Jaw-dropping Led Zeppelin news to start the new year with – Jimmy Page’s manager has confirmed that the remaining members of the band are planning to reform. But they’re going to replace Robert Plantand they’re going to take this new act on tour and into the studio to record a new album.
From the report – which I just read on NME – Peter Mensch (a far more reliable source than The Sun) told BBC 6Music that Page and Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones enjoy working together, and that John Bonham’s son Jason seems to be more than happy to sign on as drummer.
Robert Plant has denied falling out with his former Led Zeppelin bandmates – insisting there is no rift over his decision not to join them for a reunion world tour.
The singer reunited with his bandmates for a one-off gig in London in December 2007, but has opted out of a planned comeback, leaving the other rockers to search for a replacement vocalist.
Plant admits that he couldn’t bring himself to go back to Led Zeppelin because he is working on such different music in his solo collaborations with Alison Krauss.
What’s the ultimate Led Zeppelin song? In my humble opinion, it’s not Whole Lotta Love, Dazed And Confused or even Stairway To Heaven.
It’s a less well-known tune called Traveling Riverside Blues. In keeping with the Delta Blues obsession that spawned the blues rock of the late 60’s/early 70’s, the song is based on Robert Johnson’s original of the same name.
The version of the song that Zep recorded back in 1969 resurfaced in 1990 on the Remasters box set, and then again in a compilation of early Led Zeppelin live songs called BBC Sessions.
As we said last week amid all the speculation of a Led Zeppelin reunion – it ain’t over with Zep until someone releases an official statement.
And now someone has released an official statement: stand up Mr Robert Plant. Via his website, Plant has released an official statement saying that he’s not planning to tour for at least the next two years, and that he will certainly not be touring with Led Zeppelin.
The Led Zeppelin rumour mill has been in overdrive since way back in June 2007 – that’s when we first started talking about possible reunions.
As you all know, Robert, Jimmy and John reunited, with the rightful heir to the drum riser, Jason Bonham, and the band performed a one-off concert in London last autumn.
This could be the dictionary definition of ‘awesome’, Leona Lewis joining Jimmy Page onstage at the Olympics for a barn-storming rendition of Whole Lotta Love.
It looks like Jimmy’s got tired of the short hair he’s been sporting for the last few years. Is it worth reminding you that we’re among the biggest Led Zeppelin fans on the planet, so just watching Jimmy strut his stuff onstage brings on an attack of the goosebumps!
In what Idolator described as an Aguilera-like performance, Leona Lewis did an awesome performance of the song. OK, it wasn’t quite Robert-Plant-squeezing-lemons quality, but it cements Lewis’s position as a class act. And doesn’t she look hot?
Maybe it’s time to start some rumours about Lewis taking Plant’s place for a reformation of Led Zeppelin? Perhaps we’ll get that world tour after all…
Although the best bit by far was Beckham launching a ball into the audience and knocking over some Chinese audience member!
Wouldn’t you hate to be Robert Plant right now? Half the western world is baying for Led Zeppelin to reform for a final tour, and he’s away playing festivals with bluegrass diva Alison Krauss.
The dilemma is all the more acute because the Led Zeppelin gig at the O2 Arena whetted our appetites for more. And because live Led Zeppelin has been a scarce commodity since 1980, the fact that Plant may be holding things up must be driving fans crazy with frustration.
But Robert Plant has always charted his own course and seems to want to explore new musical ambitions rather than relive his glory days. That must be a source of annoyance for Jimmy Page, who’s spent most of his post-Zep career remastering and repackaging Zeppelin material.
We’re not ones for idle speculation here at Unreality Music. That’s why we didn’t entertain rumours of a Led Zeppelin tour to follow on from their appearance at the O2 arena.
Let’s face it, anyone who knows anything about Zeppelin would realise that Robert Plant was too excited about his album with Alison Kraus to jump straight into a Zeppelin tour. And that’s exactly what Jimmy Page confirmed recently when he spoke to the press on a promotional tour of Tokyo.
Fed up with Led Zeppelin reunion and tour rumours? Let’s be like the tabloid press and make up some of our own! I’ll go first…
In a surprise announcement earlier today, Jimmy Page has confirmed that Led Zeppelin will reunite for a second time for an intimate concert in the headquarters of Unreality Music.
Robert Plant is reportedly so excited about the gig that he has apparently cancelled the rest of his tour with singer Alison Kraus. Drummer Jason Bonham will not be reprising his role, instead Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl will realise a lifelong ambition by pounding the skins on such tracks as Kashmir and Dazed And Confused.
I won’t waste time with unnecessary introductions – this is a video of an Australian Beatles cover band doing their version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven.
They literally pull every Beatles trick from the early days. I especially love the way they handled the “and as we wind on down the road…” section.
