| Concert Tour Name: | Japan 1972 |
| Start Date: | 2 October 1972 |
| End Date: | 10 October 1972 |
| Number Of Shows: | 6 |
| This Tour: | Japan 1972 |
| Next Tour: | United Kingdom 1972/1973 |
Led Zeppelin's 1972 Japanese Tour was the second and final concert tour of Japan by the English rock band. The tour commenced on 2 October and concluded on 10 October 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.[1]
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".[1]
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.[2] In particular, Plant strained to sing the song "Rock and Roll", leading him to change the melody of the song to a lower register on all future tours.
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).[3]
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:
Encores (variations of the following list):
There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 October 1972 | Nippon Budokan | ||
| 3 October 1972 | |||
| 4 October 1972 | Festival Hall | ||
| 5 October 1972 | Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall | ||
| 9 October 1972 | Osaka | Festival Hall | |
| 10 October 1972 | Kyoto Kaikan |