"Bonzo picked George Harrison up and launched him into the swimming pool. He said it was the greatest night of his life!" How Led Zeppelin seized control of the industry and became the biggest rock band on the planet

Led Zeppelin onstage at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA. June 2, 1973.

'California sunshine, sweet Calcutta rain,' Robert Plant implored in the song The Song Remains The Same. This lyric summates Led Zeppelin’s journey – geographically, musically and emotionally – between February 1972 and July 1973. This was Zeppelin’s most imperial phase, as all the hard road toil and studio work of the previous three years finally paid off.

From Australia to India, to Japan, to Europe and the UK, and back around the USA, twice, Zeppelin survived failed drug busts, a sceptical music press, a showboating Rolling Stones, a mysterious robbery and no end of Dionysian excess to play some of their greatest ever live shows and become, officially, the biggest rock’n’roll band in the world.