songs and then the torrential rain began. I immediatly covered my spotlight with a large sheet of plastic to keep from being electrocuted ( they ran on 220 a/c current ) I was under the plastic and we were told on the headset that the show was being postponed until tomorrow evening and to return to the backstage area for further information. The problem with the unruly crowd started because whoever the idiot was that went out on the stage after the band was hurried off to make the announcments to the audience said " Tonights performance has been CANCELLED " This stupid person said the word cancelled instead of POSTPONED. The audience heard nothing after that and started the riot that is now history. I would like to meet the person who made that announcment and convey my feelings personnaly. As a huge fan of Led Zep I was very disappointed having waited so long to see them again. I was also one of the spot ops when they played the same stadium and made the world attendance record on 5/5/73 when they beat the previous record set by the Beatles at Shea stadium. That was an awesome night. I was hoping that the show on 6/3/77 would be as good or better but, it was not to be.