Led Zep wield the hammer of the gods

Photo by pramit
Make no mistake about this; they are as popular as ever. As you probably know or at least should [tag]Led Zeppelin[/tag] reunited and sang yesterday night at London’s O2 Arena. They sang together after about 30 years. They sang heavenly. They sang triumphantly and managed to bring back the spirit which made heavy metal and modern music what it is today.

We have them to thank for a huge number of reasons but they are not going to be covered here. Singing for a sold-out crowd of devotees, VIPs and media from around the world, the band — 59-year-old singer Robert Plant, 61-year-old bassist John Paul Jones and 63-year-old guitarist Jimmy Page, joined by late drummer John Bonham‘s 41-year-old son Jason — proved beyond doubt that age does not matter when you have the gift within you. They may have been the band of your parents; your grandfather may have listened to them regularly. But yesterday night they outplayed just about every band which still exists.

The crowd was as you could expect very receptive and greeted them as they were gods. This could be wrong; but they may have just faced the biggest comeback in rock history. During the 130 minutes which they played you could just feel the energy and emotion in the air. Not few claimed that they are not even going to get close to their former ability; oh were they wrong. Plant sang the odd note in a slightly lower register than the banshee wail of his youth but his form was magnificent. To say bad things about Page would just be blasphemy. Every pour of his skin still breathes the same guitar skills and he is the same fantastic guitarist who manages to sing astonishing solos even with the broken finger which delayed the concert. His hair may have changed and he now has a silver tangle of curls instead of his black locks but man can he play.

They started with “Good Times Bad Times”. No other tune would have been good for this. They nailed without a breath especially Page whose solo is nothing short of amazing. Then “Ramble On” which showed that Plant sings a bit lower but aside from that it sounded the same as it did years ago. Then they went for “Black Dog”. The crowd was frantic. Just ten minutes and they pulled out the big guns. Bonham was able to get the rhythm right without a glimpse during which Page manages to deliver another breathtaking solo and Plant has no problem getting the crowd to sing with him. “In My Time of Dying” makes Page go for a hollow-body electric and make the slides. Then a fantastic display of “For Your Life” goes to show that even without rehearsing it they are fantastic. Page told interviewers the band had rehearsed this buried treasure from Presence, which they never performed live before. Then Jones goes for the keyboard instead of bass for “Trampled Underfoot”. After that they left it a bit slower with “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “No Quarter and Since I’ve Been Loving You”. Jones is in the spotlight again. Since “I’ve Been Loving You” keeps the bluesy groove but you could just feel a hard rocker in the air preparing to be sang. So was the case. They sang “Dazed and Confused” just as they did on the band’s ’77 tour. Page launches into his solo while standing in the middle of a spinning laser pyramid. The only thing which could have followed then was Stairway to Heaven and there is nothing to be said there. Their enchanting performance put critics to silence hopefully for good. “Hey, Ahmet,” says Plant at the end. “We did it.” Indeed they did. Then they recover their breath with “The Song Remains the Same” and “Misty Mountain Hop”.

They were just good to keep the quality music flowing. Wait just a minute. They have been singing for about 100 minutes and just a moment to check how old they are cause they can not be that old. Right? RIGHT? no mistake about their ages and they still play as they were in their mid 20s just beginning a concert. So they went for “Kashmir”. Fantastic performance again and the crowd seemed to be more tired than the band. “Whole Lotta Love” (Encore) was a bit slower but surprisingly sounded heavier and Plant tops it with a scream that was worth waiting 30 years for. “Rock and Roll” (2nd Encore) was then as they couldn’t have closed with anything else and they couldn’t have played it any better than this. Like racers heading for the finish line, they saved one last burst of speed for the end of the race. Fantastic show; hopefully they are not going to stop as fans are screaming for more from these true heroes of rock.

Photo by The_Magician

Photo by plclapp

Photo by Dan Waite

Photo by Dan Waite