Robert Plant doesn't want to reunite Led Zeppelin

Virgin Radio

21 Aug 2022, 19:58

Don't hold your breath for that one.

Robert Plant has discussed reuniting the legendary Led Zeppelin.

Yeah, don't get too excited. The 74 year old singer has said doing so wouldn’t “satisfy my need to be stimulated” (oo-er, missus).

Zep split up in 1980 after the untimely death of drummer John Bonham. They have reunited several times, most recently back in 2007, but only for one-off shows.

Plant does often perform songs by his former band in his solo performances. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Plant discussed the process of doing so.

“I know that the full, open-throated falsetto that I was able to concoct in 1968 carried me through until I was tired of it,” he admitted. “Then that sort of exaggerated personality of vocal performance morphed and went somewhere else."

He continued; “But as a matter of fact, I was playing in Reykjavík, in Iceland, about three years ago, just before COVID. It was Midsummer Night and there was a festival, and I got my band and I said, ‘OK, let’s do ‘Immigrant Song’.’ They’d never done it before. We just hit it, and bang - there it was. I thought, ‘Oh, I didn’t think I could still do that.'”

But like we say, don't get excited. A Zeppelin reunion isn't happening any time soon, if ever again.

Last year, Plant described heritage bands who stay together for decades, as “hanging onto a life raft”. Now, when asked about putting together the hard rock pioneers together once more, he said, “Going back to the font to get some kind of massive applause - it doesn’t satisfy my need to be stimulated.”

“Most musicians form a band, then they stay in the band until it’s over – 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, whatever it is – and it starts to look sadly decrepit," he said on the subject last year. "It’s like people hanging onto a life raft, or staying in a comfortable place.”

Plant, much more so than guitarist Jimmy Page, has always been reticent about reforming Zeppelin. His post Zeppelin work has long been highly acclaimed, including his 2021 reunion with singer Alison Krauss.

Something that is happening however, is Scottish and Irish dates for Plant's Saving Grace project with Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone, acoustic guitar), and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic, baritone guitars, cuatro). 

Tickets for those shows are available here.