Robert Plant and the last Led Zeppelin show done the right way: “It was nerve-wracking”
No band is meant to go on forever. It’s always nice to see groups sticking together through thick and thin and making the best music they can under the most dire of circumstances, but once everyone starts to move in their own separate directions, it gets to be a little bit complicated trying to find the best route to take when making their next masterpiece. Although Led Zeppelin had a good reason to pack it in once John Bonham passed away, Robert Plant knew that there were loose ends that needed to be tied up.
Granted, every member of Zeppelin was already moving in their own separate directions. John Paul Jones didn’t consider them his best friends or socialise with them like any other band, which made their professional lives a lot better when it came to returning to their own separate solo joints.
Although Jimmy Page always felt more comfortable in a band once he started The Firm or began working with The Black Crowes in the 1990s, Plant was going to be the breakout star no matter what. He had been the voice behind every one of their classic songs, and even if he didn’t have his ‘Golden God’ persona like he used to, there was room for him to grow beyond the blues howler in the age of MTV.
Even though not every move he made was the most practical, it was still enough for him to keep things rolling when Zeppelin “reunited” for Live Aid. The reception may have been rapturous, but considering how little the band gelled with Phil Collins behind the kit, Plant figured that it was best for him to stick with his solo joints and The Band of Joy if he wanted to feel creatively satisfied.
Then again, a halfhearted performance on the biggest concert stage in the world shouldn’t be the way for an artist to go out. Plant knew that there had to be more to them than one show, and when the band reunited for label executive Ahmet Ertugen in 2007 with Jason Bonham behind the kit, it truly felt like the impossible happened to see every band member back together again.
Despite his reservations about a Zeppelin reunion, Plant felt that this was the kind of send-off the band deserved, saying, “It was nerve-wracking because we were already missing John Bonham. The responsibility the four of us had that night, the 10th of December in London, was a responsibility to ourselves, to get it right, with enough feeling, because we hadn’t visited it as a way of being for such a long, long time. It was ‘Goodbye Ahmet [Ertegun]’, and it was, ‘Goodbye, everything, it’s been fantastic!’ So it worked, and it was good, and that was it.”
While every former member of Zeppelin is still among the living since that performance, Plant has remained tightlipped about any word on another reunion. And when looking at the amount of ground he has covered outside of his band at this point, is there really any point in him reaching for something more?
He has carved out a whole second career for himself working with people like Allison Krauss on Raising Sand, and this next chapter of his life is his opportunity to acknowledge his past on acoustic tunes while branching out into different territory. For every rock and roll fan who wants to have their favourite bands continue to be 21 for the rest of their lives, ‘Percy’ is the ultimate example of a rockstar who grew up the right way.
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