Stones’ STP Tour vs. Led Zeppelin’s 1973 Run: Excess, Backstage, and Bankroll

The Rolling Stones’ 1972 “STP” (Stones Touring Party) tour practically wrote the handbook on rock-star debauchery—freebase cocaine in dressing rooms, groupie hierarchies, and Keith Richards famously nodding off on stage. But financially it was a mess: the band owed millions in back taxes, and the U.S. tour actually lost money after the IRS took a huge cut. The excess was real, but the bottom line was red.

Led Zeppelin’s 1973 U.S. tour was a different animal. Peter Grant ran the operation like a military campaign—controlled chaos, no press access, and a strict “no photos” rule to preserve mystique. Backstage, the behavior was just as wild (roadies rolling joints, groupies lining up), but Grant kept the