There is a rumor going around that Led Zeppelin may reunite

Led Zeppelin fans worldwide have been collectively churning a recent mega-rumor: that the band could reunite for a concert, possibly in 2018, and possibly at the Desert Trip festival in California to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary.

Speculation was set off by a cryptic post to lead-singer Robert Plant's website: "Any time now..."

Then the fire was really set by a brief post at Feel Numb.

After a few days of in which Zep enthusiasts checked their bank balances and tried to figure out how to get themselves to Indio, Calif. — fully aware that when the group reunited in 2007 at London's O2 arena, 20 million people tried to buy 20,000 tickets — Billboard appeared to quash the fun.

"[T]here’s no deal in place to get Led Zeppelin’s surviving members -- Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones — back together, sources say, while AEG hasn’t announced another Desert Trip festival for this year," the publication reported. "The promise on Mr. Plant’s website, meanwhile, is more likely a tease to a forthcoming album than to an upcoming performance, sources tell Billboard."

Last year's Desert Trip was classic-rock hootenanny, featuring acts such as Paul McCartney, The Who, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

The event was expensive and controversial, but it was a musical festival for everyone who was either too old or too rich to go to Bonnaroo.

The perfect venue

The apparent negation of the tantalizing Zep rumors notwithstanding, Desert Trip or some kind of stand in the California desert would be perfect for a Zep reunion. The band started out all those years ago playing festivals in Europe, and over its astounding run until drummer John Bonham's death in 1980, decadent journeys to the Golden State were routine.

Additionally, Zep's final performance by the original foursome — Bonham, Plant, Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass — was at a festival, Knebworth