|
San
Diego Sports Arena It
had been a while since I'd seen Jimmy Page and Robert Plant together,
but not as long as one may think. In 1988, I went to New York City to
attend the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert at Madison Square
Garden. The concert was a 13 hour marathon, showcasing new talents Debbie
Gibson and Nu Shooz — both denizens of the 'where are they now'
file — perennial favorites Phil Collins and Crosby, Stills &
Nash, and several of Atlantic's early R&B artists like LaVerne Baker,
Ruth Brown and Ben E. King. The
most anticipated acts were, however, a handful of special groups reuniting
for the event. This included Vanilla Fudge, Average White Band and The
Rascals, to name a few. But it was the closing act of the evening, the
coup de grace of the entire day, the 20-year old proverbial drawing
card and cash cow for Atlantic Records that seemed to have the Garden
buzzing. I can still remember the excitement as Ahmet Ertegan, the Chairman
of The Board for Atlantic Records, stepped up to the podium on the side
of the stage and uttered those two highly anticipated words: "Led
Zeppelin." At
the time, I thought this was about as close as it was going to get to
the real thing. All the important elements were there: Page, Plant,
Jones and...Bonham? Well, actually, it was Jason Bonham who sat
in for his deceased father. And it was quite evident that young Jason
was the only one who bothered to rehearse for the show. Needless to
say, the band's ponderous one-two punch of old was conspicuously absent.
And any ideas for future reunions were firmly put to rest. (NOTE: the
four did reunite when Zeppelin were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. They were joined by Neil Young who gave the entire ensemble a run
for their money) Just
as Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart had done in previous years, the
principle players of Zeppelin decided to take their trip down memory
lane, a la MTV's Unplugged series. Ever the iconoclasts, Jimmy Page and
Robert Plant dubbed their performance UnLedded, and in the grand
tradition of the might Zep, blew away the competition, making the show
the most widely viewed episode in the history of the Unplugged series. Let's
face it: without discounting the contributions of John Paul Jones or the
late John Bonham, the reunion of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant is a Led
Zeppelin fan's dream come true. The mystique that dwelled over the 70's
supergroup may be missing, but for all intents and purposes, Page and
Plant were the band's front line and principal songwriters. Purists may
liken the combination to a strain of diet Zep, but with this outfit
there's an extra shot of caffeine. For
their appearance at the San Diego Sports Arena, the capacity crowd greeted
the legendary duo just as enthusiastically as they did for Zeppelin’s
last appearance in Southern California 18 years before. From the opening
notes of "Thank You” to the final crescendo of "Kashmir,"
Page, Plant and a consortium of support musicians that backed them,
kept the pace alive and exciting, yet never predictable. The inclusion
of Page's "Shake My Tree" (a stand-out track from the ill-fated
Coverdale/Page album) and Plant's "Calling To
You" (the opening guitar cut from his last solo album, Fate
Of Nations) were significant in showing how the guitarist and
singer have come to grips with each other's post-Zeppelin material.
The lack of any of the new Middle Eastern/World flavored tunes from
the duo's No Quarter album aroused a bit of curiosity
over the future of the project. This meant, of course, that the bulk
of the music was drawn from the Zeppelin songbook. And that's apparently
what the 14,000 fans came to hear. For
fans lucky enough to have seen Led Zeppelin in their hey day, there
were several surprises. "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do," the infamous
hit that never appeared on an album, received a swift and smooth treatment.
A medley of "In The Evening/Carouselambra" was especially
intriguing in that the songs appeared on the band's final studio album,
In Through The Out Door. Unfortunately, Zeppelin never
got the chance to tour America with this album. What
is most interesting about this "reunion" is that the songs are
not being recycled for purposes of easy satisfaction. A song like
"Nobody's Fault But Mine," a start and stop hard rocker from
1976, has been completely stripped down and reconfigured with an
acoustic guitar, a banjo, a hurdy-gurdy and a minimal amount of Bonzo's
signature drum fills. It’s almost as if some of the Zep classics have
been injected with new life. Best of all, the new arrangements don't
seem to spoil the true essence of the material. In San Diego, the fans
were just as receptive had the songs remained the same. This overt intention to avoid the cliches and hit parade roll-out of past glories is a commendable attribute. It would have been easy for these guys to whip out "Stairway To Heaven" — arguably the most overplayed and overrated song in history — and many of the fans in attendance were disappointed in its omission from the last set. But Page and Plant understand that the song and the band that played it had its time and place. And if these two expect to take this project any further, it will be that commitment to move ahead and stay fresh that will assure them the repeated success they enjoyed so many years ago. ******************* Click
here to see a *******************
© Copyright
1995, 2001 Vintage Rock |
