The Reunion That Wasn’t – Or Why Led Zeppelin Will Never Tour Again

Hello there- below is an excerpt from my book, The Led Zeppelin Curse: Jimmy Page and the Haunted Boleskine House. I thought I’d provide some context as the selection begins with Chapter 7 and most of you will need a few details to follow along.

If you’re a Led Zeppelin fan I’m sure the prospect of a reunion is so very exciting. Zeppelin followers spanning multiple generations would pay top-dollar to see this iconic 70’s super-group play together again. If you’ve been following the years-old online chatter it all reads as very odd. Lot’s of cryptic speculation and green lights then red lights all over the place with this reunion talk and it’s been both heart-breaking and infuriating for fans. So, why is everyone getting jerked around?

This excerpt will give you something to consider. You may or may not believe it and I’m not trying to convince you because attempting to convince anyone of anything is a waste of time. People will believe what they want to believe and true belief stems from direct experience. I write about the occult and paranormal because I’ve experienced it…often. However, I don’t spend valuable time debating the subject; I just share my thoughts and what I’ve gone through with this stuff and people can take it or leave it.

If you’re a skeptic and think the idea of other realities, dimensions and beings is absolute hogwash you might still enjoy this…IF you can suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride. If it helps, think of this as a piece of speculative fiction. There are some Zeppelin fans that go absolutely ballistic when they see my book and I just can’t figure it out. At the very least, Zeppelin’s occult connections are irrefutable so why do they get so pissed off? However, if your gut tells you that there is something to the occult and paranormal, even if you can’t put a finger on it, this will be right up your alley.

Here is a synopsis of the book which will be a useful lead-in…

The legend of The Led Zeppelin Curse emerged in the late 1970’s after multiple accidents, deaths and other bad luck began to plague the band and those close to them. Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page was known for his intense interest in the occult and in particular the notorious magician Aleister Crowley. In the early 70’s Page collaborated with underground filmmaker and fellow Crowley enthusiast Kenneth Anger on his film, Lucifer Rising. The partnership ultimately soured, and Anger sought revenge in the form of a curse. Anger’s Curse of King Midas was intended to turn Jimmy Page into a statue of gold; an impotent miser only capable of amassing a fortune but powerless to create anything new.

Chapter 7- The Reunion That Wasn’t

‘On September 25th, 1980 the original Led Zeppelin was no more. John Bonham had died and the remaining band members said they could not carry on as they were. Since then Robert Plant has gone on to release five original albums and has toured a great deal. John Paul Jones has also had a busy post-Zeppelin life, both performing and working in the studio with other bands. They have moved on which is the ideal scenario after a significant loss. Of course, there will be a mourning period following a tragedy like Bonham’s passing but the healthy, natural thing to do is continue living. Some take longer than others and occasionally there are those that just stop.

They say that an artist’s lifeblood is their creativity and seeing the manifestation of those creative endeavours. Robert Plant and John Paul Jones continued on but did Jimmy Page? No, not really. Yes, some people can’t easily adjust after a sudden void is created in their lives and it’s certainly understandable but was Jimmy Page’s inertia natural?
‘I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, marooned for all eternity!’

Where did that come from? It’s an adapted quote from Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan. I’ve included this because it sounds like something Kenneth Anger might have wanted to say to Jimmy Page over the years as he’s tried to get back on track creatively and also reform Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is Captain Kirk and Kenneth Anger is Khan, the marooned bad boy. As we discussed earlier there are differing opinions regarding what happened with JP’s effort on the Lucifer Rising soundtrack.

Although Anger fired Page I’m sure he felt marooned by JP’s waning interest in a project that was extremely important to him. Some say that a tortured life is far, far worse than the prospect of death. Maybe that was Anger’s plan for Jimmy Page all along; to go on hurting him…a statue of gold, remember?

The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that the Led Zeppelin Curse, whatever its origin may be, didn’t complete its objective on September 25th, 1980 but lives on to torment Jimmy Page. He may be incredibly wealthy and famous but JP has been in purgatory since Zeppelin crashed. He’s been unable to move forward (to any significant degree) creatively and all of his attempts to bring the remaining members of the group back together have sputtered and failed.

Following John Bonham’s death Page went into seclusion, continued his heroin habit and then putted about for years, getting involved in small projects here and there. For someone like Jimmy Page, a music industry veteran, this is decidedly unusual. Yes, he eventually worked on the soundtrack to the movie Death Wish 2 and then there was the modestly successful group, The Firm, but something’s not right there. Once again, a curse does not necessarily have to result in overtly destructive and dramatic events. There can be moderate effects that pick away at a target over time.

Another factor is that curses, or any focused release of energy for that matter, do not necessarily follow a linear, time-constrained path. Once a curse is projected out into the universe it will try to manifest in the physical world regardless of time. For example, a centuries-old hex could circle the target seeking an opening forever; hunting that soul through innumerable life streams. However, the malevolent energy will lose momentum if not regularly fortified by its creator or some sort of proxy like books or the media. Old curses that are regularly discussed, studied, read about, etc. carry on through the attention / mental focus they are given. The internet chatter about Jimmy Page and the Zeppelin Curse is very much akin to an archaeologist repeatedly entering the mummy’s tomb and releasing the noxious mist. Ok; I’m guilty of that too…

Kenneth Anger, for lack of a better word, is an angry person and not one to forget a slight. Many years after the 1976 curse he had gone on record indicating that he hadn’t let go of the Lucifer Rising soundtrack dispute. Anger's salvo of caustic energy seems to have stunted JP’s creative growth and seal him into a permanent stasis of sorts. We'll never know for sure but it’s rather curious, don't you think?

It's common knowledge that Jimmy Page is very keen on a reunion tour. John Paul Jones, ever the passive one, would surely be aboard. However, the self-professed golden god Robert Plant is a rock block, if you will. Ever since Plant's tragedy he's been in the driver's seat when it comes to the direction of the band. He could take it or leave it and has all the control because there’s no way they could do the band’s legacy any justice without all three remaining members involved. Interestingly enough, once Robert Plant distanced himself a bit from Led Zeppelin he cultivated a successful solo career and has been by all accounts very happy. Why?

Plant often gets snippy when journalists ask him about another tour as Zeppelin. It's been estimated that a reunion could bring in over a billion dollars! Plant goes on about how he doesn’t want to be a ‘jukebox’ and that stadium rock on this level is overly commercialized soul-robbing rubbish, etc. Sure, he's got plenty of money and is in a much better position financially than many of the old bands from the 70's and 80's replenishing their bank accounts with nostalgia tours. However, these are not the real reasons he doesn't want to tour as Zeppelin again. And touring specifically as Zeppelin is a very important detail. Why?

There is a telling clue here and it’s related to one of the (many) sputtering almost-reunions the band had. Zeppelin got back together for the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert in Philadelphia. There wasn’t much time to rehearse and it was a decidedly poor performance, but Plant said he was drunk on it all and missed the rush of singing in front of a huge audience. It was such a feeling that they soon began rehearsing again but it all started falling apart after a couple of weeks as tension among them grew and they began to get on each other’s nerves.

Then it happened. Their stand-in drummer Tony Thompson (formerly of the band Chic) was involved in a minor car accident while being driven home from the pub one night. Apparently, this was seen as an omen by Plant. Remember of course that his 1975 car crash was the unofficial inception point of the Led Zeppelin Curse.

After Thompson’s fender-bender Plant began to question the whole endeavor saying that nobody wanted to hear that old stuff again, etc. However, this completely contradicted the general consensus that, in fact, everyone wanted to see Zeppelin get back together. That particular failed reunion attempt is key because Plant’s apprehension, specifically triggered by a car accident, was indicative that he knew something was stalking Zeppelin. That little spurt of bad luck brought him back in time, back to the heavy fog that enveloped the band and took Zeppelin down. Plant was spooked, and the reunion was scrapped.

I think that playing the old music together for any longer than a single engagement scares Plant and for good reason. He’s done one-off performances for worthy causes (such as the aforementioned Live Aid concert) or for special occasions like tributes, etc. but has either refused to do a full-on reunion tour or when one was in the works it fell apart when he balked. I think he misses performing as Zeppelin but doesn’t want to pull that dark pocket of time forward into the now and I don’t blame him.

I won’t go into the specifics of brief Zeppelin reformations and reunion tour chatter that never amounted to anything because it’s all over the internet. In fact, it’s torturous for die-hard fans because there’s so much ‘yes its happening, not it’s not’ talk out there that you wonder if the Curse itself is behind all of this. It’s such a tease and always ends up in a let-down which just rubs salt into the wound.

Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones don't need the money and it’s obvious they want to have fun and relive the 70's; play their old music and maybe some new stuff and just have a blast. Not Plant though and from the public’s perspective he appears to be an old stick in the mud about it. However, to be fair, there's some scary stuff he'd rather not reconstitute.
Some scabs you just shouldn’t pick at. We’ll never know the full story but I can assure you that the thing he won't risk awakening, even for a billion dollar payday, is pretty intense. Jimmy Page on the other hand is willing to open Pandora's Box. This is because whatever has gotten its hooks into him is making life more uncomfortable now than what he remembers from the late 70’s. He’ll gladly take that risk to experience the old rush and get some relief from the ache of the curse.

So, the reunion rumors continue and occasionally Plant and Page get snitty with each other via the media over whether or not they’ll get back together. In my opinion this is (at least in part) due to the Curse emerging from its lair and tearing yet another chunk of flesh off the carcass that is Led Zeppelin. Kenneth Anger, at the time of this writing still ticking along at ninety, is watching from afar as the curse creature does his bidding. Ok; maybe a bit dramatic but as I mentioned earlier, levity keeps the demonic at bay and this is pretty creepy stuff when you really think about it. So, who or what is ultimately responsible for the reunion that wasn’t?’

If you enjoyed this please check out the book on Amazon (Kindle & paperback) and also my website:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075HF6XQ8

https://www.lancegilbert.net/