The build up: video from outside the O2

They came in their thousands to the O2 in Greenwich, winners of a lottery for what is the hottest ticket in recent rock music history.

There were those who had lived through the time when Led Zeppelin walked the stage and threw televisions out of hotel windows and travelled the world in their jet, The Starship, bringing their music to millions.

The rest had grown up after that age, when the band had ceased to be and there was no promise of a return. These converts were almost more zealous than their elders.

Zack Briefer, 15, from Tucson, Arizona, was one of the first yesterday to go through the stringent security system of credit-card checks and wrist bands, designed to try to ensure that tickets for tonight’sreunion gig did not fall into the hands of touts. Winners of the draw have to pick up their tickets with the person they are taking with them, bringing the credit card with which they placed their order, a photo ID and their draw code. Both then have a band fixed to their wrists before they are given the tickets: it cannot be removed without being broken and they will need both the wristband and the ticket to get in to the concert.

Zack had discovered that he had made it through the draw for a pair of the 20,000 golden tickets on October 2. The website to register for the draw had crashed earlier as 20 million people punched in the address.

At 7am that fateful day, his father, Andy, found him crying on his bedroom floor. “I ran into his room and said ‘What’s wrong?’ ” Mr Briefer said. “He said, ‘This is the greatest moment of my life.’ ”

Father and son flew in on Thursday and made a pilgrimage to the cemetery in Rushock, Worcestershire, where John Bonham or “Bonzo”, the band’s former drummer, lies buried.

Yesterday, having queued for hours to collect their tickets, they were camping outside the O2 centre to ensure a place in front of the stage tonight.

Beside them was a young couple from Wisconsin who have each spent $3,000 (£1,480) on tickets, hotels, flights to Britain in November when the concert was cancelled — the lead guitarist Jimmy Page broke his finger in rehearsals — and flights back again this month. That was partly why they were sleeping on the floor.

Felicia Morgan, 20, said: “We have the rest of our lives to pay it off.”

Also queuing was a geography teacher from Devon who missed the last concert through “some very bad planning”. Pip Wordsworth, 50, said: “Unfortunately I was getting married that day. I have regretted it ever since.” At the front of the queue was Jeffrey Jones, 43, of Toronto, who claimed to have spent $100,000 (£49,250) on live recordings and memorabilia. “This is the reason that I am on Earth,” he said. “Apart from the birth of my son, this is the best moment of my life.”

Mr Jones missed out on the draw, but via eBay and an online network of other ticket seekers, he was put in touch with a man with one to spare.

But for the occasional corporate tickets sold on listings noticeboards, the majority of the black-market sales were made by fans with a ticket to spare. The going rate for the £175 tickets was usually more than £1,000. Yesterday a student from Amsterdam had already been offered £2,000 for his second ticket, which would cover his flights and accommodation.

The queues to pick up tickets filled the hall yesterday, confusing visitors to the King Tut exhibition. Younger than that ancient king, but older than the Spice Girls who appear at the same arena this month, Led Zeppelin have overshadowed all the other great relics of the rock era who have lately returned to life.

Big hits

— The Spice Girls concert on Saturday at the O2 arena sold out in 38 seconds

— Tickets for Take That topped a Google chart of the most searched for tickets of 2007

— Tickets for Kylie Minogue’s European Tour next year appeared on eBay at ten times the price

— Robbie Williams sold 1.6m tickets for his 2006 World Tour on the first day of release. This broke the world record held by N Sync

Source: Times Database, Time Out, seetickets.com

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