Led Zeppelin reviews
Bluegal at Crooks and Liars linked to three reviews of Led Zeppelin's performance at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at London's O2 Arena a few weeks ago. This New Yorker review by Sasha Frere-Jones, my favorite of all the ones I've read, enthuses that "it's unlikely that you will see another band with a collective age of two hundred and twenty-four that is as ferocious as this one," but concludes that "Led Zeppelin is a cover band now, covering its own material:"
Without John Bonham, the band can only sound like Led Zeppelin; it can't be Led Zeppelin. The band should turn down the money and let its record stand. The failed gigs of the nineteen-eighties and nineties have been supplanted by a triumph, and the band should be pleased to have done Ertegun proud with such a spirited performance. I look forward to any chance I get to see Plant, Page, or Jones play live. But let the songs remain.
I've listened to a few bootlegged recordings of the O2 show, and LZ II sounded quite good--certainly much better than any of the previous one-off reunions (isn't it amazing what a little practice will do?). The transposition of some songs into a lower key to help mask Plant's aging vocal cords was a trivial complaint, as these old lions can still roar convincingly. Page and Plant were as entrancing and captivating as the last time I'd seen them, and the Jones/Jason Bonham rhythm section forged the four musicians' collective sound into a hammer of the gods that had both power and suppleness.
I eagerly await the official DVD release, and (perhaps?) a tour.