on may 5th, 1973, Led Zeppelin played to an astonishing crowd of 56,800 people in Tampa, Florida. This concert was one of the largest audiences the legendary rock band had ever drawn at the time, underscoring their immense popularity during the the peak of their career. The Tampa show was part of Led Zeppelin’s 1973 North American tour which supported their untitled fourth album-often referred to as “Led Zeppelin Iv.” This album included some of their most iconic tracks like “Stairway from heven,”Black Dog” and ” Rock And Roll,” songs that contributed heavily to their status as rock icons…..

Legendary producer Ron Nevison, who worked with The Who, Bad Company, and many others, described how the members of Led Zeppelin acted in a studio atmosphere.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham — the four riders of the rock apocalypse. It would seriously be a waste of time to talk about how good the members of Led Zeppelin were, and just how well they worked together.

Everything about the band’s history is fascinating, from their first gigs to their megatours where they partied like tomorrow would never come. It’s truly a wonder where they found the energy to play their music night after night, and then hang out as true rockstars. But what were they like in the studio?

Were they just as wild, or were they locked in, ready to rock, and record the next phase of their musical expression? Renowned producer Ron Nevison, who worked with Led Zeppelin on their 1974 album “Physical Graffiti,” described their behavior in the studio in a recent interview with The Sonic Road Podcast.

Nevison stated that the band was, at the time, already experienced, so they knew the ins and outs of studio recording. All of the famous bands he worked with at that time were more than capable of handling themselves. He said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“Pretty focused, pretty focused I would say. The Who and Led Zeppelin, at that point, had done multiple albums. So they weren’t like a young rock band, The Bad Company guys, and also Mott the Hoople had done albums. They were all pros.”

Nevertheless, being professional doesn’t mean you can’t take a breather sometimes, and boy, did Led Zeppelin like to relax. Nevison was reluctant to describe the finer details about what the members got up to, but he revealed that he couldn’t really keep up for long.

In fact, Nevison was quickly forced to leave the studio premises after sessions. Otherwise, his health would be at risk:

“I think things got crazy at those… Look, The Who had their own studio, and basically, Headley Grange was a rented house that everybody stayed at. And I had to leave Headley Grange after a couple of weeks of recording because they were waking me up at four o’clock in the morning.”

But having a good night’s rest wasn’t the only thing Nevison was concerned with. He also wanted the studio to remain intact. So he found a solution:

“I talked to Peter Grant. I said, ‘Let me go back to London and come back in the morning.’ And he agreed that would be better. I’d lock up the studio and so they wouldn’t rave all night, but just that’s rock and roll, right?”