Rock legends Led Zeppelin announce a one-off comeback concert nearly three decades after disbanding.
It was the most highly anticipated comeback of the year, but until yesterday, when Led Zeppelin officially announced their intention to reform, no one knew quite how high that anticipation would be. Today, however, promoters have revealed that demand for tickets brought down not only the website that sells them, but its internet service provider too.
A spokesperson for the gig told Guardian Unlimited Music that mid-way through yesterday's press conference to announce the one-off gig at London's 02 Arena in November, at the precise point where promoter Harvey Goldsmith confirmed details of the show, ISP Pipex reported to organisers that their network had collapsed.
Promoters have since claimed that a staggering 20 million people attempted to get tickets for the gig. This seems unlikely, and is perhaps an extrapolation from Pipex's claims that their service would only fail if more than 80,000 people attempted to use the service at exactly the same time.Goldsmith confirmed the details of the upcoming reunion show at a press conference yesterday. All proceeds from the night will go to the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. Led Zeppelin split up 27 years ago following the death of their drummer John Bonham in 1980. The three surviving members of the band last played together in 1988. They will be joined on stage for their reunion gig by Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paolo Nutini.
