Last night, I happened to catch Led Zeppelin… live on film. What a treat that was!
I happened to be flipping channels last night and happened across AXS, a mysterious channel that seems to show a lot of concerts and such. Led Zeppelin circa December 2007 was playing. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was watching was Celebration Day, a concert film that had the aging but still brilliant surviving rockers performing together for the first time in many years. There they were in living color. Lead singer Robert Plant is still sexy as ever with his wild mane of curly brown hair. Still boyishly handsome John Paul Jones was there, playing bass guitar and keyboards. Guitar god Jimmy Page was ministering to the crowd, masterfully playing lead guitar and appearing to enjoy every minute of the performance. Drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, was replaced by his son, Jason, who was keeping up just fine.
This concert film was made from footage taken at the Ahmet Ertegen Tribute Concert on December 10, 2007. It was filmed at London’s O2 arena to a packed and very enthusiastic crowd. While I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed being in that huge crowd myself, it was pretty cool to watch them react to the music, which was played in lower keys to suit Plant’s aging voice. I have to admit, Plant’s voice was in impressive shape for that concert. He doesn’t hit the notes he used to, but he comes close enough.
I read some criticisms of Celebration Day on Amazon.com and some folks claimed that the band had gotten “sloppy”. Given the fact that three out of the four guys on stage were in their sixties at the time this show was filmed and were putting on an energetic show, I thought they did damn well. As of late 2007, it had been a long time since Led Zeppelin had worked together putting out fresh material, but I didn’t see any evidence that these guys had lose their mojo.
Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”…
I’ve always loved Robert Plant’s charisma and vocals, but I have to admit that it was Jimmy Page who captured my attention as I watched this film last night. He looks like he’s having a blast as he effortlessly plays his guitar. John Paul Jones is also very impressive as he moves from bass to keyboards and back again. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that they don’t make bands like this anymore.
I love this interview. Jimmy Page comes off as such a gent.
Apparently, Jimmy Page broke his finger right before this concert was filmed, causing it to be postponed a couple of weeks. Knowing this, I am all the more impressed by how well he plays, since it takes time to recover from broken bones. If you are a fan of Led Zeppelin’s and haven’t seen this film yet, I highly recommend it.
