Led Zeppelin's last show with John Bonham: Eissporthalle, Berlin, July 7, 1980

About the artist

Led Zeppelin were formed in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page and at first also went by the name the New Yardbirds^[1]. That same year they signed with Atlantic Records, the label founded by Ahmet Ertegun^[2]. Alongside Page were Robert Plant on vocals, John Paul Jones on bass and John Bonham on drums^[3][4][5]. Their best-known songs include "Whole Lotta Love" (Led Zeppelin II, 1969), "Stairway to Heaven" (Led Zeppelin IV, 1971) and "Kashmir" (Physical Graffiti, 1975), and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame credits their mix of blues, Celtic folk and soul with stretching what rock could be^[3]. On their first visit to Japan, in September 1971, they played a charity show in Hiroshima and gave the takings, about 7 million yen, through the city to help survivors of the atomic bombing^[6].

Why this was thought to be the end

In August 1979 Led Zeppelin released their eighth studio album, In Through the Out Door, which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200^[7]. On June 17, 1980, they set out from Dortmund on a European tour, Tour Over Europe 1980^[8], and the Berlin show on July 7 was the last of its 14 scheduled dates^[9][10].

It was not billed as a farewell. A North American tour was due to start in October, and according to Ultimate Classic Rock the band meant to cut back on the extended soloing and showmanship of earlier tours^[9]. Rehearsals for those dates had already begun^[10].

John Bonham died on September 25, 1980, at the age of 32^[5].

The American tour was canceled^[10]. On December 4 the band issued a statement saying they could not carry on as they had been, and Led Zeppelin came to an end^[10][9]. Berlin had become the last concert by the four original members^[9][11]. In a 2012 Rolling Stone interview, Jimmy Page recalled that there had been no shortage of suggestions for a new drummer, but that playing with someone else would have left them with no real starting point; the band, he said, had been in the middle of changing^[12].

On December 10, 2007, Page, Plant and Jones played a one-night concert as Led Zeppelin at the O2 Arena in London^[13][2]. Under this site's rules, a later reunion under the same name moves a show into the "Not the end after all" category, which is where this one now sits.

What is known about the day

The Eissporthalle was an indoor rink built in 1973 on Berlin's Jafféstraße, right next to the Deutschlandhalle^[14]. It was used mostly for ice hockey, but with a wooden floor laid over the ice it could also host other sports and pop concerts^[14]. According to the Berlin city magazine tip Berlin, Motörhead, Frank Zappa and Dire Straits were among the acts who played there^[11]. No attendance figure for this night has been found.

The 1980 tour was a pared-back affair: Glide Magazine calls it a lower-key outing than the band's earlier tours, with sets held to about two hours and relatively little from the new album^[8]. Mixdown, which refers to it as the "Cut The Waffle" tour, says the band did without lights and lasers and dropped long showpieces such as "Dazed and Confused" and "No Quarter"^[15].

According to the setlist published by Radio X, the Berlin show opened with "Train Kept A-Rollin'"^[10], a song that had not been a regular part of the band's live sets since 1969 but opened every night of this tour^[8]. The main set went on through "Nobody's Fault but Mine," "Black Dog," "In the Evening" and "All My Love," a song from the previous year's album, among others^[10][7], and ended with "Kashmir" and "Stairway to Heaven"^[10][16].

The encore opened with "Rock and Roll," and the last song of the night was "Whole Lotta Love"^[10][16]. Mixdown says this final "Whole Lotta Love" stretched to around 16 minutes^[15]. In all, the band played 14 songs^[10]. On its page for the concert, the band's official website calls it "The final Led Zeppelin performance"^[16].

What the show left behind

The Eissporthalle was demolished in April and May 2001, after years of debate, to make room for the southern expansion of Berlin's exhibition grounds^[14], and its ice hockey tenants moved next door to the Deutschlandhalle^[17]. In 2025 tip Berlin put the hall on a list of Berlin concert venues that no longer exist, remembering it as the place where Led Zeppelin played their last concert with the original lineup^[11]. No official video or audio release of the show has been found, and the official website's page for it has no footage^[16].

After the breakup, Page, Plant and Jones shared a stage a few more times^[9]. At Live Aid, at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, Phil Collins and Tony Thompson played drums^[4]. At Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 14, 1988, John Bonham's son Jason played drums, and the set included "Kashmir," "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway to Heaven"^[18].

The full reunion came on December 10, 2007, at a charity concert in memory of Ahmet Ertegun at the O2 Arena in London, where the band played 16 songs with Jason Bonham on drums^[13][2]. Tickets were allocated by ballot, with about 9,000 pairs going to the public, and more than 20 million applications earned the show a Guinness World Record for the highest demand for tickets to a single music concert^[2]. The last two songs were "Whole Lotta Love" and "Rock and Roll": the two that had closed the Berlin show, now in reverse order^[13][10]. Page later said that some of the band had expected more concerts to follow before long^[12], but as of 2024 the O2 show remained their final reunion^[18]. Celebration Day, the film and album of the night, came out on CD, DVD and Blu-ray on November 19, 2012^[13]. In Japan it was released on November 21; Page had flown to Tokyo for a premiere screening in Roppongi on October 16^[19].

Led Zeppelin's last concert as a four-piece ended in Berlin on July 7, 1980, with "Whole Lotta Love."