Film Review - Led Zeppelin Celebration Day

I am in a ‘guys book club.’ Here is the way it works – we rotate months, someone picks a theme and a book to go along with it. We don’t read the book and we gather at some place that matches the theme to have a night out. Great concept, huh? We’ve “read” The Killer Angels (paint ball), Rat Pack Confidential (Portland Supper Club crooner night), and Adult Paparazzi - Nude Bowling Issue (bowling – maybe a few of us looked at this book too).

My night was in October, so of course I suggested we all ‘read’ Hammer of the Gods and attend as our event, the one-night-only theater screening of the Led Zeppelin film “Celebration Day.”

For those of you unaware, this is a two-hour concert film that captures the sights, sounds and smells of Led Zeppelin in 2007 when the band reunited for its first full-length concert since 1980 and its third reunion including the atrocious Live Aid appearance and the slightly less than atrocious Atlantic Records 40th anniversary show.

In those latter mini-gigs, the band was woefully under-rehearsed and mainly Page was the weak link. I’ll never forget them getting totally lost in the middle of Kashmir (the song) in the Atlantic records set.

For this 2007 concert, they were incredibly polished, confident and kick ass. I thought the weak link would be Plant, but he sounded great, despite the fact that the band tuned a handful of songs to a lower key to accommodate his voice.

But from the opening chords of Good Times Bad Times, the 16-song set picks up speed like Felix Baumgartner from 125,000 feet (minus the spinning) and just really never stops.

The set list was perfect – a good mix of songs they “had to play” per Plant, such as Stairway, Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love and Rock and Roll, and deep cuts like For Your Life, In My Time of Dying, Trampled Under Foot and Misty Mountain Hop.

The film was all concert – no backstage or backstory, and showed precious little of the audience. It was all about the band and the interplay between all of the musicians

Thankfully John Paul Jones gets as much screen time as Page and Plant (unlike most of the concert videos of Zeppelin), as he is the true secret weapon of that group. In this concert film, you get to see how much he really does in that band.

Jason Bonham did his homework and was fantastic. Page does not quite have his chops back to 70s level but he was impressive nonetheless. If this band had indeed toured, he would have risen to a sick level of playing. But he is clearly confident and digging playing these tunes with his old band again.

In fact there are a lot of smiles all around, nicely captured by the film crew. It’s a real joy to dig this classic band kick ass one last time.

Celebration Day comes out on November 19 in various DVD, CD and Blu Ray formats will extra goodies like footage from the rehearsals. But I have to say, just the two hour concert is worth it.

I found this official video of Kashmir from the film. All of my book club buddies agreed that this song in particular blew everyone away. See what you think:



Here is the full set list:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Ramble On
3. Black Dog
4. In My Time Of Dying
5. For Your Life
6. Trampled Under Foot
7. Nobody’s Fault But Mine
8. No Quarter
9. Since I’ve Been Loving You
10. Dazed And Confused
11. Stairway To Heaven
12. The Song Remains The Same
13. Misty Mountain Hop
14. Kashmir
15. Whole Lotta Love
16. Rock And Roll

Zeppelin to Tour with New Singer? Is Myles Kennedy In?

Myles Kennedy. You may remember him from the metal band Alter Bridge. Or maybe not! But if you have seen the movie Rock Star, you will for sure remember him as the singer who takes Mark Wahlberg's place at the end of the movie (see video below).

Kennedy actually has some interesting stats behind him. According to Wikipedia, he possesses a 4-octave vocal range, with his longest held single note timed at 22 seconds; his longest note streak with one breath is 31 seconds.

He may need it. If reports are to be believed, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham are rehearsing with Kennedy with the intent of doing a Led Zeppelin tour without Robert Plant.

As reported today by the NME:

Led Zeppelin have replaced their frontman Robert Plant with American singer Myles Kennedy, according to reports. MuchMoreMusic claims that Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham have been rehearsing with Kennedy recently, after Plant issued a statement quashing rumours of a reunion tour and album.

Of course, the source for this rumor is Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder, who recently said in an interview, "They're saying [to Robert], 'We're all rehearsed, we're ready to go. Here's a gazillion dollars on the table. If you don't do it, we're going out with this kid. And he can sing the shit out of Zeppelin.' And they're gonna hope that Robert, at the last minute, will go, 'Okay,' and step in before having the lead singer of Alter Bridge out with John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham."

We'll see! Kennedy certainly has the pipes, but I am sure there will be a fair amount of backlash if this project is called "Led Zeppelin." At least there will no mistaking the new frontman for Robert Plant, even from afar. A lesson KISS could learn as they continue to trick fans into thinking they are touring with the original four.

Robert Plant Says No Way to Zeppelin Reunion

Robert Plant issued an official statement on his Web site yesterday, putting to rest the rumors of a Zeppelin reunion for good:

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are currently touring the USA on the last leg of their 'Raising Sand' tour. They played a benefit concert in Oklahoma City for victims of Hurricane Ike last Friday; Austin, Texas last Saturday and tomorrow they play Portland, Oregon before finishing the tour in Saratoga, California on October 5th.

After those dates, Robert has no intention whatsoever of touring with anyone for at least the next two years. Contrary to a spate of recent reports, Robert Plant will not be touring or recording with Led Zeppelin. Anyone buying tickets online to any such event will be buying bogus tickets.

“It‘s both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to
rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward,” Robert Plant said.

“I wish Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham nothing but success with any future projects,” he added.

I guess it makes sense. Interviews on Eddie Trunk and other programs have talked about while Plant for sure pulled off the one-off reunion vocally, making a lengthy go at it on the road would have been very challenging. Let's just hope Page, Jones and Jason Bonham don't make some boner decision like hiring David Coverdale for their new project!

Plant Says No to $200 Million for Zep Tour

Get a good look at the video below. It's Zeppelin doing Kashmir last December at the reunion show for Ahmet Ertegün. Look at it closely. See how they rock.

Now come to grips with the fact that this is probably the closest we'll get. Robert Plant has officially out the kibosh on a tour. Read all the details in the LA Times, but Plant would rather keep working with Allison Krauss than his old fishing buddies. Even if it cost him $200 million.

Yep - the standing offer would net he, Page and Jones $200 million - EACH.

In a London Daily Mirror story, a band source said: "Despite the enormous offer, the decision did not come down to money. They always said they would do the one-off show and then see how they felt. Jimmy had enjoyed the concert in December enough to want to tour. He argued they still had something to offer. He likes the idea of another chapter in the band - the grown-up tour. John Paul Jones sided with Jimmy. He loved making music with the others again. But, Robert wanted to leave last year's concert as their legacy. They had proved they could still do it and that was enough."

Whatever. His, and our, loss.

Zeppelin Changing Keys?

From Eddie Trunk's site: The Sun reports that Led Zeppelin are rearranging classic tracks for the upcoming reunion gig after Robert Plant found he could no longer hit the high notes (told ya).

The band have been rehearsing songs in a lower key because 59-year-old Plant's voice is deeper. The Sun's source revealed yesterday: "He and guitarist Jimmy Page have had a few heated discussions about the upcoming gig. Jimmy is a bit rusty and Robert has been struggling with the high notes. To avoid any embarrassing vocal wobbles with the world watching, they decided it would be best to transpose the songs in a lower key."

This is the first of anything negative I have heard about the reunion (except for Page forcing thousands of people to change flight/hotel reservations due to his injured finger).

Of course, people are bound to be critical and/or negative ahead of the show. I am sure it will rock, but moving songs into a lower key is a drag. As we've seen with live key-lowerings by The Police, ELP and even when Rush did "Circumstances" on their last tour in a lower key, lowering the key affects the mood of the song, and usually in a subliminally negative way.

Just like with drastically slowing down tempo, lowering the key more often than not drags the song down and makes it feel like 'something is not quite right.' I am sure there are loads of Zep songs Plant could sing, but they'd likely have to skip many of the 'hits.' So they lower the key. Ugh.

I guess we'll see what happens! (Note that to my knowledge Yes has never changed the key on any of their songs live and Jon Anderson can still belt the shit out of them? Just had to throw that in there)

Zeppelin Gets Its Own XM Satellite Channel

On the heels of the one-off reunion gig and the upcoming CD and DVD release of the mediocre yet classic concert film "The Song Remains The Same," get ready for "XM Led," a whole channel on XM Radio devoted to Zeppelin.

As if you could not hear Stairway on any local classic rock station at any hour of any day...

From Eddie Trunk's news feed:

XM Satellite Radio will launch a new channel dedicated to the music of Led Zeppelin on November 8th.

The new channel, "XM LED: The Led Zeppelin Channel" (XM 59), will feature the band's complete audio catalog, interviews with band members and other unique content that celebrates the musical contributions of the band.

XM's U.S. premiere of "The Song Remains the Same" soundtrack reissue will air in its entirety at 12 midnight ET on November 8th with encore broadcasts airing all day to kick off "XM LED."

For the record, I own everything Zeppelin ever officially released, plus a couple of live bootlegs and that totals about 14 hours of music - I guess it will be 15 or 16 once Song Remains the Same is out. Unless XM has access to some unreleased stuff or goes into all of the various solo careers, they will be repeating a lot of music every day and this station is going to get stale fast!

From the same story:

Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page has hinted that he would be up for more reunion shows.

Page said: "At the moment, I'm told we're doing one gig. That's a bit unfortunate for all the people that would have liked to have seen us, but I can understand why some of the other members don't want to be touring."

Zeppelin Reunion - No Tour?

Looks like the Led Zeppelin reunion gig will be a one-off, with no follow up tour. If you believe Robert Plant.

Last week, Plant cited his age and basic unwillingness to go on the road, saying "There'll be one show and that'll be it. We need to do one last great show because we've done some shows and they've been crap." He's got that right!

Plant may even be edging towards retirement: "I know I'm getting on. When I do come back from touring, I'm shocked to find a lot of my mates tend to be going to bed far too early, and that means I should probably be doing the same. Maybe I should stop having a good time and get old."

Then again, Plant denied the one off reunion for months, so who knows?

More from MTV.com.

Zeppelin Reunion Tour? You Heard it Here First...

...Or you read it where I did, from the Eddie Trunk Web site. I guess Page, Plant and Jones are lined up to reunite for an upcoming concert honoring the memory of Atlantic Records guru Ahmet Ertegun.

No hard details are available but the source still threw out this nugget: "...no one can quite believe it, but during discussions about the concert they all gave the green light to a tour if it all does well and they don't all fall out."

I'll put this one out there to the readers: Would you go to a Zeppelin reunion concert? Before you answer, remember LiveAid? The show was so bad Zep didn't allow its inclusion in the recently released DVD.