The Starship returneth

There was this rumor floating around a while back, connected to the rumor that Led Zeppelin would be reuniting and going on a limited tour again. The follow-up rumor was that the person who was holding it all back was Robert Plant (probably true) and that he tore up a £500 million contract for 35 shows in 3 cities (probably, definitely not true).

If you didn’t hear the tour rumors, here’s what it was (and admittedly, it sounds AWESOME): Richard Branson was going to fund a 35 show tour in London, Berlin and New Jersey, but not only that – he was also going to recreate The Starship, fly Zep around, and sell tickets in the back row for £100,000 per seat. I do not find it unbelievable that (1) Richard Branson came up with this idea and (2) Richard Branson has spare jets lying around with which to do this. But I wonder – was he going to really recreate The Starship that Led Zeppelin used during their 1973-1975 tour? Like, really really? Because I can totally see people with too much money paying £100,000 to get on that. And would Zep perform on the flight, or are you paying for the privilege to just laze about with aging rock stars on what is essentially an overdone 1970s set that happens to fly? SO MANY QUESTIONS AND I DON’T KNOW. Rich people are weird.

Of course, it doesn’t matter anyway, because there will be no reunion tour. The rumors were there early last year and Jimmy Page seemed to indicate it might happen, but Plant wasn’t feeling it and both have publicly said at this point that it isn’t happening. So it isn’t happening, folks. Do I still follow Led Zepplin on Songkick just in case? Yes. But I also follow every Zep cover band because that’s the only Zep music I’m gonna see live in the next few years.

Instead, let’s take this moment to relish the astonishing 1970s opulence of The Starship itself, a plane that saw Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper and The Allman Brothers, among many other bands Wikipedia dares not name, lounge upon its delightfully tacky sofas. It had a FIREPLACE, y’all.