In a candid interview, Robert Plant recalls Led Zeppelin’s chaotic concerts and how “It could be extraordinarily good or on the other hand perhaps not quite so magnificent.” Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin performs onstage circa 1980. (Photo by Lester Cohen) (Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images)
Lester Cohen
Robert Plant isn’t shy about acknowledging the chaos that sometimes came with fronting one of the most mythologized rock bands of all time. In a recent interview with Mark Radcliffe on The Folk Show on BBC Radio 2, the former Led Zeppelin frontman described the group’s live performances in starkly human terms – and as far from the flawless rock gods many fans remember.
“Sometimes it Was Quite the Opposite…”
“Sometimes, as you quite rightly say, it was very, very tight and it was magnificent,” Plant told Radcliffe during the recent chat. “Sometimes it was quite the opposite…”
The rock superstar went on to say that he felt “the great thing about that group” is that it “was like the weather.” Plant added, “It could be extraordinarily good or on the other hand perhaps not quite so magnificent. It wasn’t sent down from the gods every day, every week.”
Debut Single “Good Times, Bad Times”
That honesty came as Plant reflected on what it was like to front Zeppelin in the band’s early days. “I’d been what I call at the sharp end in these power trios with somebody glued on the front,” he said. “Which is how I quite often saw Zeppelin.”
Plant reminded listeners that he was barely out of his teens when he and John Bonham helped pen “Good Times, Bad Times,” the band’s debut single, which introduced the group’s self-titled debut album Led Zeppelin, released in early 1969. “My contribution was what it was,” Plant said. “You think about it — the first songs we wrote, John Bonham and I, we were 20 years old when ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ was conceived.”
Led Zeppelin’s Rise and Fall
The band would go on to define hard rock in the 1970s and change what could be considered commercially successful. The group released eight studio albums together, but in 1980, following Bonham’s death, Led Zeppelin disbanded. The group has reunited only sporadically since then, including notably for the 2007 Celebration Day concert in London, but a full reunion never materialized.
Becoming Led Zeppelin
In 2025, the band’s story hit the big screen in theaters everywhere via Becoming Led Zeppelin, a concert film and documentary that charts the band’s rise through rare footage, archival interviews, and performances. Released globally, the film was well-received by critics and fans and earned strong box office numbers for a music doc.