Why Led Zeppelin Was Banned in Boston — and How Jimmy Page Was ‘Blissfully Unaware’
It’s hard to believe any city would want to ban Led Zeppelin from performing there. At the height of their powers in the mid-1970s, the band was wildly popular and would draw huge crowds. However, before a concert in Boston, Led Zeppelin drew a massive and rowdy crowd that led to them being banned from the city. Guitarist Jimmy Page remained unaware of the ban for years.
Boston was a favorite city for Led Zeppelin in their early days
Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 and became rock superstars in the UK and the US. The band became incredibly successful by the mid-1970s with six top 10 albums and hit songs like “Stairway to Heaven” and “Immigrant Song.” While on international tours, the band frequently traveled to Boston, performing there nine times in three years.
“Boston was a very important town for Led Zepplin,” said author Stephen Davis, who covered the band’s 1975 tour and wrote two books on the subject (per GBH.org). “They broke out from England in their early days in early 1969 at the Boston Tea Party [club], where they played a series of tumultuous shows. And then in 1969, 1970, 1971 they came back around nine times and they played kind of everywhere.”
Led Zeppelin was banned from the city after a riot broke out
On Jan. 6, 1975, Led Zeppelin was set to perform at the Boston Garden at the height of their popularity. Interest in seeing the legendary band was high, and thousands showed up as tickets went on sale the following day. People began to line up around 5 pm that night, and a riot broke out.
“Pretty soon they were passing bottles of Boons Farm apple wine and Ripple — another kind of wine they had back then — and smoking joints and generally getting rowdy,” Davis said. “The kids broke into the beer concessions and started feeding themselves. And when the next shift came on, they turned the fire hoses on them. Then they turned the fire hoses on Boston Garden, then they started to torch the seats.”
According to GBH, it took until 5 am for the Boston police riot squad to clear the garden, which sustained around $30,000 in damages. Following this event, then Boston mayor Kevin White placed a five-year ban on Led Zeppelin performing in Boston. The ban would never return to the city as the group dissolved in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham.
Jimmy Page was unaware of the ban
On his Instagram page, the Led Zeppelin guitarist shared an image of the crowd outside the Boston Garden in 1975. Page admitted that he was unaware of both the incident and the ban that followed.
“On researching for my website, I discovered that on January 6th, 1975, there had been an incident at the Box Office at Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, that had involved a sale / non-sale of tickets to thousands of fans. Police were called, and it all ended with the scheduled Led Zeppelin show being cancelled by Mayor Kevin H White (who saw red) and, even more, there was apparently a five-year ban put on the band playing the venue. I was blissfully unaware of any of these shenanigans, but the Mayor was, by all accounts, a Rolling Stones fan.”
Page did say he returned to Boston in 1995 to perform at The Fleet Center with former bandmate Robert Plant.
