Zeppelin Reunion was ‘Too Heavy’ for Robert Plant

Robert Plant recently told Mojo magazine that Led Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion show at London’s O2 Arena wasn’t the easiest experience for him personally.

“[It was] too heavy,” Plant said. “Beautiful – but talk about examining your own mortality... Crazy.”

The show featured original members Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones teaming up with Jason Bonham, son of the band’s late, original drummer, John Bonham. Plant recalled having Noel and Liam Gallagher come rushing to talk to him after the show.

“Well, what could you do afterwards...? Twenty minutes after we finished, the Gallagher brothers were leaning on the door of my dressing room and one of them said, ‘You’re the real [expletive] thing, you are.’” Plant said. “I said, ‘I’ve known that all down the line – but I think you need to go a little further round the corridor, next door on the left.’ And I went.”

[I] ended up in the Marathon [pub in Camden], drank four bottles of Keo [lager] and half a bottle of vodka then went to bed. Because I had to get away from it. I’d done it. Had to go.”

Plant is about to release a new album, titled Band of Joy, on September 14. Americana artist Buddy Miller co-produced the album and plays guitar on it, and Patti Griffin lends her voice to some songs. All three of them, plus a full band, recently did a small tour of the U.S. and have European dates scheduled for the fall.

'I'd Love' a Led Zeppelin Reunion: Jason Bonham

Jason Bonham knows better than to promise a Led Zeppelin reunion as part of his "Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience" show that goes on tour this fall. But he's certainly not opposed to the idea.

"I'm not going to hide it from them," Bonham, who filled his late father John "Bonzo" Bonham's spot and played with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones at the 2007 Zep reunion concert at London's O2 arena, tells Billboard.com. "I will invite them to every show I can, because my goal and dream is, 'Wouldn't it be cool if I did something that they thought was cool and they would get up and play with me?' That's what I'm doing [this] for. I'd love it."

Plant has, in fact, already given his public blessing to Bonham's multimedia show, which is due to hit the road this October in North America. Bonham says he has yet to hear from Page and Jones, whom he worked with on an unrealized project shortly after the O2 show. The shows, commemorating the 30th anniversary of John Bonham's death and the dissolution of Led Zeppelin, are co-produced by Annerin Productions, which also presents the Beatles tribute show "Rain" and "The Pink Floyd Experience."

"What I want to do is a personal story," explains Bonham, who will be accompanied by a five-piece band whose members he has yet to reveal. The show will incorporate archival video material and set changes, and Bonham plans to record narration that will precede some of the songs and "give a little background on them and the reason why I'm playing them, and stories about growing up with dad and how Zeppelin has been part of my life from the beginning. It's a good musical journey; it'll be sad at times...but it will really be a celebration."

Bonham hopes that his "Led Zeppelin Experience" will expand beyond the 30 shows he currently has planned, and he'd like to see the production grow to possibly include orchestrations -- which he may try out in certain cities during the fall tour. Dates and ticket sale information are expected to be announced next week.

Robert Plant Reveals Life of Crime Before Led Zeppelin

Robert Plant may have made his millions as the frontman of Led Zeppelin but he has revealed a shady past that included stealing.

The singer has admitted he used to take fuel out of cars and steal milk in the early hours of the morning, reports The Daily Express.

He also revealed that pre-Led Zeppelin he and his bandmates from the group Band of Joy, including John Bonham, were on the 'point of starvation' in the mid 1960s.

He said, "We were better at siphoning petrol out of parked cars than we were at pulling crowds. We all meant it. We were at the point of starvation and would get involved in thievery.

"We would nick bottles of milk off the doorsteps in Manchester at 5am while tenants were waking up."

The name 'Band of Joy' might be familiar to some after the singer announced earlier this summer that he would be taking his new band on the road for a UK autumn tour, under the name of Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, as previously reported by Spinner. Their album, entitled 'Band of Joy', is due for release on Sept. 13.

Jason Bonham announces Led Zeppelin tribute tour

Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, has revealed plans for the Led Zeppelin Experience tour. Celebrating the music of the legendary English rockers on the 30th anniversary of his father’s passing, the 30-date North American concert will stop in Boston for a night at the Oprheum Theatre on Tuesday, November 2. Tickets, which range in price from $35.50 to $45.50, are now on sale through Ticketmaster.

Bonham, who played with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the band’s London O2 Arena reunion show in 2007, was inspired to start the tour after watching “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles”. To create the special tour, he has joined forces with Annerin Productions, the acclaimed producers of both Rain and “The Pink Floyd Experience”. Bonham will be accompanied by a five-piece band whose members he has yet to reveal. The show will feature special archived footage of the band history, and Bonham plans to record narration that will precede some of the songs.

“I remember when I went to see Led Zeppelin live in 1979 at Knebworth, there were certain songs that stood out to me and will stay with me forever,” recalled Bonham in a press release. “I will also share other big moments in my life, time with my Dad and my relationship with the band. The show is far from being ‘just another tribute band.’ I want to make the show as personal as I can and show how much Led Zeppelin means to me.”

The Black Country Communion, Bonham’s other project with Kevin Shirley, Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Derek Sherinian, will release their self-titled debut album on September 21.

Could the Rumors Be True ? A Led Zeppelin Reunion Tour? - By John Detrich

The other day a good friend called me up and asked “Have you read the front page of Yahoo yet today?”. Instead of answering, I opened my browser and right there on the front page of Yahoo.com was an article about a confirmed Led Zeppelin Reunion. I nearly fell off my seat. The biggest band in Rock n Roll history looks like it will finally reunite in a ‘supposed’ one-time show in London on November 26th 2007.

According to the article (and now its all over the internet). Led Zeppelin is reuniting with its existing members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Boham (John Bonham’s son) and will perform an extensive live set at London’s 02 Arena on November 26, 2007. The concert will aid the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund.

Whether or not a 2008 or 2009 tour (or any additional shows) is/are planned has not been confirmed. The band and any one associated has been keeping hush hush about the whole thing, so we may just have to sit and wait to hear something. Considering that over 20,000,000 (20 Million) people signed up for a chance to buy tickets to this one confirmed show, if they toured it would probably be the biggest concert tour in history.

Led Zeppelin Finds Its Old Power - By Ben Ratliff

LONDON, Dec. 10 — Some rock bands accelerate their tempos when they play their old songs decades after the fact. Playing fast is a kind of armor: a refutation of the plain fact of aging, all that unregainable enthusiasm and lost muscle mass, and a hard block against an old band’s lessened cultural importance.

But Led Zeppelin slowed its down a little. At the O2 arena here on Monday night, in its first full concert since 1980 — without John Bonham, who died that year, but with Bonham’s son Jason as a natural substitute — the band found much of its old power in tempos that were more graceful than those on the old live recordings. The speed of the songs ran closer to those on the group’s old studio records, or slower yet. “Good Times Bad Times,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” and “Whole Lotta Love” were confident, easy cruises; “Dazed and Confused” was a glorious doom-crawl.

It all goes back to the blues, in which oozing gracefully is a virtue, and from which Led Zeppelin initially got half its ideas. Its singer, Robert Plant, doesn’t want you to forget that fact: he introduced “Trampled Underfoot” by explaining its connection to Robert Johnson’s “Terraplane Blues,” and mentioned Blind Willie Johnson as the inspiration for “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” (Beyond that, the band spent 10 luxuriant minutes each in two other blues songs from its back catalog — “Since I Been Loving You” and “In My Time of Dying”).

Ahmet Ertegun, the dedicatee of the concert, would have been satisfied, sure as he was of the centrality of southern black music to American culture. Ertegun, who died last year, signed Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records; the show was a one-off benefit for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, which will offer music students scholarships to universities in the United States, England, and Turkey, his homeland.

By the end of Zeppelin’s two-hour-plus show, it was already hard to remember that anyone else had been on the bill. But the band was preceded by Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings—a good-timey rhythm-and-blues show with revolving singers including Paolo Nutini and Albert Lee, as well as a few songs each by Paul Rodgers (of Free and Bad Company) and Foreigner — all of whom had recorded for Atlantic under Ertegun.

There was a kind of loud serenity about Led Zeppelin’s set. It was well-rehearsed, for one thing: planning and rehearsals have been underway since May. The band wore mostly black clothes, instead of its old candy-colored wardrobe. Unlike Mick Jagger, Mr. Plant — the youngest of the original members, at 59 — doesn’t walk and gesture like an excited woman anymore. Some of the top of his voice has gone, but except for one attempted and failed high note in “Stairway to Heaven” (“there walks a la-dy we all know{hellip}”), he found other melodic routes to suit him. He was authoritative; he was dignified.

As for Mr. Page, his guitar solos weren’t as frenetic and articulated as they used to be, but that only drove home the point that they were always secondary to the riffs, which on Monday were enormous, nasty, glorious. (He did produce a violin bow for his solo on “Dazed and Confused,” during that song’s great, spooky middle section.)

John Paul Jones’s bass lines got a little lost in the hall’s acoustics — like all such places, the 22,000-seat O2 Arena is rough on low frequencies — but he was thoroughly in the pocket with Mr. Bonham; when he sat down to play keyboards on “Kashmir” and “No Quarter” and a few others, he simultaneously operated bass pedals with his feet, keeping to that same far-behind-the-beat groove.

And what of Jason Bonham, the big question mark of what has been — there’s no way to prove this scientifically, but let’s just round it off — the most anticipated rock reunion in an era full of them? He is an expert in his father’s beats, an encyclopedia of all their variations on all the existing recordings. And apart from a few small places where he added a few strokes, he stuck to the sound and feel of the original. The smacks of the snare drum didn’t have exactly the same timbre, that barbarous, reverberant sound. But as the show got into its second hour and a few of the sound problems were gradually corrected, you found yourself not worrying about it anymore. It was all working.

Led Zeppelin has semi-reunited a few times in the past, with not much success: short, problematic sets at Live Aid in 1985, and at Atlantic Records’ 40th Anniversary concert in 1988. But this was a reunion that the band had invested in, despite the fact that there are no plans yet for a future tour; among its 16 songs was one the band had never played live before: “For Your Life,” from the album “Presence.”

The excitement in the hall felt extreme, and genuine; the crowd roars between encores were ravenous. At the end of it all, as the three original members took a bow, Mr. Bonham knelt before them and genuflected.

John Paul Jones says Led Zeppelin tour is in the works

Although Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant has insisted that he has no plans to tour or record with his former band, that hasn't stopped the speculation from continuing. Recently, conjecture about an upcoming regrouping and tour was redoubled by Zep's bassist John Paul Jones.
According to published reports, the musician told the audience at a UK guitar expo that tour talks are, in fact, underway.
"As you probably know, Jimmy, Jason and I are actually rehearsing, and we've had the odd singer come in and have a bash," Jones was quoted as saying, alluding to tabloid reports that the band auditioned different singers to take Plant's place should he dismiss the idea of a tour.
But Plant did just that as speculation grew, denying that the iconic band would tour again and indicating that he had no desire to join his bandmates in the next few years if they did tour. He posted a message on his official Web site, stating, "It's both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward."
It seems, though, that Plant might have been alone in that sentiment. According to Jones, he and guitar god Jimmy Page are eager to get back on the road, with deceased drummer Jon Bonham's son, Jason, stepping in to fill his shoes. "As soon as we know -- which we don't -- we will let you know," the bassist reportedly said. "But we really hope that something is going to happen soon because we really want to do it and we're having a lot of fun, actually, just rehearsing."
It's not unheard of for singers to be replaced, especially as bands continue touring well into their later years. Popular '80s band Journey replaced Steve Perry when he left the band due to hip problems. And most recently, prog-rock band Yes announced plans to launch their 40th anniversary tour without Jon Anderson, who was sidelined by acute respiratory failure.
Yet some critics say that without Plant, there is no Led Zeppelin. A report from Los Angeles Times suggested that, if the tours goes on sans Plant, the band should focus on creating a new sound and releasing new material under a different name to avoid looking like a tribute band.
But Jones and Page are already considering those things, if not the new band name. "It's got to be right," Jones said in an interview with Radio BBC. "There's no point in just finding another Robert. You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don't want to be our own tribute band. There would be a record and a tour, but everyone has to be on board."

Zeppelin Reunion YouTube - Stairway To Heaven

Stairway To Heaven

Ultimate Boxed Set for True Led Zeppelin Fans

Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica [BOX SET] [LIMITED EDITION] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica

Twelve CD box set from Led Zeppelin featuring all ten albums in beautiful mini-LP reproductions! The Led Zeppelin 40th Anniversary Cardboard Sleeve Reissue Series features advanced cardboard sleeve replicas of the original UK E-style album jackets, plus six bonus cardboard sleeves including five alternate jackets for In Through The Out Door and one alternate jacket for Led Zeppelin I utilizing the original ink.

From their 1969 debut album straight through to their final album in 1979, Zeppelin laid the blueprint for what is now known as Classic Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. It really doesn't get better than this!. Warner. 2008.

Disc: 1
1. Led Zeppelin I
Disc: 2
1. Led Zeppelin II
Disc: 3
1. Led Zeppelin III
Disc: 4
1. Led Zeppelin IV
Disc: 5
1. Houses Of The Holy
Disc: 6
1. Physical Graffiti (Disc one)
Disc: 7
1. Physical Graffiti (Disc two)
Disc: 8
1. Presence
Disc: 9
1. In Through The Out Door
Disc: 10
1. The Song Remains The Same (Disc one)
Disc: 11
1. The Song Remains The Same (Disc 2)
Disc: 12
1. Coda

Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica

Plant Says No ... Zeppelin to Tour With New Singer?

Check out the new U2 Tour 2009 new tour dates just added!

I recently decided to pick up the remastered Complete Studio Recordingsand recommend the package highly if your old Zep vinyl/cassesttes/8 tracks are giving you some grief :) The sound quailty on these remastered CD's will really surprise you ... Jimmy Page has done a masterful job of retooling these classic albums here! I didn't have the money but wish I had grabbed the mini LP boxed set outlined in the nextmodule down ... it's about double the price but a fantastic collectors item!

If you enjoy vintage Led Zep T-shirts and other Zeppelin memorabilia:

Check out this awesome selection of authentic Led Zeppelin apparel and gear from Rock.com!


Here's pretty much the latest on the Led Zeppelin Reunion ... at this time Plant seems firm on not rejoining for a world tour and the rest of the band are considering replacement singers for a possible album of new material and a massive tour.

This article from Boston Music Spotlight sums it up nicely:

BMS Rumor Report: Led Zeppelin members to tour without Robert Plant?

Last December, the impossible happened: the remaining members of Led Zepelin reunited for one night only at London's O2 Arena. Since the gig in honor of Atlantic Records founder Ahment Ertegun, seemingly an endless amount of rumors have circulated speculating that the band would embark on a full worldwide reunion tour. Despite the gig's massive success, frontman Robert Plant was too busy and having too much fun supporting his collaborative release with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand, to reunite with his mates. Their tour lasted through this past fall but Plant denied he would reunite with guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones, and drummer Jason Bonham (son of the late John Bonham), after it. But what about a tour without Plant at the helm?

Jones told BBC Radio last week that the band is indeed hoping to tour in support of a new album and is currently searching for a lead singer "We are trying out a couple of singers," Bonham said, "We want to do it. It's sounding great and we want to get on and get out there." He was quick to note that the band was looking for the right fit and did not want to replicate Plant or even the band's previous sound. "It's got to be right. There's no point in just finding another Robert." He continued, "You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don't want to be our own tribute band." However, Jones would not reveal who the band has been working with.

Leading the way for rumored candidates to fill in for Plant is current Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy. Billboard recently reported that he was first in line for the gig. That report seems to validate the claim made by Twister Sister's Dee Snider a few weeks before hand. Snider, who share's the same manager as Plant, told Canadaian TV's MuchMore Music, "They're saying we're all rehearsed, we're ready to go. Here's a gazillion dollars on the table, if you don't do it, we're going out with this kid." He added that Kennedy can "sing the shit out of Zeppelin" before adding, "and they're like gonna hope that Robert at the last minute will go 'okay' and step in."
Other names that have been floating around include Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, ex Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar, and Jack White of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.

In a recent Guitarist Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, appearance on the syndicated Todd n Tyler Radio Empire admitted that Tyler has indeed been in England with the Led Zep members. However, the move was just for pure fun and in his opinion, Page was "trying to light a fire under Robert." "I have not been approached so far to fill in for Robert Plant on the upcoming Zeppelin tour, but that isn't to say I won't be," Cornell told MTV News, before quipping, "But if you see anyone from Led Zeppelin around, let me know. I think I should actually fill in for Jimmy Page on the Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss tour."

Grohl was joined by Page and Jones at Foo Fighter's Wembley Stadium show in London this past summer, where they performed a couple of Zeppelin tunes during the band's encore. Hagar has formed a new supergroup, tentatively named "Chickenfoot", with guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, and Reh Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. As for White, sources close to the singer/guitarist denied the claims to the Daily Star newspaper in England.

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith, the mastermind behind their reunion show last year, recently weighed in with his opinion by calling a tour without Plant, "pointless." He went on to tell BBC news that he doubted the members would carry on with the Led Zeppelin name are argued that unless they had a "compelling reason to do it, then they shouldn't do it."

But to better understand these latest rumors, let's take a look back at what else has been talked about since the band played their one off gig. Here are just a few examples:

In January, Page was open to the idea but acknowledged nothing would happen till Plant completed his latest project. "The amount of work that we put into the 02, both for ourselves rehearsing and also for the staging of it, was probably what you'd put into a world tour anyway," Page told reporters in Japan. He continued, "We'd all agreed to take it very, very seriously and have a really good time at the same time. We worked out the songs we were going to play, and it was exhilarating, it was fantastic. Every week was a week to look forward to."

In May, David Coverdale, frontman of Whitesnake and good friend of the band, stoked up the rumor mill again with his own crazy assertion. He told the UK Mirror newspaper that a reunion was "very likely," and continued, "I'm expecting a call from Jimmy any day asking my band Whitesnake to support them on their world tour. Am I on board? You bet. Probably worth billions."

In August, Bonham told a Detroit radio station that he has been taking part in jam sessions and recording new music with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. Prior to taking stage with his former bandmates in Foreigner, Bonham said, "I've been working with Jimmy and John Paul and trying to do ... some new material and some writing. I don't know what it will be, but it will be something. At the moment, all I know is I have the great pleasure to go and jam with the two guys and start work on some material. When I get there, I never ask any questions. If I get a phone call to go and play, I enjoy every moment of it."

By late September, just as his tour with Krauss was coming to an end, Plant had enough with the constant speculation. A statement was posted on his website indicating that he had no intention whatsoever of touring with anyone for at least the next two years. "It's both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward," Robert Plant said. He continued, "I wish Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham nothing but success with any future projects."
The above quote seems to pretty definitive on the idea of a full Zeppelin reunion, which brings us back to the latest rumor: Would Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham tour with another singer at the helm?

BMS Verdict: Possible. It would surely be dissapointing without Plant at the helm. That being said, as long as the band tours under a new name, we'd be okay with the idea since Riders on the Storm (featuring members of The Doors) have proved it can be done.