The only classic rock band Led Zeppelin hated touring

In the 1970s, most bands would have done unspeakable things to get a slot supporting Led Zeppelin. They were the biggest band on the planet, selling out arenas in every city they went to, and touring with rock giants was an opportunity to tap into their huge audiences.

Initially, Jethro Tull was excited when the chance came to support Led Zeppelin. However, things did not go according to plan. At the time, both groups were on the brink of superstardom. Instead of climbing the ranks together and bonding through shared experience, the two bands didn’t bond during the run, as Led Zeppelin made their support act feel out of place.

Before hitting the road together, the groups had a shared history as they were in the same London scene. Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson he was full of admiration for his contemporaries. However, it was not a shared sentiment from Led Zeppelin, who were less than impressed by their tour mates. Drummer John Bonham cruelly called them Jethro Dull backstage and labeled their show “Bore ’em At The Forum”.

Supposedly the main reason Led Zeppelin were unimpressed by their support act was the predictability of their set. Instead of being a rock ‘n’ roll treasure full of surprises, Jethro Tull stuck rigidly to the same setlist every night, even interacting with the crowd in a boringly scripted way during each show.

In Led Zeppelin’s eyes, a rock band should be able to improvise and feed off the energy of the crowd, whereas Jethro Tull planned everything in their set down to the nanosecond. In this sense, the two bands were a stark contrast, and Led Zeppelin believed their bandmates to be the antithesis of rock ‘n’ roll. What’s more, the rock legends weren’t afraid to let their feelings be known to Tull.

During the dates, Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant was particularly hostile to the support act and isolated himself from the band rather than be hospitable. For decades, there have been murmurs of Led Zeppelin’s dislike of Jethro Tull, and in 2020, the band’s frontman Ian Anderson finally spoke up on the matter.

Downplaying the rumours, he said Eon Music: “So when people ask me about my ‘feud’ with Robert Plant, then they can expect a sharp retort, because there was never a fight between me and Robert Plant. It’s one of these absurd things that just seems to come up.”

Anderson later recalled the tournament: “Led Zeppelin was Led Zeppelin; they were rock gods and we were a humble support act. … I rarely spoke, especially with Robert, who was on a higher plane, as a vocalist and as a person. Jimmy Page was a little friendlier, but Bonham, you were a mile away, because he was a madman! He was always quite polite to me, but I probably only saw him in a good mood.

While there may not have been bad blood on his part towards Led Zeppelin, Anderson said he received an apology from Plant, suggesting the feud was real on his part. Frontman Jethro Tull explained: “He said, ‘I hope we can put this behind us,’ and I was like, ‘What? And he said, “Whatever we should argue about,” and I said, “Exactly!” We never had an argument because we didn’t really communicate.”

Although not the most heated rivalry in rock ‘n’ roll history, Led Zeppelin were hostile to Jethro Tull during that tour. However, it seemed to be mainly about them as live performers, rather than actual disdain for them as people. However, the fact that Plant felt compelled to apologize for his actions proves that he believes he was wrong, and that Led Zeppelin could have been kinder to their tour buddies.

Related topics