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What Was It Like to Attend a Led Zeppelin Concert?

Robert Plant

“We went there with the spirit of it, but actually it was pretty shambolic”, “one big disappointment”, “the gig was foul” … none of these phrases strike any particular joy into the hearts of those who love Led Zeppelin, especially when you remember that they were all said by members of the band themselves. But nonetheless, Led Zeppelin are still one of the most recognizable names in rock history — an earthquake that sent shockwaves through generations of musicians — and many starry-eyed metalheads have wondered what it would have been like to see these heroes of rock on stage back in their glory days. With a set of notorious band reunions under their belt (and some recently-released remastered albums, which are much better than atrocious apparently), we’re off on an adventure through the annals of time. Close your eyes, smell the stale beer, and imagine it’s the sixties once again…

The first thing you need to know is that their shows go on for a long time. A reunion in 2007 lasted two and a half hours, and with songs like the immortal “Stairway to Heaven” on their list, can you blame them? And despite some seriously questionable reunion gigs in the 1980s, they are actually known as being incredibly disciplined, focusing on their setlist and providing the crowd with the music that they came to see as opposed to just strolling around the stage twanging at their guitars. Back in their glory days, they were the band to see — a wild, passionate experience where social boundaries were pushed but musical ones weren’t — the music was spot-on and perfectly performed by all involved. One concert-goer recalled the first time he ever saw them live, when they were still small enough to be opening for another group: ”Every song could and would go ‘where no song had gone before’ and seeing them you knew anything could happen! Jimmy Page and company were jamming like they read each others minds. The crowd were taken to acid blues heaven.”

And so this talent for creating incredible live music continued with them as they became one of the hottest properties in rock music ever, first playing as Led Zeppelin in 1968 and spending the first half of the seventies reveling in their worldwide fame and acclaim. They were continuing to make their mark on the music world when tragedy struck — drummer John Bonham died after choked on his own vomit in the September of 1980. Following the death of Robert Plant’s five-year-old son only a few years before this, the band eventually split under the stress, despite rumors of their continuation with another drummer. It looked like the Led Zeppelin dream was over, and their reunion gigs did little to dissuade that opinion.

Before their performance at the O2 in 2007, Led Zep played two reunion gigs over the course of the 1980s — one on 1985 and another in 1988. The first was playing a Live Aid concert, with Tony Thompson and Phil Collins on drums during the show. It turned out to be something of a disaster, with dodgy monitors, Plant’s out-of-tune guitar and hoarse voice, and no rehearsals with both drummers. It looked like it might be the final nail in the coffin for a band who only ten years before had been one of the biggest things in the world. The second show revived hopes again, with Jason Bonham, son of the late lamented John, taking his father’s place behind the drumkit. Tensions between Page and Plant ultimately flared — arguing over whether to open with their classic “Stairway to Heaven,” specifically — and Jone’s keyboard wound up completely lost in the television mix. So naturally, fans were a little skeptical about their 2007 reunion gig.

In short: it was incredible. Vast numbers of attendees have reported being blown away by the performance, which was assured, raw, and as swaggering as ever. Almost every report or review of the performance comments in the opening lines, delivered by Plant: “singer Robert Plant sang the most obvious words of the night: “Been a long time since I rock and rolled.” Overhead, images of a much younger Zeppelin, in concert during the early and mid-Seventies, flashed on a huge digital-video screen. In those films, Led Zeppelin were the biggest, loudest and most cocksure band in rock. Jimmy Page’s now snow-white hair was still jet black; Robert Plant was a golden god, not yet a Viking elder, and the late John Bonham ….still ruled the engine room.” For old and new fans alike, this was what everyone wanted: a salute to their old glories and a celebration of their new ones. In 2012, the concert DVD Celebration Day was released, and if you need any proof of their brilliance, listen to the crowd noise on that performance. As if you can hear anything else anyway.

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2 Comments
  1. JOHN J. VAIL April 3, 2016 / Reply
  2. JOHN J. VAIL April 3, 2016 / Reply

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