Led Zeppelin Tour?

[colchar]

By now everyone will have heard that Zeppelin is doing a reunion show in London a couple of weeks from now. Rumours are running around that they will tour next year but Robert Plant has been denying them left and right. But now it seems that there might actually be something to those rumours. Ian Astbury of The Cult told an audience in Cincinatti that they have been asked to be the opening act on the tour. It looks like my dream might finally be coming true:

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/L/Led_Zeppelin/2007/11/22/4676057-sun.html

[YmoBeThere]

Will they do it for the sake of their fans and the music? Nope, the new model is how much money they can collect at concerts from aging fans who now have money, but a dearth of good music to listen too. I went to see the Police in Boston a couple of weeks ago, I felt like one of the younger people there. And I am no spring chicken.

Okay, admittedly not a big fan of much of the newer music today. Perhaps I haven't given it a chance.

[colchar]

Will they do it for the sake of their fans and the music? Nope, the new model is how much money they can collect at concerts from aging fans who now have money, but a dearth of good music to listen too. I went to see the Police in Boston a couple of weeks ago, I felt like one of the younger people there. And I am no spring chicken.



I'm not sure Zeppelin will do this for the money as they've resisted ridiculous offers in the past. At one point, Pepsi offered them something like $100 million (so $25 million each) to do a world tour and they said no. And Plant has said for a long time now that he wasn't interested in doing it and has gone and made all kinds of other music, never worrying about whether or not the music he was making would be successful commercially. Unlike bands like the Police, I honestly don't think Zeppelin would do this for the money. I think they would do it because they wanted to and because they felt like they could perform at their best. And I am certain they would only do one tour and that would be it. I'm not even sure they would bother with a new album. Plant is working with Alison Krause at the moment and they are planning a second album. Plant has been saying for a little while now that he is thinking it is time to retire because he is getting older. I get the feeling he will do a Zeppelin tour and then call it a career.

[cspan37421]

Whenever I hear of some older band getting back together for a tour, I say to myself, "I guess the money is running out." Not that this wouldn't be monumental. Several bands keep having "farewell tours" - Fleetwood Mac and The Who among the prime offenders - but Zep has been 99.9% done since c. 1980 (the 0.1% being a benefit concert or two - Live Aid was one). I see colchar's comments about how well they have resisted the $$ in the past, but I have to wonder, why do it at all, if it isn't about the money (isn't there some movie quote that says when someone says, "It's not about the money", it is about the money?). Zep has been licensing a lot of stuff lately, more collection albums - I suspect it IS about the money. But I have no problem with that - they've earned every cent and then some for what they gave to music.

As much as I think Zep was an amazing band, I find this prospect somewhat underwhelming. It isn't going to bring us to the past, and not just because Bonham is gone (though that's a big part of it). The mystique is gone too. No one is wondering what they'll do next, musically. They're simply reliving past glories and very possibly you'd see better performances by renting the Led Zeppelin DVD from Netflix (the one that has a picture on the cover that looks like it was taken out west - it is very, very good - puts The Song Remains the Same to shame, IMO, though the opening sequence of the latter is iconic).

I never got to see Zeppelin. I saw The Who (before their "collection" albums outnumbered their original works - for shame!) and The Rolling Stones (the concert I saw - Pontiac, MI, 1981 - was terrible, IMO). I saw Beatlemania when Marshall Crenshaw was in the cast (that was actualy excellent). But among the rock gods, I never saw Zep. Bonham died just as I was getting acquainted with In Through the Out Door. So it would be nice to be able to see 3/4ths of this band in my life, but I have a feeling it would be nicer to be able to say that I did, than to actually experience it. Robert Plant's voice is not going have nearly the same wail. Jimmy Page - can he still play like he did? I doubt it.

[wilson]

...I have a feeling it would be nicer to be able to say that I did, than to actually experience it.

I said the same to myself as I walked in to see the Stones at Wally Wade. Then I ate my words, and they were delicious.

[cspan37421]

Glad they were for you. When I saw them, in the Pontiac Silverdome, Mick forgot half the words to most of their songs, and he couldn't sing worth a lick (sorry!) anyway. One might say the size of the arena and the acoustics of that era were responsible, but Santana and Iggy Pop opened up and they were both amazing.

So do you think Zep would recapture enough of the magic for you? Who sits behind the Ludwig kit?

[The Gordog]

Who sits behind the Ludwig kit?

Isn't Jason Bonham a drummer?

[willywoody]

Isn't Jason Bonham a drummer?

and he is zep's drummer for their concert.

[wilson]

So do you think Zep would recapture enough of the magic for you?

I really do. They obviously wouldn't be at the top of their game, but their best stuff is so much better than anything else out there these days that that's ok with me.
That said, I'm almost hoping they don't go on tour, because I highly doubt I'd be able to afford tickets.

[DevilAlumna]

That said, I'm almost hoping they don't go on tour, because I highly doubt I'd be able to afford tickets.

Two words: Radio Contest.

[wilson]

Two words: Radio Contest.

Point taken, but that route is far too great a craphsoot for me to place any faith in it, and I have no intention of living in a Geo Metro for 5 weeks or some other such nonsense to get them.