Led Zeppelin to tour without Percy?

So Led Zeppelin are planning on touring without Robert Plant… arghhh! Sacrilege I hear you all cry, and at first I thought so too. Personally I think it is just a ploy to attempt to kick Robert Plant in to action, but if it did get to the point of going out on the road without Percy, it would be horrible to see one person picked out and held aloft as ‘The New Singer Of Led Zeppelin’, after all, no one could be that.

However, I had a plan – so if you are listening Mr Page and Mr Jones (assuming that young Jason doesn’t get a say in the absence of dad John) after hearing all the rumours (Steve Tyler, David Coverdale etc) it got me to thinking that they should go down the route taken by MC5 (although in a bigger scale than the proto-punk legends) and get in a range of different singers. Not necessarily all on the same night, but get in great singers for just a few dates.

Led Zeppelin are one of the few bands that could do it as their back catalogue is so well known and every man and his dog holds them up as a great influence that they could get the best singers and front men in the world in for a handful of gigs so it wouldn't interfere with existing commitments. Just look at how well Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins went down with JP and JPJ at the Foo Fighters show at Wembley earlier this year.

This would also keep the integrity in tact, as it wouldn't be like any single singer was being touted as a replacement for Plant. It would be more like saying that the guy is irreplaceable so let other great singers put their spin on the songs.

No doubt some people would hate it, but it would be great going to go to see ‘Led Zeppelin’ and not know who you are getting, only for Steve Tyler to show up one night or people that you might never usually bother consider watching go at it without their own agenda. I would never usually go and see Meatloaf for example, but I could imagine him doing a stunning job as a one off. Or even some soul singer. After all, every one said Jay-Z would fail dismally at Glastonbury this year, but he received unanimous praise afterwards.

I don’t want to see Jack White, Eddie Vedder as the replacement for Robert Plant, but would love to see them doing a few tracks. Hell, maybe if they got it right then Plant could do a slot himself. It would mean that someone like Steve Tyler could do it in between Aerosmith commitments, whilst also throwing in some unknowns or really left field choices. It would be like the greatest Led Zeppelin Tribute Show. You could even tailor it to different markets. So in Australia they could wheel out Jimmy Barnes, Bryan Adams in Canada or even something as weird as Prince doing a couple of dates in Minneapolis (so long as no idiot thought it would be a good idea to get James Blunt or Robbie Williams involved in the UK).

Anyway, I would still much rather that if it was to happen then Robert Plant did it himself, but if he is determined to duck out, then let’s hope they do it right.