1976 Cult Classic Film Ranked Among ‘Best Concert Movies of All Time'-‘Exhilarating and Exhausting'
In 1976, the members of Led Zeppelin became movie stars with the release of The Song Remains the Same. Starring Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, the big screen film documented the legendary English rock band's trio of performances at Madison Square Garden in 1973, and featured the biggest songs from their heyday. Despite very mixed reviews at the time of its release, The Song Remains the Same became a cult classic.
Decades after its release, the film was ranked on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the 67 best concert movies of all time, on a countdown that included everything from The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter to Madonna'sTruth or Dare.
"Filmed in 1973 over the course of a three-night stand at New York City's Madison Square Garden, this concert film shows Led Zeppelin at the apogee of their hard-rocking glory," the outlet noted. "The live footage is interspersed with elaborate fantasy sequences, backstage shenanigans and a glimpse of what the business side of such a large touring operation entails."
Not-so-rave reviews
Fifty years ago, The Song Remains the Same premiered at Cinema I in New York City. The October 20, 1976, premiere was panned by a New York Timesreviewer who admittedly only stayed for the first two-thirds of the screening.
"Putting this British rock group in a movie was intended to be the equivalent not of listening to their records but of attending one of their concerts. This is very hard to do on film: We miss the immediacy, the sense of physical presence and even, to an extent, physical peril," reviewer Richard Eder wrote in a review titled "Zeppelin's Rock Pulverizes Eardrums at Cinema I." He also tore into the accompanying fantasy scenes, which included Plant and Jones dressed as knights on horseback and the band's tour managers appearing as gangsters. Plant was also described as looking like "a sheep trying to seduce a telephone pole" onstage.
A later review from Rolling Stone was more positive. "Plant's cry of ‘Does anybody remember laughter?' during ‘Stairway to Heaven' is the height of golden-god self-seriousness," the outlet noted. "But, for better or worse, Song captures Zeppelin at a time when their brute force, young-stud stamina and unchecked excesses were peaking; it's as exhilarating and exhausting as the decade it came out of."
Jimmy Page was critical of the film
The Song Remains the Same came about when Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant struck a deal with filmmaker Joe Massot. While the film was released a year and a half behind schedule, it went on to become a box office success thanks to fans, per Ultimate Classic Rock
Still, Page was not a fan of the movie. "The Song Remains The Same is not a great film," the Led Zeppelin guitar legend once told NME, per Far Out magazine. "But there's no point in making excuses. It's just a reasonably honest statement of where we were at that particular time. It's very difficult for me to watch it now, but I'd like to see it in a year's time just to see how it stands up."
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 4:06 AM.