Led Zeppelin appeared to lead something of a charmed existence during the early part of their career, enjoying blockbuster success with fans in spite of negative reviews from critics and quickly earning a spot near the top of the rock ‘n’ roll pantheon. But by the mid-’70s, they seemed to be suffering from a curse, as multiple setbacks kept the band from capitalizing on the momentum they’d built.
When singer Robert Plant suddenly lost his five-year-old son Karac to a stomach virus on July 26, 1977, it nearly split Led Zeppelin completely
The Plant family’s terrible tragedy came during what was supposed to be a triumphant American tour for Zeppelin. Two years earlier, the band had been forced off the road for an extended spell when Plant and his wife were involved in a serious car accident while visiting the Greek island of Rhodes. But even if the time off helped Plant recuperate from his injuries, it did nothing to prevent a series of disasters that dogged the tour, starting with Plant picking up a case of laryngitis that forced the group to push its first date back from February to April.
Ticket sales were still strong, but the postponement had a ripple effect. As guitarist Jimmy Page later pointed out, the band’s equipment had already been shipped overseas, complicating any efforts to rehearse. “We didn’t have any instruments for a month,” he later lamented. “All the equipment was shipped over there five days before we were due to go. I didn’t play a guitar for a month. I was terrified at the prospect of the first few shows.”
Once they were finally able to get out in front of fans, the problems continued to pile up. An April 1977 stop in Cincinnati was marred by violence when a group of ticketless fans tried to force their way into Riverfront Coliseum, and a “mini-riot” broke out after their June concert in Tampa ended up being rained out partway through the set. Things got even uglier the following month, when manager Peter Grant led a group – including drummer John Bonham – into the savage beating of a Bill Graham employee following their July 23 performance in Oakland, Calif.
“There was an extraordinary amount of tension at the start of that tour,” a band employee later recalled. “It just got off to a negative start. It was definitely much darker than any Zeppelin tour ever before that time … The kind of people they had around them had deepened into some really criminal types. … They still had their moments of greatness (but) some of the shows were grinding and not very inspired.”
