News: Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert 10 December 2007

[kayo]

Having read all the news reports of the "critics" it was a resounding success.

I was only forty five minutes away, and at home listening to old albums of theirs.

All Photo's nabbed with credit to the NME Website

Remember, the year I was born, was the last time they played together a full gig live/ 1979//

Then: and Now:

Robert PLANT

Full set list

Good Times Bad Times

Ramble On

Black Dog

In My Time Of Dying

For Your Life

Trampled Under Foot

Nobody's Fault But Mine

No Quarter

Since I've Been Loving You

Dazed and Confused

Stairway To Heaven

The Song Remains The Same

Misty Mountain Hop

Kashmir

Encores:

Whole Lotta Love

Rock And Roll

From the Guardian (Uk)

Tonight, however, after a tentative, feedback-scarred opener of Good Times Bad Times, it's difficult to believe this is a band who have barely played together for the best part of three decades. They sound awesomely tight.

from the (london) times online:

At a rehearsal a few weeks ago, Plant was heard to complain about the challenges of divining a voice of a 20-year-old from the body of a 60-year-old man.

He needn’t have worried. Older equipment may take a while to get going, but once the requisite valves heat up, the quality is unmistakeable. And so it turned out 15 minutes in, when a bracing round of call-and-response oh-yeahs triggered an incendiary Black Dog. Plant’s quick kick to the base of his mike stand sent it flying up into the path of his hand. Page

dispensed powerchords like an aged Thor lobbing down thunderbolts for kicks. It had been good before, but something of the devil seemed to get hold of them at this point

....

Their heaviosity has always been the cornerstone of their reputation but it was astonishing to see how funky they could be for a rock band.

...

With a synergy like this going on, it would be an act of cosmic perversity to stop now

From the Telegraph (UK)

could it possibly live up to the expectation? Well: I was blown away.

...I felt a little sorry for the string of support acts who had warmed up the crowd - star names such as Bill Wyman, Keith Emerson, Paul Rodgers and Foreigner, but whose contributions were immediately swept away like dust in the breeze by the awesome foursome.

Then it got better.

...

Then it got better still...

...

Byzantine riff, pulverising drums, hollering vocals....

How much better could it get? Here's how much: In My Time of Dying, driven by such a dark, filthy, shivery blues riff, the electrifying change of pace, drums and guitar locked into a sensational groove. It scarcely seemed possible that a group could be this good.

...

Bonham was astonishing

From the Sun (UK)

MOST modern number one hits could fit into one of their guitar solos.

LED ZEPPELIN returned to the stage last night with their first full set in 19 years — and younger members of the crowd had heard nothing like it.

Manufactured pop is ruling the charts and young music fans are an impatient sort.

Maybe that’s why the bars at the O2 Arena in Greenwich filled during some of the band’s winding rock epics.

But their classics proved music doesn’t rock like it used to.

....

Original members JIMMY PAGE, ROBERT PLANT and JOHN PAUL JONES were joined by ...drummer JOHN BONHAM’s son, JASON, 41.

The trio — with a combined age of 183 — burst on stage and opened with Good Times Bad Times, the first track of their debut album.

Robert Plant... still had the energy to strut his 59-year-old body across the stage.

...

As the band settled into a series of songs....

Some of the old Zeppelin remained — during a monumentally long instrumental, Plant had time to go off stage as Page continued to play.

One thing not so new was when in the middle of Dazed And Confused, Page got out his violin bow and started to play his guitar with it, in his trademark style.

After more than an hour the bulk of the fans got what they seemed to want most — a rendition of Stairway To Heaven.

When the lights went out a massive demand for an encore brought them back to play Whole Lotta Love.

The adulation of 20,000 almost-equally tired fans ringing in their ears, they trooped away into the darkness.

Fans of all ages had travelled from around the world to see the group and they weren’t disappointed – giving huge ovations and raving after the show.

Support act PAOLO NUTINI, 20, told The Sun: “I wasn’t alive the first time around but I’ve seen the footage on DVD.

“Now watching them live, I’ve been taught a true musical lesson.

“They were just so intense and so tight, even after all these years.

“I was just blown away.”

and finally - for this post: NME Music Magazine:

Led Zeppelin played a storming show at their first (full) UK gig in (27) years at the 02 Arena in London tonight (December 10).

The long-awaited performance was the headline slot at a tribute show for Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who died earlier this year and was instrumental in building the band's career in the 1970s.

Frontman Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones were joined by Jason Bonham on drums - son of John, the band's original drummer who died in 1980 signalling the end of the original band's 12-year career.

There had been brief reformations before - including Live Aid in 1985 - but tonight was the first full set the group had played since headlining Knebworth in 1979.

An estimated nine million people applied for the 18,000 tickets, and despite the quiet sound there was mass hysteria as the band performed their classics before a crowd including Paul McCartney, Oasis' Noel and Liam Gallagher, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Lulu, Arctic Monkeys, Kate Moss and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.

The 16-song set kicked off at 9pm GMT prompt and included classics such as opener 'Good Times Bad Times', 'Kashmir', 'Ramble On', 'Black Dog', 'Dazed And Confused', 'Whole Lotta Love' and rousing closer 'Rock And Roll', during the second of two encores.

There were also a few surprises thrown in - the disco funk of 'Trampled Under Foot' from 1975's 'Physical Graffiti' made an appearance, as did 'For Your Life' from 1976's 'Presence' - the first time the band have ever performed the track live.

Plant spoke little during the show, but when he did it was mostly to pay tribute to Ertegun, who he said after first encore 'Whole Lotta Love' "ran the best label in the world" in Atlantic Records.

After playing classic 'Stairway To Heaven' the singer exclaimed: "Ahmet, we did it!"

He also said before 'For Your Life': "The past few weeks have been full of a thousand emotions for Ahmet, for bringing Jason (Bonham) in."

He also individually introduced each other member of the band during the course of the two-hour performance.

The four-piece, dressed almost entirely in black except for Page's white shirt, played in front of a massive video screen which featured straight shots of the band at first, but then exploded into psychedelic colours for 'Kashmir', the best received song of the evening.

Before that track, Plant declared: "There are people from 50 countries here. This is the 51st."

[lannarebirth]

EXCELLENT report Kayo. Wish I could have been there. Think I'll put some on.

[rgs2001uk]

top post kayo, 10/10 go to the top of the class.

just for the record, the last ever lz concert in the uk was 11 august 1979 at knebworth, the last ever lz concert was 7 july 1980 in berlin, for the americans the last ever concert in the states was 24 july 1977 at the oakland coliseum.i dont have that show but i have the other 2.

[Goshawk]

live at the O2 Arena, 10th Dec 2007

[Zpete]

Led Zeppelin, too mod for my taste.

[skycop1951]

One of the Few I wanted to See That I did not!

Very nicely done...