Why Seeing Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin in Concert Was ‘Exquisite Torture’ for Another Rock Legend
Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin in the back half of 1968. He helped the band release two albums in 1969 that ushered in the era of hard rock. They wrote transcendent songs that helped them earn $2 million paychecks decades later, but seeing Led Zeppelin perform in concert was “exquisite torture” for Queen guitarist Brian May.
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page influenced Queen’s Brian May
Hearing Led Zeppelin inspired Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath to change their sound. You can chalk up the change to Page since he was the primary songwriter. Zep’s six-string maestro also influenced Queen guitarist Brian May.
May and his Queen bandmates studied impressive professions before deciding on music careers, but in a 2020 Total Guitar interview, the guitarist said Page was a musical influence from a young age.
“He’s almost my generation but a little bit older, and we went to the same primary school, although he was, I think, two or three years above me,” May said. “That’s a lot when you’re small. So I always looked up to him, I gotta say, because he’s kind of a local boy to me.”
May also called Page a “master of invention” (maybe he loved the riff that Page said took people out of their comfort zone). Still, the Queen guitarist also said seeing Led Zeppelin in concert was torture.
Why May said seeing Led Zeppelin perform live was ‘exquisite torture’
May said in the Total Guitar interview that Page’s playing and songwriting in Led Zeppelin defined heavy rock. Queen’s six-string wiz also said he never gets tired of listening to Zep’s music.
So it might sound odd that May, who was inspired by Page and admired his ingenuity, said seeing Led Zeppelin perform live was “exquisite torture.” Yet he provided his reasons to BBC Radio 2 (via Far Out):
“So, in 1969, Led Zeppelin released ‘Led Zeppelin I’ and ‘Led Zeppelin II.’ They played five shows at the Lyceum Ballroom in London in October 1969. I was there with Rog [Queen drummer Roger Taylor]. Seeing Zeppelin, for us, was kind of exquisite torture because they were what we wanted to be.”
Brian May describes why seeing Led Zeppelin was like torture
May felt it was torture seeing Zeppelin’s success in concert since he didn’t know when (or if) his time in the spotlight would arrive. As it turns out, May’s wait wasn’t very long. Queen debuted in 1973, and they certainly came close to reaching the heights Page and Led Zeppelin achieved.
Zep established themselves as excellent showmen in concert. They began their career touring almost nonstop. Zep added lighting effects and elaborate outfits when their audience (and the size of the venues they played) grew.
Like Led Zeppelin, Queen included an excellent guitarist (May) and a charismatic frontman (Freddie Mercury). May and Queen also came close to racing Led Zeppelin-level heights in concert. Mercury revving up the crowd, May getting the most out of his guitar, and the elaborate lighting evoked Led Zeppelin. While Zep had a memorable Madison Square Garden residency in 1973, Queen put on one of the greatest shows ever when they played Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985.
Queen employed Zep singer Robert Plant for a 1992 show
Led Zeppelin almost never performed on TV, but they weren’t nearly as stingy with their live shows. They welcomed guest performers on a few occasions (including seeing a member of The Rolling Stones crashing one concert). Zep spread the generosity in the other direction, too.
During a July 1992 AIDS benefit concert in Mercury’s honor, the surviving members of Queen relied on several singers to fill his shoes. One of them was Plant, but as Mental Floss writes, his ramshackle performance couldn’t come close to what George Michael, Elton John, Seal, and Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott did behind the mic.
Plant might not have come close to matching Mercury in 1992, but Queen came close to achieving the same heights as Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin, even though May endured exquisite torture on the way.
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