Led Zeppelin Reunites at London’s O2 Arena

Cards on the table time. Led Zeppelin was never all that damn great. Black Sabbath had a better rhythm section, Deep Purple had better guitar riffs, and Alice Cooper had a better stage show. However, Zep did get the media and the corporate power behind them (ever wonder why “Stairway to Heaven” was on American radio in 1979 radio but Elvis Costello wasn’t?). They reunited for their first serious concert in 19 years on Monday, and by all accounts, it was a credible result.

One says serious concert because the guys did reunite for Live Aid. It was one of the worst performances of the event, and it looked like they just couldn’t be bothered to get it right. Jimmy Page himself called it a "pretty shambolic” effort. When the Live Aid DVD came out, the lads agreed not to put their stuff on it.

This time, the reviews are much more positive. Hamish MacBain of NME.com, one of the most important music papers on the planet, wrote, “what they have done here tonight is prove they can still perform to the level that originally earned them their legendary reputation.” That is, of course, the goal of every reunion or every comeback attempt – to regain the lightning in the bottle, and to overcome the skeptics’ inherent resistance to the entire idea.

Gavin Martin at the Daily Mirror wrote, “Page may no longer swagger across the stage, his guitar worn low like a gunslinger as he churns out riffs. And Plant can't scream and strut like he did in his rock god heyday. But as they took to the boards for their feverishly anticipated comeback concert, it became clear the music had lost none of its awesome power and majesty.” That raises another issue that often goes unnoticed in revivals and reunions, whether the music itself stands the test of time. Does anyone really want to see a reunion of the Bay City Rollers for the enduring quality of their music?

The real question now is whether this really was just a one-off gig, in honor and memory of their old boss the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun? Or was the nostalgia have a shelf-life of just a day or two? One can’t see men in their 60s returning to the road after a two decade hiatus – Led Zeppelin World Tour 2008-09 won’t be on any real tour jackets. As the old Jethro Tull song put it, "Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die." A studio recording, though, is another matter. Still, the Clash was the only band that mattered.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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