The Check’s In The Bin?

Robert Plant allegedly tore up a check for more than £250 million ($396 million) that Virgin airline tycoon Richard Branson was prepared to pay Led Zeppelin for a 35-date comeback tour.  

Photo: Dario Cantatore/Invision/AP
Jason Bonham, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page at the "Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day" premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.

Fellow Zep members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones had already signed the fabled contract, which also reportedly included a £70 million profit share and an option for 45 more gigs that would have raised the total to £500 million ($792 million), but apparently Plant wouldn’t budge.

“They have tried to talk him round but there is no chance. His mind is made up and that’s that,” a source supposedly close to the act told UK tabloid the Daily Mirror. However, a Plant representative told the Guardian the Mirror’s report is “rubbish.”

Branson, reportedly a lifelong Zeppelin fan, was ready to rebrand one of his Jumbo jets to fly the group around the venues, according to the Mirror report. The first 35 shows would have been split between three multi-date runs in London, Berlin and New Jersey.