On January 6, 1975, outside Boston Garden, over 2,000 individuals formed a line to purchase tickets for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Some members of the crowd then managed to force their way into the nearly empty arena, resulting in damages amounting to thousands of dollars.
“For years, people have camped out overnight for tickets,” reflects Steven Rosenblatt, who was the ticket-office manager at Boston Garden that evening, “but nothing like this ever happened before.” Around midnight, someone managed to pry open the Garden’s locked doors, and soon, hundreds of Led Zeppelin fans—drinking beer and tossing bottles—enjoyed free rein within Boston Garden. “This type of crowd running about unsupervised inside the venue was untenable,” Rosenblatt states, “so we made the decision to open the ticket windows.”
By approximately 2:30 a.m., the near-riot was subdued as Garden staff started selling tickets ahead of the planned schedule. By 6:00 a.m., all 9,000 available seats were sold out, and the crowd had dispersed, but not before the venue suffered damages exceeding $50,000, much to the frustration of Boston’s mayor, Kevin H. White.
Mayor White certainly understood the impact of rock and roll.
In 1972, he had intervened personally to release the Rolling Stones from a Warwick, Rhode Island jail, fearing a riot from upset fans if that evening’s concert in Boston was cancelled.
The Led Zeppelin fans, however, faced severe repercussions from White.
He not only cancelled the concert slated for February 4 but also proclaimed that the band would not be permitted to perform in Boston for the following five years. In fact, Led Zeppelin would never again take the stage in that city. With a ban enforced in Beantown, the group proceeded to the next destination on their 1975 North American tour and avoided Boston again in 1977.
That tour marked Led Zeppelin’s final journey across the United States, as the band disbanded after the passing of drummer John Bonham on September 25, 1980.
by Wallace McTavish
