Fact #112427

Mick Farren (vocals, The Deviants) : We opened for Led Zeppelin a couple of times when they were very first starting. They still had to put ex-Yardbirds underneath Led Zeppelin. We played the Exeter town hall, and all those farm boys showed up. Some girls were watching us at the front, and the farm boys marched the front and said, 'Why you watching them faggots?' You have to remember, back in those days, once you got out of the major cities, long hair and velvet and all the rest of it was... you were immediately pre-judged homosexual and treated accordingly. Which sometimes would amount to something close to lynching. So these fist fights started and the cops came, and we scurried back into the dressing room after beating our way off the stage, the roadies sort of fighting a rear guard. Physically fighting any people with microphone stands, and Plant and Page are laughing their heads off, going, 'God, you must have been awful.' And they went on to exactly the same reception.
(Source : Perfect Sound Forever)