Going To California

April 28, 1977
Cleveland, OH US
Richfield Coliseum

The Song Remains The Same,
(The Rover intro) Sick Again,
Nobody's Fault But Mine,
In My Time of Dying,
Since I've Been Loving You,
No Quarter,
Ten Years Gone,
Battle of Evermore,
Going to California,
Black Country Woman,
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,
White Summer ~ Black Mountainside,
Kashmir, (Out On the Tiles intro)
Moby Dick,
Jimmy Page solo,
Achilles Last Stand,
Stairway to Heaven,
Rock and Roll,
Trampled Underfoot.


This past Christmas my younger brother was given the complete Led Zeppelin remastered box set edition of their cataloge from his stepson (and he listened to the CDs on his way to and from Daytona when he went down for Speedweeks last month) and after hearing him talk about the mighty Zeppelin we recounted the much anticipated 1977 Led Zep tour.
When word was announced they would tour everyone in northeast Ohio and beyond were fired up immediately. Scheduled for the Coliseum in Richfield, OH for two nights, the promoters threw a monkey wrench into the ticket buying process. They decreed that to have a chance to purchase tickets it had to be done by mail order using money orders and the orders had to be postmarked on a selected date in order to have a chance to buy tickets. I think they limited each order to only four (4) tickets per order.
So the night before tickets were to be accepted Flash and I had purchased several money orders and used our names and addresses as well as various brothers and sisters and drove up to Richfield the night before so we could drop our orders off at the Richfield post office right at midnight. We werent the only ones to think of that as there appeared to be a caravan snaking through the small town of Richfield to the post office.
A couple weeks later we were thrilled when we each received tickets for both nights! We sold the remaining tickets and each kept two for both nights. The first night was April 27, 1977 and we took dates. The second night, April 28, 1977, we went solo with a couple of buddies to raise hell and have fun. We did. Amazing shows! We were extremely happy we were able to see them on two consecutive nights let alone one and Im glad we did because that was the last chance we had to see Led Zeppelin as it turned out.
We had procured tickets for the August 9, 1977 show at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh but that was eventually cancelled when Robert Plants son passed away at the end of July. When they announced the next tour in 1980 I dutifully ordered tickets but before they could be processed word came out that drummer John Bonham had died. That was the end of Led Zeppelin as we knew them.
But the Richfield Coliseum shows were outstanding. An Evening With Led Zeppelin is seared into my memory banks and Im glad I had the chance to catch them on that tour. I bought the T-Shirts (one white, one black, both now long gone) as did my brother. He still has his. A number of years ago some company reissued those 77 t-shirts and while at an area mall once I noticed a young man wearing one who wasnt even born when that tour happened. As I passed him in a record store I mentioned Nice shirt! I bought mine at a Led Zep concert in 77. He stopped in his tracks and proceeded to grill me for 15 minutes on the band and the Richfield appearances.

This is clearly a night to remember. This gets my vote for the best show of the whole 1977 tour! The playing and energy are wonderful and Robert is in very strong voice. This show has what are probably the best ever versions of Ten Years Gone and Since I've Been Loving You from 1977, as well as a spine-chilling Jimmy Page Solo, a monstrous Achilles Last Stand, a grand Kashmir, and amazing playing throughout, especially from Jimmy. No Quarter is a wonderful, long version with lots of classical references thrown in.

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