Not Phil Collins' Fault: The Story of Led Zeppelin 's 1985 Live Aid Reunion 

OMG. What an intense episode. We’ll done Jose. Edge of my seat the whole time. Totally glued to my seat. So good! ❤

Jimmy Page once said "John Paul Jones is the real musical genius of Led Zeppelin " I agree. He did all the arrangements. His versatility is a plus.

I was there, and I can say without question, those in attendance felt a tremendous sense of joy, gratitude, and privilege to hear Zep reunite for the first time. People can crap all over the performance if they chose...my memory of the day was great satisfaction for the moment.

I actually was there. 9 rows back. It was amazing. The crowd was mesmerized by the chance to see Zep. Nothing else matters. No one at the show was criticizing Zeppelin's performance that day. The only disappointment was that they didn't play longer.

Jonesy has a really great dry sense of humor. I’d love a series of interviews from him where he just talks about music that he likes and gets into the mechanics of it

Robert Plant really was like something out of Spinal Tap in the 80's. Imagine seeing Robert Plant live on tour and him singing Jerry Lee Lewis numbers.....You'd think you'd entered a weird parallel universe or something....

Can’t wait for this one. I was at Live Aid in Philadelphia. The crowd of 100,000 were there to see the Led Zeppelin reunion. It didn’t matter if they were under rehearsed. Everyone was happy to see them together performing Led Zeppelin songs. This was their first show in the USA in 8 years. In those 8 years there was a lot of heartbreak for this band. This was a joyous occasion.

This is a masterwork of research. You have given audiences that watched the Page-Plant-Jones set a new perspective of what happened. I have to add that Live-Aid, especially the "Led Zeppelin Reunion," changed my life. The warts in the performance didn't matter. I was hooked from that day on to Zeppelin and rock music.

I was 16 when Led Zep took the stage at Live Aid and I loved every second it, I thought it was the highlight of the day and still do. The heck with the critics! Live Rock and Roll doesn't need to be perfect it just needs to be loud and raise you out of your seat and make you scream. Mission accomplished!

Love the way Page rolls his eyes when Plant says I have my own career....yeah well if your first career had not happened there would not have been a second.

Excellent video. Who's idea was it that Led Zep needed two drummers ? Collins is no Bonham, but he could have pulled off well enough for a 20 minute set. Having two drummers playing unrehearsed is a recipe for a trainwreck.

I had no idea there was another drummer playing during this infamous set.. A bizarre and ultimately disastrous decision indeed. Amazing work throughout this series, sir. ❤

Great video! I was at Live Aid in Philly...what a day/night. Hot as shit...they would once in a while spray a little firehose shower. We were pretty far up front...I can see my friends and I a few times in the clips that are available on RU-vid. Anyway, Zep sounded soooo bad to us in the crowd. Aside from the inconsistent drums, it simply sounded bad...could barely tell what song they were playing. But regardless, we went crazy...we got to see a little bit of history that day and treasure the memory.

When page rolls his eyes at plants “I have my own career” comment. 😂😂

They made up for this debacle with the 2007 O2 concert Celebration Day. That concert they were AMAZING!

In Collin’s autobiography he explains that Plant and him were friends, and Plant had invited him to be the drummer for a Live Aid thing with him and Page. He had agreed and that was supposed to be that. But between then and the show it became a Zeppelin reunion and they had hired a drummer already and rehearsed for a week. When Plant eventually told him, Collins wanted to pull out, but Plant said they could do it with two drummers. Before the show Collins told Thompson they should watch each other and not overplay. But Thompson was not interested, seeing this (rightly) as a huge opportunity for him. So it was kind of Plant’s fault if we are to believe Collins.

I was a teenager in 1985. It's hard to convey how big an event Live Aid was. So many of the biggest names in music, all-day concerts from two continents, watched live by the world. Nothing like that has been undertaken since.

the fact that many rock musicians have been dismissing and hating on Phil Collins before and after this event was just sad. The guy was inarguably a versatile, musically generous and collaborative and...aside from MJ and Prince and Madonna, he pratically RULED the 80s music.

Led Zeppelin is in my DNA. I was lucky enough to see them opening night at Madison Square Garden, 6/7/77. I could not wait for the 1980 tour until Bonham died- on my 17th birthday- September 25. I was desperate to see Zeppelin again and I was fortunate enough to be in JFK Stadium that day for Live Aid. What a day!!! Counting down the time until the Zeppelin reunion. This was before the internet, etc, so we had no idea exactly when they were going to be on stage. When Collins announced Plant, Page, Jones, etc i jumped up and down on the fiberglass bench i had been sitting on since 8AM that morning i was so excited- until i heard a "CRACK" below my feet!! I spent so much energy when they were on stage after it was over i went back into walkway area with a jug of water and just sat on the floor for about 40 minutes, occasionally peaking my head out to see what was happening on stage. Live Aid was over for me. Yeh- the performance was not so great looking back afterwards but the anticipation in the days leading up and the absolute explosion of joy when they took the stage was unparalleled

Excellent analysis. I clicked on this and couldn't stop watching until the end.

Fun fact: When Jimmy Page played with the Beach Boys in Washington DC, they had a stand-in drummer. That drummer? JOHN STAMOS.

As a 13 year old Led Zeppelin fanatic I watched this on tv and I thought it was great I think I was going as crazy in my tv room as everyone was at JFK! I was at the show on the 23rd in New Jersey when Jimmy Page came out as a special guest. The place went nuts no Zeppelin songs but they were wearing the same outfits they had on at Live Aid. Robert Plant did start playing Zeppelin songs during his solo shows until 1988. I was there again in NJ and it was incredible. The first song he played was “ In The Evening” and the crowd was singing so loud you could barley hear him.

I was there in the Audience on the grass in front of the stage, 17 years old with my younger brother 14 and my buddy 17. We weren't old enough to have seen them as Led Zeppelin. I would have seen them if they toured in 1980-81 I had just started going to concerts at that time. They were the reason I bought tickets from a scalper at $80 a piece for general admission. I didn't really care who else was going to be there at the time. Looking back, just about everybody who was anybody was there that day, they even showed some of the Wembley performances on a big diamond board screen. What a show, it lasted so long and we left from South New Jersey, in the early morning hours, ran out of gas in the pine barrens, pitch black, totally unprepared, no cell phone's, had to knock on someone's door in the middle of nowhere at night and got a ride back to my dad's house where we came back with a gas can and we were off again! It was incredibly hot on the lawn and they were hosing us down with fire hoses. When the show was over, we were exhausted. We got back to my buddie's car and my brother and friend instantly fell asleep. I was going to drive home, even though I didn't have a driver's license yet. I caught myself falling asleep on the highway late at night and just pulled into a parking lot somewhere and we all woke up the next morning, and drove back home.

Fantastic episode it brings back so many memories. I was in my junior year in high school at Lake Braddock in Burke, Va. in 1985. Led Zeppelin was my everything. My friends and I were at a lot of the shows in this video. We were front row for the Firm. The best place to get concert tix was a Ticket Master in Crystal City and we camped out. Seeing Jimmie Page in a green laser pyramid with his bow playing Dazed and Confused was epic! That same summer the Beach Boys played on the Mall in DC. John Stamos was still on General Hospital and loved the BB and he was on a 2nd drum kit. Jimmie Page was an odd addition but the crowd went wild. I dropped a tab of acid early in the day and lost my group and wandered the tents on the mall with small acts performing. The first one had to old black bluesmen from Philadelphia. I would swear they were the same to old guys from opening of Dave Chapel’s show years later. Live Aid was one of the greatest memories I have. Madonna had her old nudes in Penthouse and was fully clothed in July heat and joked we had seen enough of her that week 🤣 Black Sabbath reunited with Ozzy, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner w/ Hall & Oates singing back up. I started working my way onto the floor when Thompson Twins were performing and slowly worked my way through the crowd. Some were a little perturbed by me cutting in front of them and when the bigger/scarier of them would say something I told them my girlfriend was upfront and I would spark a bowl and share and continue on. By the time Zeppelin came out I was 20 feet from center stage. Amazing performance. The crowd was on fire! Your documentation of the show was spot on! Your recollection of past performances each band member tapped into jived with my memories of that show. And as someone who was there The drumming was awesome. To be in the presence of those three legends after the abrupt end of the maestro John Bonham was pure joy. We also had 15th row for Robert Plant tour July 31st at the Capital Center. Amazing year and you did it justice. I am smiling ear to ear and had chills remembering that great year. An additional concert that year was Tina Turner “What’s Love Got to do With It?” we were two rows off the floor touching the stage, awesome!

This is one of the oddest and I might say coolest independent music history film documentaries I’ve ever seen. Great work 🙌

Phil Collins is the man who can connect with everyone!

One of the greatest years of my life. Graduated HS and started college back when a day was like a month now. Nobody ever told me each one goes by faster. Or in your 50s everyone you love will disappear so quick until your alone. Beats the alternative, but everything does. Does it not? Great inside story of a very memorable time.

I am the absolute biggest fan of Jimmy Page. He seems very together for the last 20 years. I admire him and am very impressed he got his life together post 80’s. But there was a phase there, where I was very worried about him. And, from all my experience with interviews and reflections he’s had, have I ever heard him admit that he was not handling his presentation well during the 80s and till mid 90s. I’m not going to assume what was going on with him, lord knows life happens and you just have to ride the wave out sometimes… But Jimmy Page likes to focus on the technical and business oriented reasons performance didn’t work along the way. He is a very private person and won’t come out and say what was going on with him… Who knows really? We can speculate it was substances, but It might have been health issues… I’m not going to act like I know, because life gets messy. I am just very happy he is well now. I disagree with Phil Collins ‘bad Karma’ Zep talk. Being a musician, I can tell you from my own experience, some bands are very ‘sheet music’, tightly rehearsed machines that you can turn on and off. These tight bands always sound tight and are trustworthy etc. ; Very easy to control if all the parts are working. Zep was a wild animal! It was a bucking bronco you had to either ride out or fall off. Zep played bad a million times, but they also played great a million times. It was the nature of the beast. Zep and the Beatles are probably the two biggest bands and ironically both bands, when in tact became something much greater than their individual parts. The proof is in all the solo recording post break ups. It’s a kind of magic you only find once in a lifetime. It’s really that simple. Once you try to re-create it, that’s where the trouble begins.

Great job on this I actually felt like i was back in 1985. I was 18 years old then and me and a few buddies were at a bbq party and we watched Live Aid that day from the afternoon on while drinking. I actually lived only an hour away from Philadelphia. I was a pretty big Zeppelin fan and was very familiar with TSRTS soundtrack and had watched TSRTS on VHS tape the year before in 1984 which i think was the year it came out on VHS because we rented it a few times from the local video store at high school parties. I thought TSRTS was the greatest live album i ever heard and was blown away by the movie. So we waited intently with great anticipation for the Zeppelin reunion on TV while drinking at the party. When they finally came on at around 8pm it was an incredible moment. However, When they started playing i remember actually feeling let down and the reason was because i was kind of expecting them to play as good or near as good as TSRTS but to me it seemed as if Jimmy was very rusty, it looked like he was trying to play like 1973 but was just out of practice. Plant's voice was hoarse. JPJ still looked cool like he always does. I didn't really notice any flaws in the drumming, I didn't really critique the drumming, the only thing i knew was that it wasn't Bonham and so the drums to me were no where near what they would've been with Bonzo so i wasn't too critical of Collins and Thompson. I remember a guy at the party who was older than me was loving every minute of the performance. I told him i didn't think it was all that good and i remember him telling me that who cares if they're not as good as they were before, he said what you are watching is a historical moment , it's an incredible thing that we're getting to see this so enjoy it. Looking back now that time in 1985 and all the great music and fun and enjoyment i had growing up and discovering Led Zeppelin was an incredible time in my life. It was an amazing time and Led Zeppelin were the greatest band i had ever heard. Not only great but they were mysterious and powerful. A source of inspiration from which i grew to be a better person in everything in life. I knew it even then. Thank you for sharing this. It's so very cool. 👍

Probably the best recounting and analysis of this performance I’ve ever seen or read. Kudos!

It TRULY WAS IMPRESSIVE, what Phil Collins did in that 24 hour period!

Just to add to what you said about Phil being the hardest worker of the 80s. While I'm sure he probably slept a little bit on the plane, being up for about 24+ hours and travelling to play at 2 shows on either side of the world on the same day took serious bottle. Instead of blaming him for the set, people should instead remember he was the only artist that day who played at both shows.

When they came on I called and pledged my $10 or $15 donation. Looking back the set may have left something to be desired but at that moment absolutely nobody cared. Just seeing them together for the first time since Bonham's death was overwhelming for us millions of Zep fans. It was a HUGE HUGE deal and the tightness of the band mattered little.

This is wonderful in depth look at the situation around that time. Thank you for all the work you have done here. Such an enjoyable watch Mr JCM. Consider yourself subscribed!

Thanks for this video! The thing that so interesting is that if you just watched Plant, you wouldn’t even realize it wasn’t a great set. He really knows the power of television.

What a top shelf video, mate. Happily subscribed

My favorite part of Zep at Live Aid was Mark Goodman from MTV talking over the Rock and Roll drum intro... "I'm not going to give away the *whole* set, but that's Rock and Roll and THEY'RE DOING STAIRWAY!!!"

You gave an excellent musical breakdown of what happened that day. It was no one’s fault. I’m going to give Tony Thompson the benefit of the doubt and say he was probably just over excited. Phil was and is a professional and he was there to support his friend. A really great video!

Once again, brilliantly done!!! Much thanks 🔥🔥🔥🔥❤️

Excellent analysis once again Jose. I enjoyed this one quite a lot. Like with any massive event, I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when this all unfolded. 1985 was my first big rock concert which was RP Shaken n Stirred tour, Worcester Centrum. I clearly remember the build-up to the Live Aid set. It was long but finally they took the stage…and I still feel the same way today about than I did that day: happy but bummed out a little. I suppose I’m no different than millions of others on that. Hey, at least they did it. Their music was so toxic and addictive that even they themselves couldn’t believe when it all hatched in 1968. The ensemble that was LZ was unique as a thumbprint and simply never to be replicated - not even by them. Just like you’ve said: the remaining members are in competition with none other than…themselves! That’s one tall order - perhaps the tallest ever. Thank you Jose for your efforts. I really enjoy them!

I hope at least we can all agree Queen killed it at Live Aid 👑

It's nice to hear Robert, talking about watching Jimmy's gig with the firm, he always seems like such a lovely bloke, good taste in records too

Fabulous Presentation - Thanks !!! !!!

Thank you for posting your video. Really detailed and well worth watching.

Great episode! Watched right before I do a zep cover gig.. makes me excited to play and play better! Tony and Phil are both bad ass drummers! Sounded like Phil didn’t know he was going to play with Tony? Wow… interesting! Regardless; that a very heavy amount of pressure; playing drums at a “Zeppelin reunion” .. in front of a packed stadium … and broadcast around the world .. with basically no proper rehearsal! And …. You are filling in for John Bonham! Come on, these are factors that can easily get the best of anyone! Most have not clue what that pressure is like even if you are a top drummer or a top drummer who also happens to be a top songwriter/ singer solo artist! They all should have acquiesced to how much pressure was on them all and put a little more time into prep, rehearsal, schedule juggling and balancing etc.. but it’s 20 minutes compared the 1000’s of hours of amazing performances they all have given us ! 👍🏼

I had backstage passes to this show in Philly in 1985. There were a number of mistakes not just in Led Zeppelin's part of the show, but also a number of others as well. Believe it or not, that best SOUND of any artists were Duran Duran and the reason was very simple. They used a layer of backing tracks on top of playing live (no other band did that at the time at Live Aid) and they actually sounded like their studio recordings, which was flawless.

Great video---I was at the Brendan Byrne show where Page played with Plant---awesome show, Brian Setzer SMOKED during the Honeydrippers portion of the show, Anyway, the crazy thing was me and my buddy knew Page was there the whole time, cause he literally watched the show from the side of the stage in a folding chair and even though he had his back to us, we knew damn well who it was---great video---also recall seeing the firm in April 1985, awesome job really enjoyed the video and congrats to your parents!!

Fantastic video. You did a great job!

It’s an absolute tragedy to play in the air tonight and not have the drum fill.

I’ve binge watched this whole series,the work that’s gone into this is amazing. You’re also a great guitarist and live aid was on my birthday July 13th

Great video by the way. Good story line, investigation and video clips. I bet it was tough to dig up all this "rare" material.

I love your guitar and bass work my friend. Another stellar video

Freddie and Queen still had the most iconic performance this day.

Live Aid overall, both UK and USA was full of live mistakes/adaptations, but that was part of the charm as far as I was concerned. Why should Led Zeppelin with their complicated, sophisticated music be any different. At the time I didn't notice anything other than they were together again and they were incredible, they just have that special something. It was live, it was human, it was spectacular.

This video was well researched and put together, thank you for doing this video.

I LOVE it! Thank you very much!!

It would have been tough for Phil Collins to fly to the UK after a massive stadium gig and then play his own show , but he had to fly over and be the first guy to play drums for Led zeppelin in public after John Bonham died. And do it in Wembley Stadium for a concert that is being simulcast across the globe. No pressure at all , Phil 🔥I would have loved to see Tony Thompson do it by himself personally because his style is more funky and hard hitting . Phil is a really interesting drummer who is versatile as hell . But Tony's style fit Zeppelin better .

Having two drummers just seems like a bad idea.

Excellent video. Wow 🤩 I can see you done a lot more Zep vids too. Subbed 100%

This was very well done. Impressive research and non biased reporting

Phil's said, before getting the gig with Genesis, he'd follow Zeppelin around scoping out and learning Bonham's kick pedal technique, and has always credited him, along with Buddy Rich, Ringo, and Keith Moon, as being his biggest drum heroes. Bonham, apparently, didn't listen to much Genesis until Duke came out. but really liked that record. Both were amazing "feel" drummers, and both very musical. Phil's drumming on Plant's first two albums wasn't his only contribution to Plant's solo career. He gave Plant a lot of confidence in the studio, and helped him craft songs with his arrangement ability.

6:17 JPJ is an amazing bluegrass mandolinist, I love his mandolin playing

Very good documentary. Thank you for this upload.

Another great video. I truly love your perspective and retrospective of Zep and 80's rock after the unfortunate passing of Bonzo.

I love the deeply sinister tone of this documentary.... it's like he's investigating the JFK assassination or something...It is brilliantly overblown.

That's the most amazingly detailed pull down of Led Zeppelin's greatest train wreck at Live Aid. Plant, Page, Collins know they haven't done their best. Plant blames the fold back & Jimmy looks totally wasted. Just crazy how Plant has Mick Jagger syndrome desperate to push his own solo tour as if Zep never reformed. It took Coverdale / Page to shake Plant back to reality.

Very interesting video, thank you! 😀👍 Living in Germany at that time and because of the time difference, I didn't watch many of the Philadelphia gigs, and the Led Zep' reunion was among the ones I _didn't_ get to see. I _still_ haven't watched the whole thing, for some reason, but I've heard sooo many negative things about it over the years, as if everyone's been ignoring anything positive on purpose! Phil says "I've had a great time!", but in truth he didn't really, because (according to his bio) he could feel from Tony that he was seen more like a rival by the latter and wanted this to be only his _own_ great moment as Led Zep's drummer. Hence there wasn't any team work between the two drummers, also resulting in those moments when Phil stopped playing altogether. And yes, Phil's kit definitely was much lower in the sound mix than Tony's, too!

Very, very well put together. 🙂

I saw Jaco Pastoris in The Blue Note jazz club from about 7' from the stage in the mid/late 1980's....I can't even imagine adding his greatness to Jimmy's in a live show. Amazing.

Page never turned off the flanger because he wanted to sound like Mike Rutherford on “Follow you follow me.”

What a memory trip. I caught both the Firm and Plant at the Byrne in NJ. This was the first time I'd heard anything from that plant show. I remember the "Any requests?" tease. Scott Muni, from WNEW in NYC opened teasing special guests. They closed with a Honeydrippers set with Paul Schaeffer, Brian Seltzer and Page

DuuuUUUde ! really good job covering this period..u always make good video's..I have an older sister 10 years older than me..& was married 10 5 1985..a week before your parents..happy anniversary 2 your parents..I'm sure ..their cool...🌠

Saw this live at the time.(on TV) To me it felt rough but I knew it was thrown together last minuite and didnt expect perfection It was just fun to see them together again and the crowd certainly popped for them. It's been built up into this big disaster that at the time it didn't feel like to me. We called Phil Collins Intercontinental Phil after this 😅

33:42 - some things can be overanalysed. Many an audience member now know how a gig can be lessened by constantly photographing OR videoing it, and holding an annoying phone up etc & basically relying on technology to interpret the event for you AFTER the event instead of experiencing it DURING the event for oneself. Somethings just have to be experienced “in the moment“ I witnessed LIVE AID like most: from in front of the TV and it has to be remembered/appreciated as a moment in time, and with that in mind, no one complained about the performance and everyone was just happy about The event. A similar thing happened with the Rolling Stones and their withholding of rock ‘n’ roll Circus. There was no real problems with that performance, either because, NOW, it was what it was because THEN it is what it is at the time

You do some very impressive research! I've been a huge fan of Zep and their post-Zep careers for 30+ years, and yet I learn new things from many of your videos. Never knew that Collins discussed the reunion and setlist before they went on stage. Great stuff!

Holy shit, that two-hand tapping was so fast, clean & even that I thought that was an analogue synth sequencer line until you started that descending line and cut to the guitar in-shot... is that you playing!?! Nice stuff :)

"We Are The World" is such a ghastly tune.

You can tell from the post-debacle interview that Plant's ego was what kept Zep from continuing. Just think of the shows they could have made for decades.

My biggest memory of their performance was the awkward way they almost immediately killed the vibe by leaving the stage and randomly having Mark Goodman corner Ben Orr of the Cars (of all people) right afterward to get his reaction. In a tough spot he grimaced, "Awesome. Simply Awesome."

This group of vids are a treasure! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together for everyone!!!

I don't know where you get your rare Zep videos, and don't tell. Those Plant Honeydrippers and Page XYZ clips are amazing. I'm referring to the whole series. Absolutely no-one has covered the 80's Zeppelin story the way you have. Don't leave out Peter Grant. He basically lost it after Zeppelin's demise, and that deserves much coverage.

For years Jimmy blamed Phil Collins but the truth is that Jimmy was loaded, nervous and sloppy. Can't wait to see your take on this..

I saw this Led Zeppelin Reunion at the Live Aid here on RU-vid, I really like it.

July 13, 1985, living in Beaufort SC, I watched Page, Plant & JPJ play Live Aide in my hometown of Philly. Unable to get tickets for the 1977 MSG shows, holding tickets for the 1980 Philly show and hearing that Bonzo died, the Live Aide show was a big deal. Until then TSRTS was all we had.

My favorite part of this were the Phil Collins observations at the end. Made me admire Phil , someone I've never paid much attention to...by choice!

Great video as always, thanks mate ✌️☺️ That's the reason why led zeppelin broke up? Probably not far wrong. I always thought the problem with live aid was the 2 drummers trying to replace bonzo. The issue with that is, no can replace him in my opinion.

I remember the day so well, and the “would they, wouldn’t they?“ do it question. When Phil Collins introduced them it was so surreal. I was sitting in my living room watching TV somewhere around 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon. And Led Zeppelin casually take to the stage. Only JCM could put it all into such wonderful context weaving the drama while beautifully framing this landmark performance. Sure the music didn’t quite live up to it but did I care? Nah, I was watching Led Zeppelin live on television, six years after Knebworth, the second and final time I would hear them and watch them really live. This story had to be told and you did such a great job as usual Jose.

Have you ever played a gig with no rehearsal? With no rehearsal and 2 drummers? Didn't think so.

Wild to see all those stars in the 80s all together in one setting. Never thought I would see ozzy standing next to plant.

Thank you for posting this. I was glued to MTV that day and the EC, Phil Collins, Led Zep run of performers was the highlight for me. Yes they were sloppy and rusty but I was just grateful for anything from Led Zeppelin again. Most don't ever mention that the Eric Clapton set was incredible and Phil was great just 15 minutes before Zeppelin came on, IMO.

Great rock-music history lesson! I am impressed by the research it must have taken to gather all the info! Kudos!

This is awesome. Great job!

It was a memorable moment. On that day everyone thought it was a GREAT performance. Blaming and bad words came later. PC and RP knew each other well and Plant wanted him to be on stage. Page probably didn't, PC was already considered a "top gunner" amongst drummers and was going to fill up the place of one of the very few drummers that was greater than him. It wouldn't be the first time that Plant would have ask to remove his performancese from a similar event anyway. He did the same with his partecipation at the Freddie Mercury tribute.

JCM you're a great guitarist. Big fan of yours, keep up the cool work

I watched the Live Aid performance on TV in the UK in the early hours of the night - and although the sight of them back together again on stage was incredibly exciting, it became quickly clear something was wrong musically. If only they'd rehearsed! All these years later, I still find it pretty much unwatchable. Brilliant documentary. Thanks.

Well done Sir! I enjoyed another good episode and waiting for more.. I was a teenager when I saw it live on tv and also recorded it on my VHR box , . I totally think that Phil might of put a lot on his plate for doing the drumming , but like he said , he is only human and he's still one of the greats of 80's if you want to compare all those guys solo career.. You brought up some good points , Mr. Thompson was trying to show up Phil to maybe further the career( but he was already a pro and great style) I'm sure pocket wise he might thought (smart man). What I remember that day, Page is one of the great musicians whoever lived but, he is horrible playing live at times and you can tell he was wasted ,and dancing goofy and very laughable at times. I also think was probably jealous of Collins's and Plant's history together. They all played a part in it but I'm sure Page doesn't want ppl to remember how bad he looked that day and could blame Phil Collins. Back stage , Plant doesn't want to blame page , because he still gets paid for Led Zepp's back royalties. Phil Collins is having health issues right now and hope he lives his life in peace, wishing him the best ! Long live Collins!

Just got through watching 02 again yesterday. I think they more than redeemed themselves there. I hope you cover that in another series. Cheers!

Thank you for detailed review of Live Aid gig. "Bonham was the engine that kept Led Zeppelin running" - enough said. In their defence, JPJ was also right when he said "The feeling was there". For me, for the last time.

As always, spectacular work on this documentary JCM, hat's off to you sir. @42:33, Robert Plan't full ego and wankery are on display here.The faces that Jones and Page when he's talking is the full telling. It's funny back in the early 80's when I was listening to all Led Zep's stuff without any video reference, makes me wish that in modern times I had not had the visuals like these to ruin the anominity of the characters in the band, especially Plant. They made the right decision to end it when they did. These performances prove that point, and I don't think so much that it was because they "wouldn't" do it without Bonzo, they probably knew they couldn't especially with one particular ego as seen here. Keep up the good work JCM, look forward to the next one.

Another brilliant episode. I remember watching the Live Aid performance and I was excited just to see them on the stage. Clearly, the people there wanted to pay homage to Zep no matter how they sounded. Yet, the performance was par for course and resulted in a perfect storm of disappointment. Out of all the performers, I blame Page the most. His demons were still having a go with him. The dismal performances of some of his late 70s shows followed him to Philly. Yes, we can bash Tony Thompson (RIP) for not doing his homework, but he was only one piece of this horrific puzzle. Plant seemed to play through this as some of his improv shows he performed at clubs back in the early 80s. Hence, his philosophy was just to wing it and see what happens. Jonesy is/was perfect as always. Collins was the scapegoat and was clearly lost. Page blames Collins because he was jealous of his fame in that time period and saw how Percy was clinching to Phil in hopes of having the same solo success. Let's be honest, Zep wasn't always perfect on the road. They are better in the studio behind Page's brilliant producing. Don't get me wrong, Zep had some magical moments, on stage, but this was just a typical Zep show minus the brilliant Bonzo.