cungar

Jason Bonham Launches ‘Zep Experience’ Tour

Three years after the reunion show, son of late Zeppelin drummer forms his own band

Canham/GettyBy Andy Greene
Aug 18, 2010 7:09 AM EDT
Three years after picking up his late father’s drum sticks for Led Zeppelin’s London reunion concert, Jason Bonham, son of John, is taking the band’s music on the road as the Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience. He refuses to name his bandmates -- “Some of them are known people, and I wouldn’t want anyone to make a pre-judged idea of who these people are until they hear them on the first night,” he tells Rolling Stone -- but does admit he would rather be playing stadiums with the actual Led Zeppelin. “That one [reunion] concert was the highlight of my life, and I know that sounds kind of sad,” says Bonham.



See rare and vintage photos of Led Zeppelin

Robert Plant, however, refused. “I’ve had many a talk with Robert over these last couple of years about why we didn’t carry on,” Bonham explains. “He said to me, ‘You were great all night and I love ya and your dad would be so proud of you, but Led Zeppelin was John. We had something very, very special and I’d like to keep that part of my life very, very special.’ I dug what he said, but at the same time I wanted us to go on.”

After that, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Bonham began rehearsing in private as a trio. “In 2008 we did twenty-one days of rehearsals,” says Bonham. “It was magical days for me, jamming just for the fun of it.” He won’t confirm or deny reports that Steven Tyler and Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy sat in with the group. “People have said that and I’m not calling them liars,” he says. “There were certainly other people involved that were famous and very good in their own way. We talked about touring, but I don’t think it was ever going to be called Led Zeppelin. No one person called it off. It was just a kind of ‘we agreed to disagree’ vibe.’ There was no uproar or anything.”

When it became clear that no incarnation of Led Zeppelin would hit the road, Bonahm started to seriously consider longtime offers to create a tribute band. “This was a tough one for me, because I never imagined myself doing something like that,” he admits. “The people that put on the Beatles tribute show Rain approached me, and made me realize that I could do this while continuing to feed my own creativity and not feeling like a sell-out.” The tribute tour kicks off October 8th in Dawson Creek British Columbia. Bonahm says the show will feature his five piece band, archival video and his personal memories of Led Zeppelin.

Bonham also plans to tour with Black Country Communion, a new band that features former Deep Purple bassist Glen Hughes and guitarist Joe Bonamossa. “I’d love to play Zeppelin songs like ‘Lemon Song’ and ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ with them,” says Bonham. “I’d also love to do the Deep Purple Tracks ‘Burn’ and ‘Highway star.’” All these plans will be put on hold, however, should Robert Plant ever change his mind. “I never say never,” says Bonham. “If they made the call I’d swim there if I had to.”

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Mikael79

If anyone has the right to do this, I'd imagine it would be Bonham's son.

Fist of Doom

There are tons of tribute bands around. I've got no problem with this at all.

NORML54601

^ Agreed

fiver

Got no problem with this. I saw Zappa Plays Zappa at progressive nation and it was a perfectly awesome experience - I don't even dig the original zappa music that much

So if Jason Bonham wants to do this, I'd say give it a chance.
Michael

Giantrobo

Yeah I'm cool with this too.

AnonomusBob15

I really dont like tribute bands. The music is good because it belongs to someone else. Jason Bonham needs to worry about creating his own legacy if he wants to be a musician, not riding off his dads'.

Tribute bands are good for bars in college towns. Touring on someone else's music is LAME.

B5Erik

Since the original guys refuse to tour and play the classic music why not do this? Bonham does have his own thing going on with Black Country Communion, but Zeppelin is special to him and he loves playing the songs.

My guess is that these shows are going to be pretty darned good.

anomynous

He would have a REALLY hard time, if not impossible time, doing that because of who his dad is

Decker

How the hell did that one London show never get released on either DVD or CD. Is someone allergic to money?

cungar

Plant, Page and Jones would beg to differ

The Antipodean

"prostitute"? Disagree.

mickey65

Jason Bonham released an album of Zeppelin songs a few years back. This is nothing new for him.

As long as the rest of the guys are cool with it, no biggie.

One of my favorite Zep tribute bands is Lez Zeppelin. Their album is pretty good. Those gals can rock!

The Cow

I'd go see the show if it came reasonably close.

rw2516

That's just the way they are. Go figure. They have tapes of every show they ever did. There's some money, minus the costs of making them presentable for release.

JAA

Agreed!

Mikael79

It doesn't really sound like they are all against it, but rather that they didn't want to be a part of it. I fully understand and accept their desire to not want to continue Led Zeppelin without Bonham, but a tribute band can't really hurt the legacy of a legendary band.

cungar

Great White? I'll take your word for it.

Chrisedge

Considering they have used bootlegs to fill out their official releases, I doubt they have tapes of every show they did.

Jack Straw

Well, I think we all know the real reason the tour didn't get off the ground is that a certain member could not consistently hit his high notes anymore. Not pointing any fingers though.

cungar

Thoroughly unconvinced

Decker

Man, if there were ever a band that shouldn't use an image of a large structure bursting into flames on one of their albums' cover, it's Great White.

Rocketdog2000

This wouldn't be the first time Bonham has covered his father's music. He already did an album of live covers back in 1997...




And by the by, I quite like the Great White album of live covers, too. I've played that album for people and actually had them think it was Zeppelin. They get written off far to easy - it's a shame they'll likely now only be known for the fire tragedy.

Another similar album that springs to mind is...



...but at least the Black Crowes had Jimmy Page playing with them, and for a 2 disc set, it also isn't all Zeppelin tunes, either.

kilcher

Meh, I thought he had done this already. In the 90's when he had his one hit with Bonham, a girlfriend of mine wanted to go see them. They played about a half hour of their own material and then about 90 minutes of Zeppelin. Coincidentally (or not so much) the lead singer was very reminiscent of Robert Plant.

I didn't want to go but it ended up being really cool.

Michael Corvin

I listened to all 3. Pretty solid, IMO.

Not a tribute album but I love Tesla's take on Thank You.