On this day in 1980, Led Zeppelin embarked on what would end up being their final tour

The “Tour Over Europe” would be the bands first series of shows since performing at Knebworth, England almost a year earlier. Singer Robert Plant was reluctant to perform another US tour and the band aimed to avoid some of the negative press attention that had troubled them in the UK, so manager Peter Grant compromised by organising a short European tour.

Throughout the tour, the band played at small venues with modest sound systems and lighting effects, giving it a more low key feel than the bands other recent tours. There were still issues on stage, including a show in Vienna where Jimmy Page was struck in the face with a firecracker and a show in Nuremberg where John Bonham collapsed on stage and was rushed to hospital. Speculation arose that the collapse was due to overindulgence with alcohol and drugs, but the band stated he had simply overeaten.

The tour ended with a show in Berlin on 7th July, which would be the last show performed by the band until 2007. John Paul Jones recalled of the tour “Morale was very high. We were in really good spirits… By the time John [Bonham] died, we had sorted it out and were ready to go again. He died in rehearsals for an American tour.”

All shows from this tour were recorded and later released by the bootleg label Tarantura on a 26 disk box set and has been released unofficially many times since.