The tour that saw Led Zeppelin save the British music scene
While times have changed significantly over the last 70 years, one could certainly argue that the British music scene is in more dire need of being shaken up than it ever has been during that period.
This is no criticism of the quality of music being released by British acts, which is as promising as it ever has been and spans far more different styles and genres than it would have been in the 1960s and ‘70s, but more a criticism of the way in which things are managed, with bands and artists struggling to make money through any means, and with grassroots venues having great trouble staying financially solvent in their efforts to provide said artists with a place to perform.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been periods of struggle at this level in the past, but one could argue that bands had a far easier time reaching a greater level of success and notoriety in previous decades, with some of the largest musical exports from the country still being those who began their activity over half a century ago.
One example of a major British act whose rise to prominence was rapid and seemingly unshakable was Led Zeppelin, who, within three years of forming in 1968, had released four studio albums that received critical acclaim, with three of them hitting the top of the charts in their home country.
Of course, the pedigree of some of their members was a significant help in getting them to this position in the first place, with Jimmy Page already having proven himself as a formidable guitarist through his tenure with the Yardbirds prior to forming the group, but at the same time, for a group to have achieved this level of notoriety within such a short span of time while also releasing a bounty of material seems unprecedented when compared to modern levels of productivity.
However, despite their success, one thing that the band opted to do at the peak of their popularity is something that very few acts today would even dream of doing, even if it meant that it would support the grassroots scene that they had previously emerged from.
In 1971, a matter of months before the release of their Led Zeppelin IV album, the band chose to embark on a tour of the UK, which saw them perform at a series of small clubs far beneath the capacity that they were capable of filling out by this point. Aptly named the Thank You tour, the group made a point of serving the fans who had helped elevate them to the highest level by making the tour affordable and charging the same prices for tickets as they had done on their first tour three years earlier.
Massive venues were only just becoming a feature of the British musical landscape, and as a way of combating the extortionate prices that were being charged to see bands perform there, which Led Zeppelin could comfortably have done, they opted to highlight the importance of the smaller venues that had given them the capacity to grow as a band in the first place.
Given how many bands would have formed as a result of hearing Led Zeppelin for the first time, it’s crucial to note how they wanted to foster the community that they had emerged from and ensure that those they had inspired had the same platforms available to them to grow, and if big venues weren’t able to hold such a monopoly on the live music economy in the modern era, then surely this would be beneficial for more acts to repeat today.
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