Led Zeppelin’s performance on July 23, 1977, in Oakland was a powerful display of their rock dominance, with Robert Plant leading the charge through a set packed with iconic songs like “Kashmir,” “No Quarter,” and “Stairway to Heaven.” Plant’s vocals were fierce and expressive, despite recovering from vocal strain, while Jimmy Page delivered searing guitar solos and John Bonham’s thunderous drumming anchored the show with raw intensity. The band’s chemistry was undeniable, blending blues, hard rock, and mysticism into a mesmerizing live experience. Though the tour was marked by tension and backstage incidents, the Oakland concert still captured Zeppelin’s larger-than-life presence and musical firepower at near full force.

Led Zeppelin 1977 visit to the United States was meant to be a comeback . With Robert Plant’s healed leg and promoting a year old album Presence, the three legs of the tour were going to re-establish the band as the top live act of the seventies and shatter all sorts of attendance records.

The set list was reworked again. Only two new songs from Presence, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Achilles Last Stand” were added. They also added the long acoustic interlude for the first time in five years including the never before played live “The Battle Of Evermore” from the fourth LP.

The tour began in Chicago in April with some very impressive concerts. The first third ended with some of the best shows on the tour in Cleveland and Detroit. The second third hit a climax with six massive shows in both New York and Los Angeles. After almost a month off, the tour resumed in Seattle with a mediocre show in the Kingdome. The second date in Tempe, Arizona was a disaster and was followed by the two shows in the Oakland Coliseum.

Part of the Day On The Green series of concerts organized by Bill Graham, Zeppelin were supported by Rick Derringer and Judas Priest for both days. The two concerts sold-out 115,000 and were meant, in the words of Plant himself, as an apology for the cancellation of their Day On The Green show from 1975. The two three and a half hour marathons, in the words of the press following the event, more than made up for the absence two years before.

These two shows in northern California were meant to be followed by massive dates in New Orleans, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and ending at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, but they were all cancelled when Plant’s son mysteriously died. Events three years later would dictate that these remain Led Zeppelin’s final shows in the U.S. The Last Performance In The U.S.A. on Scorpio presents both concerts edited from the various tapes to present the best sounding and most complete versions on silver disc.

The Day On The Green, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA – July 23rd, 1977

Disc 1 (62:19): Intro, The Song Remains The Same, Sick Again, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Over The Hills And Far Away, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter

Disc 2 (61:08): Ten Years Gone, The Battle Of Evermore, Going To California, Black Country Woman, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, Trampled Underfoot, White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir

Disc 3 (46:40): Guitar Solo, Achilles Last Stand, Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll, Black Dog

Two audience recordings exist for the July 23rd show. One was released on It’s Been Great (Image Quality IQ-010/11/12) and the other on Confusion (LZ-72377A/B) back in the nineties. Several years ago both tapes were pressed in the five disc set A Quiet Before The Storm: The Day On The Green Tapes Vol. 1 (The Chronicles Of Led Zeppelin 042/043/044/045/046).

Scorpio is the first label to edit the two tapes to present the complete show. Their weaving of the two sources is frequent and very smoothly handled. The difference in quality between the two sources can be a bit jarring at first, but not detrimental to the overall experience.

The first Oakland show is much improved compared to Seattle or Tempe. With Plant wearing the “Nurses Do It Better” shirt (do what though is never answered) and Page in the black dragon suit, they get off to a sluggish start (which Plant admits), but it picks up steam early and become a nice event.

“Well good afternoon. I see we finally made it” Plant tells the audience after “Sick Again” “I guess I must personally apologize for a two year delay but it’s very nice to be here and to be back. We should just waste no time at all and give you something that we should have given you a while back, yeah?”