In 2007, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin – Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones – reunited for a tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegün, which they performed on December 10 that year at London’s O2 Arena, together with drummer Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham. This Saturday, that show will stream live on Led Zeppelin’s YouTube channel at 8:00 p.m. BST (3:00 p.m. EST).
Ertegün was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records, the label that issued the band’s first five albums. Zep’s tribute gig was their first full-length show in almost three decades. The tribute opened with an all-star band, including Keith Emerson, Chris Squire, Alan White and Simon Kirke, who were backed by the brass section from Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings. The concert also featured Paul Rodgers, Paolo Nutini and Foreigner as supporting acts, who played together with the Rhythm Kings as well. Other guests on the Rhythm Kings’ set were Maggie Bell and Alvin Lee.
Zep’s show, the headliner of the event, has been captured in various formats, including a limited big screen release in October 2012, DVD, home audio and CD. My streaming music provider includes the latter, and I listened to it this morning. While perhaps not quite as outstanding as Cream’s 2005 reunion concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, I think it’s pretty great stuff, especially, once you get past the opener Good Times Bad Times, where to me Plant sounds like he’s holding back a bit.
I’m certainly planning to watch this Saturday. Apparently, the stream will be up for two or three days. Here are two clips – a little appetizer, if you want! First up: Black Dog, from Led Zeppelin IV, the band’s forth studio album released in November 1971. The song was co-written by Page, Plant and Jones.
And here’s Kashmir, from Physical Graffiti. Co-written by Bonham, Page and Plant, I’ve always found this tune both a bit weird, yet brilliant at the same time. Physical Graffiti, which appeared in February 1975, was Zep’s sixth studio album, and the first record they released on their own label Swan Song Records, which the band had launched in May 1974.
Sources: Wikipedia; Facebook; YouTube
Christian's Music Musings 
This concert was great. I was wondering how it would come off at the time. I remembered their Live Aid and the 1988 attempts. Jason is something else…he has his dads licks down. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw and heard the concert. They sounded like you would hope they would. When Jimmy is on they are great.
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I’m definitely planning to watch on Saturday. I’ve only listened to the CD and watched a few clips on YouTube. Should be fun!
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To be honest…while some would disagree it sounded better than some of their mid 70s concerts to me. You will have a lot of fun watching it.
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It’s not the first time I heard Zep’s ‘70s shows could be a mixed bag.
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These guys are just flat out good. Power trio with a singer.
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Unfortunately, I never saw Led Zeppelin live. But it’s hard to image they ever sounded better than during that reunion gig. I watched it twice while it was still up on their YouTube channel.
I do seem to recall reading somewhere that the quality of Zep shows in the ‘70s did vary, not to mention their disastrous appearance at Live Aid in 1985. Well, I guess this proves they weren’t faking stuff and played live for real.
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It’s like the last Cream concert. Fantastic.
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That’s exactly what I was thinking!
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