Jason Bonham is currently in the midst of a 23 city trek across the U.S. and Canada to celebrate his dad John Bonzo Bonham’s legacy while playing the music of the legendary Led Zeppelin. John Bonham died in 1980 and so did the chance of Led Zeppelin continuing on without him. Jason participated in a recent Zeppelin reunion with him sitting in on drums for a show at the O2 arena in London, England on December 10, 2007 that celebrated the life of the bands Atlantic Record Executive Ahmet Ertegn. Although anxiously awaiting a great project called Black Country Communion to take shape, it was important for Jason to pay tribute to his dad.
The show started off with a bang when the boys launched into Rock and Roll. Jason took the stage with Stephen LeBlanc on keyboards, Michael Devin on bass, Tony Catania on guitar, and James Dylan on vocals. All fantastic musicians in their own right who didn’t try to emulate any predecessors, but rather carved out their own niche on such classics as Babe Im Gonna Leave You, I Cant Quit You Baby, and Kashmir, all which received standing ovations.
Jason talked about how he was introduced to the band by hearing side 1 of Led Zeppelin 2 at the age of 2. Different images of him throughout his early childhood years accompanied him throughout the evenings performance. At the start of set 2 a funny clip of him dancing for his parents was such a hoot; that alone was worth the price of admission! He also talked about the biggest night in his life which was the performance of the O2 show.
This show definitely satisfied the appetite of those Zeppelin fans that thought a reunion would eventually happen after the O2 show. The players may be different but its a show that is worth seeing and a show that his dad would surely be proud of!
An experience like this is different every night but on this night, the set list was as follows:
Set List:
Set 1:
Rock and Roll
Celebration Day
Black Dog
Your Time is Gonna Come
Babe, Im Gonna Leave You
Dazed and Confused
Ramble On
I Cant Quit You Baby/The Lemon Song
Thank You
Moby Dick
Set 2:
Good Times Bad Times
How Many More Times
Since Ive Been Loving You
When the Levee Breaks
The Ocean
The Rover
Im Gonna Crawl
Stairway to Heaven
Kashmir
Encore:
Whole Lotta Love
We would like to thank Bari Lieberman from MSOPR for allowing BackstageAxxess to review the show. We also would like to extend a special thank you to Jody Carson from Phil Carson Associates for the hospitality that she and the rest of Jason’s staff provided to BackstageAxxess.
