The lineup of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham gave rise to Led Zeppelin. Their impact on rock n’ roll is something we all know as Led Zeppelin’s fans. They rose to prominence in the late 1960s and 70s, alongside The Who.
Led Zeppelin never backed off from musical challenges. Their music was heavily dependent on the simple structure of the blues. However, they had a versatile vocalist, and everyone in the band was gifted. The band was also known for its dynamic live concerts. They had a distinct stage presence and everyone in the band was open to improvisation during the live performances.
Despite that, there are songs Led Zeppelin never played live. Even they struggle with creative creations. It is revealed that ‘Four Sticks’ was one song they struggled to create. This 1971 critical hit doesn’t appear to be that chaotic but it was, for Bonham at least.
The drumming pattern was a challenge for Bonham. Bassist John Paul Jones explained, “It took him ages to get ‘Four Sticks.’ I seemed to be the only one who could actually count things in. Page would play something, and [John would] say, ‘That’s great. Where’s the first beat? You know it, but you gotta tell us…’ He couldn’t actually count what he was playing. It would be a great phrase, but you couldn’t relate it to a count. If you think of ‘one’ being in the wrong place, you are completely screwed.”
It is revealed that the song title was Four Sticks because Bonham managed to get his part right by using two sticks in each hand. They only played the song once live at a 1971 concert in Copenhagen. They abandoned this song from that day.
They have also gotten rid of their other songs from their setlist. The down below list contains 19 such songs. The band has excluded all these songs from performing live. Even the song written about the live concert’s experience ‘Houses of the Holy’ was taken off their live setlist.
The songs Led Zeppelin Never Played Live
- ‘Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)’
- ‘La La’
- ‘Hats off to (Roy) Harper’
- ‘Hey, Hey, What Can I Do’
- ‘D’yer Mak’er’
- ‘The Rover’
- ‘Houses of the Holy’
- ‘In the Light’
- ‘Down by the Seaside’
- ‘Night Flight’
- ‘Boogie With Stu’
- ‘Royal Orleans’
- ‘Candy Store Rock’
- ‘Hots on for Nowhere’
- ‘Tea for One’
- ‘South Bound Suarez’
- ‘Fool in the Rain’
- ‘Carouselambra’
- ‘I’m Gonna Crawl’
