The idea of a reunion from an inactive band can often be much greater than the reality, as was the case with Led Zeppelin.
Infrequently, it proves impossible to regain the chemistry that once spurred them on to greatness, and instead, they offer an ill-fated tribute to their former selves.
Naturally, when bands take years to reunite, they evolve both as individuals and as musicians. This often means their long-awaited comeback risks falling flat, reminding audiences why the group chose to part ways in the first place. However, it can also be a nostalgia-filled triumph, giving fans the chance to relive their youth and leave the show with mile-wide smiles and cherished memories.
With Led Zeppelin, they didn’t split up because of creative differences or due to a seismic disagreement. They are problems easily resolvable with the benefit of time, but Led Zeppelin had instead suffered something much more significant: the death of drummer John Bonham.
He was the heart and soul of the band; therefore, it wasn’t even on the table for them to continue after his passing. “When we lost John, we agreed unanimously that that was that,” Robert Plant later revealed. “I had to go and find out if I really want to do it. Did I want to do it, or did I just want to sit back there like a croupier at a gambling thing and just kind of rake [the money] in […] I wanted to take all the trappings away, because I’d lost my best mate.”
If it had been up to Plant, Led Zeppelin would have stayed in the past. However, Live Aid in 1985 was a cause that transcended music, and the surviving members of the group agreed to reunite for one night only to help those less fortunate. Nevertheless, one major obstacle was Bonham’s death, which meant they didn’t have a drummer.
For a myriad of reasons, Led Zeppelin were far from a well-oiled machine that evening. In Jimmy Page’s eyes, Collins was at fault for the problematic performance, and he has also accepted a portion of responsibility, but it wasn’t all down to him.
Live Aid was a concert on a previously unseen scale. For the Philadelphia leg of the event, Led Zeppelin was joined by acts such as Bob Dylan, Madonna, Tom Petty, The Beach Boys, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Simultaneously, a show took place at Wembley Stadium in London, which Collins performed before flying to the US to play with Led Zeppelin.
However, Collins wasn’t the only drummer the group had enlisted; Led Zep had also recruited Chic’s Tony Thompson. Although Bonham was irreplaceable, choosing two drummers rather than one was a decision that backfired hugely. In reality, the Genesis member should have never agreed to the project as he was already occupied with the UK show. Rather than trust his gut, he was persuaded by the organisers, who wanted him at both concerts and arranged for a private plane to take him across the Atlantic.
Collins agreed to join Led Zeppelin out of politeness, even though he was wholly underprepared and expected the worst. Furthermore, when he said yes to their invitation, he didn’t realise they would perform as Led Zeppelin and assumed it would be billed as Page and Plant. The short set was riddled with difficulties despite only performing ‘Rock and Roll’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Immediately after they finished playing, Page vented his frustration to MTV, stating, “One drummer was halfway across the Atlantic and didn’t know the stuff.”
Although Collins accepted that he could have performed better, he didn’t enjoy Page scapegoating him with millions watching on television. In Collins’ autobiography, he admitted: “I got pissed off. Maybe I didn’t know it as well as he’d like me to have done, but… I became the flagship, and it looked like I was showing off.”
Page later expressed remorse regarding the reunion during an interview with the Sunday Times in 2021, stating it was “not very clever” to get Led Zeppelin back together. However, his guilt didn’t extend to his comments about Collins, with Page adding, “The drummer couldn’t get the beginning of ‘Rock and Roll’. So we were in real trouble with that.”
The drummer is vital to the harmony of any live band’s sound, as they keep everybody else in check. However, Page could have ensured that they had rehearsed thoroughly with Collins before Philadelphia to avoid such a fate, and the blame should instead have rested on the shoulders of everybody involved.
