The reunion of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin at Live Aid was a disaster, according to frontman Robert Plant.
The hitmakers behind Stairway to Heaven have reunited only occasionally since their initial disbandment in 1980. Their reunion for Live Aid was less-than impressive, with Plant and Page reflecting on the “total panic” of their twenty-minute set. While the band would play Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love, and Stairway to Heaven, neither Page nor Plant felt all that good about their set. Their performance was one of many that night for the Bob Geldof-organised charity drive, with Live Aid featuring all-time great performances from Queen and David Bowie, as well as the return of Paul McCartney to the stage.
Those sparkling highs are bright enough to hide awkward outings like Led Zeppelin’s, which was dubbed a “kamikaze stunt” by Page. He said: “My main memories, really, were of total panic. John Paul Jones arrived virtually the same day as the show and we had about an hour’s rehearsal before we did it. And that sounds like a bit of a kamikaze stunt, really, when you think of how well everyone else was rehearsed.”
Plant told Rolling Stone Magazine back in 1988 that even before the show, he and the band were far from their best. He said: “Emotionally, I was eating every word that I had uttered. And I was hoarse. I’d done three gigs on the trot before I got to Live Aid. We rehearsed in the afternoon, and by the time I got on stage, my voice was long gone.”
The band were also joined by Genesis drummer Phil Collins, who flew from the UK to the US to take part in the Led Zeppelin reunion. Collins would reflect on the disastrous set in hsi autobiography, saying that “the wheels were falling off” very early into the show.
He recalled: “I knew the wheels are falling off from early on in the set. I can’t hear Robert clearly from where I’m sat, but I can hear enough to know that he’s not on top of his game. I don’t remember playing Rock and Roll, but obviously I did. But I do remember an awful lot of time where I can hear what Robert decries as ‘knitting’: fancy drumming.”
Collins went as far to say he would not have performed with the band had he known it was to be a two-drummer line-up. Collins hailed Tony Thompson as a “fantastic drummer”, but the Sussudio hitmaker suggested the new hire had to make a name for himself. A proposed Led Zeppelin reunion was cancelled by Page after Thompson was badly injured in a car crash.
Collins continued: “Onstage, I don’t take my eyes off Tony Thompson. I’m glued to him. I’m having to follow – he’s taking the heavy-handed lead and has opted to ignore all my advice. Putting myself in his shoes, he’s probably thinking, ‘This is the beginning of a new career. John Bonham isn’t around any more. They’re gonna want someone. This could be the start of a Led Zeppelin reunion. And I don’t need this English fuck in my way.’
“I’m not judging him, God rest his soul. Thompson was a fantastic drummer. But it was very uncomfortable, and if I could have left that stage, I would have left, halfway through Stairway to Heaven… if not earlier.
“But imagine the coverage of that? Walking off during The Second Coming? Who the fuck does Collins think he is? Geldof really would have had something to swear about. After what seems like an eternity, we finish. I’m thinking, ‘My God, that was awful. The sooner this is over, the better.'” You can watch the whole performance below.
