Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 23

Thread: Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    16,602

    Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert

    Courtesy of Bloomberg.com

    Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Led Zeppelin played its first concert in 19 years, leaving a London audience of 20,000 people calling for more -- and the world guessing on whether the band will tour.

    Last night's show, described as ``rock's biggest reunion'' by other stars at the O2 Arena, was hailed by fans as immaculately performed. The only disappointment was no announcement on whether it will be the prelude to a longer return.

    It was billed as a not-to-be-repeated charity event, though the demand could persuade the group to join a lucrative reunion bandwagon that includes the Police, Eagles, Who and Spice Girls. ``Led Zep'' could make $3.2 million a night, Billboard estimates.

    ``This was unforgettable,'' said concertgoer Martin Slaney. ``It was a monumental event that I was lucky to win a ticket for. They played like they had never been apart and were note perfect. This has to go down as one of the greatest comeback concerts of all time,'' said Slaney, who works for GFT Global Markets Ltd.

    The audience ovation began with the opening ``Good Times Bad Times'' as Robert Plant intoned the words: ``In the days of my youth/ I was told what it means to be a man/ Now I've reached that age/ I've tried to do all those things the best I can.'' Blistering accounts of ``Ramble On'' and ``Black Dog'' followed. Then Plant said good evening. This was just the start.

    The audience went wild at the end of a show of 16 songs and would not let the band go. A storming take on ``Whole Lotta Love,'' one of Zeppelin's most famous songs, stirred up emotions after a driving set of pounding rock by founder members -- guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Plant and bassist John Paul Jones -- joined by Jason Bonham, son of their late drummer, John Bonham.

    `Gig of the Century'

    ``We are seven years into the millennium,'' said fan Janie Oldfield, 25, from London, in an interview. ``For me, we've seen the gig of the century. It's easily the best concert I've ever seen.'' Oldfield's ticket was bought by her mother Sue, 51, who queued with her to get the pass needed to get in. ``You could sense rock history being written,'' said Oldfield, a fashion designer.

    The show, in rehearsal for three weeks, included nearly all of the Zep classics. ``For Your Life'' was given its live debut. A 10-minute rendition of ``Kashmir,'' with a spectacular light show, had thousands of fans dancing to the infectious beat, including me.

    The bearded Plant, 59, told the crowd that ``Dazed and Confused'' had to be on the set list and the band responded with a standout performance, equal to some of those at its 1970s peak, crowned with spaced-out feedback.

    White-haired Page, 63, added a crazed guitar solo to ``Stairway to Heaven.'' It sounded even better than some of the live performances captured on albums such as ``How The West Was Won,'' ``The Song Remains The Same'' and various bootlegs.

    `No Quarter'

    ``I was speechless,'' said another fan, Emmet Owens, 26, from Derry, Northern Ireland, who sat three rows from the front. ``I could not find any faults. `No Quarter' was amazing.''

    The event will benefit the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, which provides students with annual scholarships to universities in the U.S., U.K. and Turkey. The late Ertegun, an industry leader for six decades, was the co-founder of Atlantic Records. He died in New York last December from a head injury suffered when he fell backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in October. He was 83.

    Singer Paolo Nutini, 20, the last British act to be signed by Ertegun, said in an interview before the concert that Led Zeppelin was ``about to prove'' that it was the best band in the world again. Foreigner's Mick Jones, also arriving for the show, said that Zeppelin's reunion ``raised the bar'' for everybody else.

    Wyman, Emerson

    Zeppelin, which has sold more than 300 million albums, was the biggest name on the concert list which also featured performances by Nutini, Foreigner, Bill Wyman, Keith Emerson and Paul Rodgers.

    Tickets originally cost 125 pounds ($254) and were available through a ballot at Welcome to Ahmet Tribute 1923 - 2006 . The ballot had more than a million entries. The site had 25 million hits from those trying to register and crashed as 80,000 people a minute clicked on it.

    Tickets were later offered on EBay for as much as $10,000 each for ``buy it now'' sales. Promoter Harvey Goldsmith tried to prevent reselling of tickets by insisting on strict identification checks. Fans had to present a photo ID, the credit card used to book the ticket and a confirmation code. Lucky winners, who were given a non-transferable bracelet, traveled from more than 50 countries, and some queued for six hours.

    The most expensive tickets were 83,000 pounds for a pair, paid by Glasgow businessman Kenneth Donnell in a charity auction.

    Bonham's daughter Zoe said in an interview as the concert got under way that her brother Jason was ``not at all nervous.'' It was the first time that she had heard Led Zeppelin perform live. (For the record, Bonham was strikingly good, and Page showed no sign of suffering from his finger injury that had delayed the concert from November.)

    Atlantic Label

    Led Zeppelin, formed in 1968, was named after an in-joke that the band's heavy sound would ``go down like a lead balloon.'' The quartet signed with Atlantic the same year.

    By the early 1970s, ``Led Zep'' was describing itself as ``the biggest band in the world.'' The group pioneered heavy-metal music with songs such as ``Whole Lotta Love'' and ``Stairway to Heaven.''

    Led Zeppelin broke up after Bonham died, aged 32, in 1980. Page and Plant have often performed and recorded together since then, though not under the group's name. Jones, who played keyboards as well as bass, joined reunions at 1985's Live Aid and a 40th anniversary concert for Atlantic in 1988, also with Jason Bonham on drums.

    The show was watched by Noel Gallagher of Oasis, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Dave Grohl, frontman of Foo Fighters.

    Critic Killer

    Of the many hundreds of rock gigs I have seen over the years, this was one of the best. If I hadn't got a press pass, I would have paid whatever for the privilege (though 83,000 pounds might have taken some explaining to my other half).

    ``Since I've Been Loving You'' was the sort of track to kill those critics who say Led Zep can only do loud and insensitive. It was as tender and sweet as they come, with Page adding little guitar flourishes to each line.

    The show was filmed, so we can pray that it will be released at some stage. Even better would be a world tour so everyone else can see how good a rock band can be. Let's hope.
    I've gotta say, I hope they do one last tour. I'd love to experience one of their concerts in person, especially after listening to their albums and seeing videos of concerts like The Song Stays the Same.

    Got my fingers crossed. \m/

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Montreal, Canada
    Posts
    3,023
    That would be sweet indeed. These guys live are a thing from another world from what I have heard and seen. I would love to one day tell my grandkids that i saw Zeppelin live...
    Who killed the Electric Car?
    GO HABS GO!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    The press guy seems to think the concert was absolutely amazing. I'll have to read a few more reviews before I'm entirely convinced. I've never heard Jason Bonham drum (except on maybe some Foreigner track or two) and I'm not sure he could replicate the distinctive style of his father.

    Old guitarists sometimes get slow in the fingers and worse for wear after the years so I'd like to hear Page's playing 30 odd years later.

    What I'm most worried about though would be Robert Plant's voice - geezers usually lose all their high tonality and can frequently be a huge let down - one example that stands out for me is Greg Lake from ELP - he used to have a great voice but I heard some of their live shit form the late 90's and he was useless.

    Anyways, I was a lot more into LZ and music in general a year and more ago - I had a bit of a LZ renaissance when I listened to some of their older stuff such as In Through the Out Door which has some gems - In the Evening in particular.

    If they were really as good as this guy said, they could stand to make untold millions of dollars if they do a world tour - it would be beneficial to their coffers and to the millions of Led Heads around the globe.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    16,602
    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    What I'm most worried about though would be Robert Plant's voice - geezers usually lose all their high tonality and can frequently be a huge let down - one example that stands out for me is Greg Lake from ELP - he used to have a great voice but I heard some of their live shit form the late 90's and he was useless.
    Apparently he's lost some of his tone up in the octaves, but reports say that he was quite good, from what I've read.

    However, I've been to a couple John Fogerty Concerts these past two years and at 62, the guy still gives 110% and sounds quite similar to his old days, even if Creedence is broken up. Then again, Plant's vocals tend to be a lot higher than JF's.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    Quote Originally Posted by Rockefella View Post
    Apparently he's lost some of his tone up in the octaves, but reports say that he was quite good, from what I've read.

    However, I've been to a couple John Fogerty Concerts these past two years and at 62, the guy still gives 110% and sounds quite similar to his old days, even if Creedence is broken up. Then again, Plant's vocals tend to be a lot higher than JF's.
    It'd be nice to see them on DVD at the O2 concert - if only for the purposes of judging them to their past performances and to see how Jason covers for his pop.

    I've had a chance to watch some of Led Zeppelin DVD and it was absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend it to any fans of LZ.

    On the topic of JF, what kind of stuff does he play live? I know all the popular CCR stuff and would consider seeing him if his solo stuff was in the same vein - which I suspect it is. I love his sublime and simple guitar solos. How is the voice too? That is the thing that really goes with most musicans at that age.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    16,602
    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    It'd be nice to see them on DVD at the O2 concert - if only for the purposes of judging them to their past performances and to see how Jason covers for his pop.
    Apparently it was filmed, so I'm sure some kind of DVD will be released.

    On the topic of JF, what kind of stuff does he play live? I know all the popular CCR stuff and would consider seeing him if his solo stuff was in the same vein - which I suspect it is. I love his sublime and simple guitar solos. How is the voice too? That is the thing that really goes with most musicans at that age.
    In the past two years I went, he played 25 song sets I believe, with about 8-10 of those 25 being stuff off of his new CD's. The rest were CCR classics, i.e.: Lodi, Who Stopped/Have you Ever Seen the Rain, Centerfield, Fortunate Son, Proud Mary, Green River, Travelin' Band, et. al.

    YouTube has a lot of JF stuff from some concert he did in L.A. in 2005 or 2006.
    Edit: Fortunate Son - LA 2006

    He did seem a bit more energetic when I saw him though, but watching that video it's hard to say he's not belting it out.
    Last edited by Rockefella; 12-11-2007 at 01:43 AM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Warsaw
    Posts
    4,448
    awesome. recently on the radio i am listening to there was whole 'Led Zeppelin' week, heared some awesome concert version never released before. page & plant rocks
    12 cylinders or walk!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Sible Hedingham, Essex, United Kingdom
    Posts
    3,214
    One of my friends was going to be at this gig but she has too much Uni work to do (or something i wasn't really listening) so her Dad took a friend with the spare ticket. He rang her on the phone during it and she said even that sounded amazing.
    Just call me Tom

    Please visit www.tomranson.com and make me feel loved.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    Quote Originally Posted by Suka View Post
    One of my friends was going to be at this gig but she has too much Uni work to do (or something i wasn't really listening) so her Dad took a friend with the spare ticket. He rang her on the phone during it and she said even that sounded amazing.
    I would risk failing an exam if I got to see a one off live show by LZ. Live for the moment.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    16,602
    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    I would risk failing an exam if I got to see a one off live show by LZ. Live for the moment.
    Werd. Plus, it's not like they'd have to take a week off of school. It'd probably only be one night away from you're studies.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Sible Hedingham, Essex, United Kingdom
    Posts
    3,214
    As i said, i wasn't really listening to her.
    There might have been some much better reasons hidden in her female ramblings...
    Just call me Tom

    Please visit www.tomranson.com and make me feel loved.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Posts: 30,245
    Posts
    7,352
    We just missed out on tickets. Listened to it all on the radio. Someone I know went to the gig in London. I have to say the people inside of that arena are the luckiest people alive. My dad has been a huge fan ever since his childhood. And its rubbed off onto me quite strongly.

    I dont think theyll do any more gigs and definitely not a tour. Its just one of those things that had to happen. I look forward to watching it on TV. By the way I'm amazed how well robert plant did for the vocals. He's still got it!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Redneckville, AL
    Posts
    622
    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    Old guitarists sometimes get slow in the fingers and worse for wear after the years so I'd like to hear Page's playing 30 odd years later.
    Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) is a much better guitarist now than 40 years ago.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    What I'm most worried about though would be Robert Plant's voice
    Agreed, Plants voice was already suffering in the 80s

    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    older stuff such as In Through the Out Door which has some gems - In the Evening in particular.
    Technically thats some of their later work <3 Hot Dog

    Damn, I wish they would come to North America I'd gladly pay $254+++ for a chance to hear the legend live.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Posts: 30,245
    Posts
    7,352
    I actually think Plant did really well with the vocals. Obviously its harder to deal with the high pitched tones of Zeppelin's famous tracks but he managed well from what I've heard on the radio.

    But like I said. It was a one off concert it wont turn into a world tour. They spent more time in the US than they did over here anyway you had your fair share of Led Zepp I think

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Posts
    7,833
    Quote Originally Posted by dydzi View Post
    awesome. recently on the radio i am listening to there was whole 'Led Zeppelin' week, heared some awesome concert version never released before. page & plant rocks
    Same here. Been listening to it on the radio whilst working. Loved it.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •