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12/10/2007: "Never Say Never Again"

It's a dangerous thing to say never, especially when so many things can influence your decision. That's particularly true if one of those influences is cold hard cash.

Back in the early '80s, shortly after leaving the Eagles for a solo career, Don Henley was asked if the group would ever get back together. "When hell freeezes over," he famously replied. Their 1994 reunion album carried the obvious title: "Hell Freezes Over". More recently, Van Halen - the rock and roll equivalent of a train wreck for the last decade - reunited with original singer David Lee Roth for a mini-tour ... complete with Eddie Van Halen's son on bass (it's worth noting that the house of guitarist Van Halen was extensively damaged this morning when a water main inexplicably burst and flooded his Coldwater Canyon home. Even God doesn't want them to tour ... ).

Now it's time for the ultimate supergroup to show if the lure of money can make them do something they'll regret. Tonight, for the first time since the 1980 death of drummer John Bonham, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin will take the stage in London - accompanied by Bonham's son Jason on drums. To say that demand has been brisk is an understatement. London's O2 Arena has seating for 20,000, but over 11 million people entered an online lottery for a shot at tickets - with the lowest having a face value of over $250 US!

So the real question isn't whether the band can sell tickets - clearly, people are willing to give them a shot. But with guitarist Jimmy Page a grandfatherly 64, and the others not far behind, can they rock? We've watched the Rolling Stones - themselves only a couple of years older - fade into a pale shadow of themselves over the years. Other than Plant's solo career in the '80s and a periodic paring between Page and Plant over the years, we don't really know what these guys have got left in the tank.

Either they'll rock, or they'll suck ... which means that in either case, they'll go over like a ... wait for it ... Led Zeppelin!

Replies: 3 Comments

On Tuesday, December 11th, Ravelling Tangler said:

I'm writing this 12 hours after the Led Zep concert at the "O2" arena (formerly called the Millenium Dome).

Apparently it was very good. Lasted about 145 minutes. The fans said they were "at the top of their game".

Now, of course "everyone" is trying to talk them into going on tour ......

er....."rock on !" ?

Wonder if I can get a spread bet on how much longer the Rolling Stones will be performing live? Wonder if I could guess ?
No - could be a year or decades......

On Tuesday, December 11th, TunaciousBob said:

They are the one band I did not get to see live here in SoCal during the 70's, 80's. I love the music. The local tv princess remarked that some fans paid scalpers 170,000 for tickets. I just hope that was in dollars and not the euro. I think it would be a much bigger event than when the Eagles re-united.

On Tuesday, December 11th, MarlinNut said:

I was at the Eagles first reunion concert in SD in 1994. That was amazing, but I'd go see LZ in a heartbeat ...