| Concert Tour Name: | Iceland, Bath and Germany, Summer 1970 |
| Album: | Led Zeppelin II |
| Start Date: | 22 June 1970 |
| End Date: | 19 July 1970 |
| Number Of Legs: | 2 |
| Number Of Shows: | 6 |
| This Tour: | Iceland, Bath and Germany, Summer 1970 |
| Next Tour: | North America Summer 1970 |
Led Zeppelin's Summer 1970 tour of Iceland, Bath and Germany was a concert tour by the English rock band. The tour commenced on 22 June and concluded on 19 July 1970.
Led Zeppelin's sole performance in England during this tour was one of the most important of the band's career. They accepted an offer from promoter Freddy Bannister to headline the Bath Festival, in Shepton Mallet, at a fee of £20,000.[1] This was the second time Led Zeppelin performed at this festival, having also appeared at the Bath Festival of Blues during their U.K. tour in summer 1969.
The band's performance at Bath in 1970[2] in front of an audience of 150,000 people is widely considered by music critics, and members of Led Zeppelin itself, as representing a turning point in terms of the amount of recognition they received in Britain.[1] Until that point their on-stage success and popularity had largely been borne out on numerous United States concert tours. This concert helped foster an improved relationship with the U.K. press, which gave them consistently good reviews for their performance at the festival.[1] Tantalisingly, however, the only known audio documents of the festival exist in very poor quality as Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings.
This tour is also notable for the band's visit to Iceland for their opening show at Laugardalshöll.[3] It was this visit which inspired singer Robert Plant to write the lyrics to "Immigrant Song", which was subsequently featured on their forthcoming album Led Zeppelin III. This song premiered at the Bath Festival, just six days after their show in Iceland.[1] A short segment of footage of Jimmy Page playing bowed guitar during "Dazed and Confused" during Led Zeppelin's performance at Laugardalshöll was included on the menu clips of the Led Zeppelin DVD (2003).
The fairly typical set list for the tour was:
Encore:
There were some set list substitutions, variations, and order switches during the tour.
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg 1 – Iceland & Bath Festival | |||
| 22 June 1970 | Iceland | Laugardalshöll | |
| 28 June 1970 | England | Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music | |
| Leg 2 – West Germany | |||
| 16 July 1970 | Sporthalle | ||
| 17 July 1970 | Grugahalle | ||
| 18 July 1970 | Festhalle Frankfurt | ||
| 19 July 1970 | Deutschlandhalle | ||