What, No Black Dog?

Can it be done? Can Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience do their show and not perform Black Dog? Not perform Dazed and Confused? Not even have guitarist Tony Catania use the Theremin?

It can be, and was done Saturday Night at Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario.



There were problems it seems, both technical and logistical. From a technical standpoint, Tony Catania seemed to be having some issues. Early on he slipped into a solo, hit on a pedal, and nothing. The sound died. At other times he just seemed to be having trouble. The theremin sat on the stage all night un-used, another clue of technical difficulties.

This is not to say Catania didn't play well, or spent all night with a deer in the headlights look, wondering why God was failing him so. All told, the look of "what the..." totalled thirty second or a minute of a two hour show, and if you weren't close enough, weren't watching the guitarist with the intensity only a hobbyist can apply to a professional, then you probably noticed nothing wrong.

[caption id="attachment_1573" align="alignnone" width="422" caption="James Dylan, "Goin Down Now...""][/caption]

The logistical problem was venue related. The casino's love to get 5,000 music fans into their casino who might not otherwise come. But once there, they don't really want them sitting pin the hall watching a show. If they had their choice, you would buy your ticket, then just come to the casino and gamble. So they put a rider in the bands contract, maximum 90 minute show.

After the show, both James Dylan and Stephen Leblanc mentioned that they had to cut songs from the set list. The longer songs took the hit, with Dazed and Confused, it was mentioned by both Dylan and LeBlanc, getting cut. With the tight time, Whole Lotta Love got a short, Over Europe 1980 treatment. It wasn't until the next day I realized Black Dog wasn't played either.

[caption id="attachment_1579" align="alignnone" width="410" caption=""I would like to thank..." "][/caption]

Problems aside, Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience didn't miss a note Saturday night. They kept the show rolling, not taking their usual break after Moby Dick, instead rolling along, keeping it moving. And in the end, they packed a lot of songs into a 90 minute set. They packed, it seemed to me, a lot of minutes in as well, as the show ran far closer to 2 hours than 90 minutes by my count.

Dazed and Confused and Black Dog notwithstanding, they didn't miss a trick. Immigrant Song, Rock and Roll, Kashmir, When the Levee Breaks, Stairway to Heaven: they touched all the bases.

[caption id="attachment_1581" align="alignnone" width="432" caption="James and Tony doing Stairway to Heaven"][/caption]

Musically, the band gets better and better, the music of Led Zeppelin, so complicated to perform, seeming to roll off them. They are tighter than last time I saw them, and they are playing with an ease I don't remember. Stephen LeBlanc has become essential to this band, adding lap steel here, an electric guitar part there. Keyboard, acoustic guitar, mandolin, every song is given that extra touch by LeBlanc, who has also developed his theatrical flair.

Dorian Heartsong, the new guy in the band, although he has probably played more shows with them now than Michael Devon has, lays down a perfect groove every time. He fit's in so well he was barely noticeable, which is the highest compliment I can pay to a bass player.

James Dylan was once again, note perfect. Hitting Robert Plant's notes and phrases, without ever sounding just like Robert Plant. If you didn't miss Robert Plant, if you closed your eyes, you still knew it wasn't Plant. The perfect frontman for a cover band, he sings in a way that is flattering to Plant, without being imitative.

Tony Catania, technical issues aside, hit all the notes, strutted and preened ala Page. He plays with energy and plays his part musically. He is as good as anyone doing the Jimmy Page circuit.



As for Jason, he obviously can play the parts, and he did so with energy. He tells his stories, sometimes prowling the stage while doing so. He is amusing, self  effacing and a hell of a drummer. Combined with the guys mentioned above, and he is putting on a fabulous show in the name of the father.

If Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience is coming to your town, it's well worth checking out.
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* Note: Notices at the Casino informed fans the show was being recorded for possible later use. During the show, auditorium lights often came on as songs were ending, quite obviously to film the crowd reaction.

Is Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience planning on releasing a DVD of the show, or doing a broadcast at some point in the future?

James Dylan Sick Again

James Dylan, the singer in Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, has come down with an illness, prompting the cancellation of a number of shows. The cancellations began Thursday in Sacramento, California. At that time, guitarist Tony Catania commented on Facebook:

Well I had no idea how fucked up everything has become......we are evaluating the situation

This was the first clue that perhaps, Sacremento wouldn't be the only cancellation.  It wasn't, and Friday Night's show at The Greek in Los Angeles, and Saturday's show in Las Vegas were cancelled as well.

No word yet on any other cancellations. They are, presumably, evaluating the situation.

The cancelled shows have been rescheduled for October. I would assume that means more October dates will be in the offing, possibly meaning round three of the JBZLE.

The Return of the Led Zeppelin Experience

Last fall, Jason Bonham hit the road with a show called The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience (JBLZE). Put together by the guys who did The Beatles Rain show, JBLZE combined the music of Led Zeppelin with pictures and home movies from his own life.

Between songs, Bonham would stand at the edge of the stage and talk about his life with his father, his life as a member of the Led Zeppelin family. Whether talking about his father, or about the “greatest night of his life,” Dec 10, 2007 at the O2 arena, JBLZE is a tribute to the father from the son.

When he announced the JBLZE tour last fall, Bonham suggested the band would do 30 shows, to pay homage to the fact it had been 30 years since his father’s death. The number of shows, however, became a bit fluid and the thirty shows never stood. Now Bonham is taking the JBLZE back on the road for 18 more shows (as currently announced - more could be added), and it looks like JBLZE may be a more or less permanent side project for the drummer.

Bonham appears to be taking the same band out on the road as he did in the fall. Bassist Michael Devin is the bassist of record for Whitesnake, who also have dates supporting their new album, Forevermore, beginning in May. Many Whitesnake dates coincide with the JBLZE experience shows.



The rest of the band is Stephen LeBlanc on lap steel guitar/guitar/keyboards, Tony Catania on guitar and James Dylan on vocals.

A review of Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience performance in Kitchener last October can be found here. Steve Sauer at Lemon Squeezings has the full slate of shows Bonham is doing with JBLZE, as well as with Black Country Communion and Paul Rodgers.

Jason Bonham Does Hollywood

Some gigs are more important than others. Hometowns, for example. Or  New York. For James Dylan, singing with Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, it was Philadelphia:

Philly was very special for me because Averelle and our son and three daughters were there.

For anybody associated with Led Zeppelin, add Los Angeles to the list.

A week ago now, Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience stepped on the stage at Pantages Theatre in Hollywood with Paul Stanley and Steve Lukather in the audience and Jason's sister, Zoe Bonham, waiting in the wings, the Experience broke into Rock and Roll/Celebration Day. Andrew Bansal from Metal Assault was on hand to bear witness to the night:

No concert involving Led Zeppelin is complete without "Stairway To Heaven". This was no different, and they did complete justice to the most beautiful song ever written.

Overall, Jason was absolutely flawless on drums and I could feel a lot of emotion in his performance... The same can also be said about vocalist James Dylan whose voice was truly magical throughout the entire two and a half hours that he was on stage. Guitarist Tony Catania was absolutely brilliant and possessed a natural likeness to Jimmy Page in terms of appearance and stage presence, without even seeming to make an effort to do so. Multi instrumentalist Stephen LeBlanc and bassist Michael Devin also did their parts excellently well.

John Bonham is no more, but now I know for sure that he continues to live on in his son's body and enthralls crowds across the world.

A deeply emotional, mesmerizing and entertaining performance.

Zoe Bonham, John's other child and Jason's younger sister, joined the band onstage to play organ on When the Levee Breaks. Levee was one of the show's highlights already, Jason letting a video clip of dad lay down the groove for the for the song.  Nice to have both of his children playing along with him.

John Bonham must have been watching on with a tear in his eye.

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience Tour Over

Around the time this post loads onto the WordPress server, Jason Bonham, James Dylan, Tony Catania, Michael Devin and Stephen LeBlanc will be taking the final bows of the Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience Tour. Covering 38 shows in almost two months, three different runs into Canada, three shows in the Toronto Vacinity and a show at the Best Buy theatre in Times Square, it was, by all accounts it was a successful tour. The show got consistently strong reviews and blew audiences away.

Early on, the fan reviews were luke-warm. By the time the the show hit Milwaukee on October 20th, the band seemed to be gelling and the word was out that this was a very good show. Then Montreal happened:

I sit for a moment to take in how great the show was tonight in Montreal ! Not because I feel we played any better than any other night but tonight the crowd was the highlight for me !! Never have I played to such a fantastic audience , I'm still shaking inside and feel overwhelmed . Thank you thank you thank you !!!!

Stephen LeBlanc was just as enthused as his boss:

The soccer crowd response we got in Montreal last night can't be a fluke. Awesome crowd, great show

Bass player Michael Devin also called it, "such an amazing night."

The tour was on a roll, and the next bunch of Canadian shows, in Quebec City, Hamilton, Kitchener and Toronto all got a strong response. Crossing back into America, they started November in Boston, travelled the North East, into Florida, across the Southwest and back up the west Coast. They played San Fransisco the night before the anniversary of the Last Waltz before finishing in Portland, Seattle, Bellingham and Vacnouver BC, a mere 740 miles from where they began in Dawson Creek BC.

Jason Bonham put together a top notch band, who did the hard work necessary to pull off an outstanding show for thousands of fans across North America. Next up for Jason Bonham is two shows with Black Country Communion in late December, and then back into the studio with the supergroup for BCCII. Look for a spring tour.

Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience Pictures

Aubrey Stewart went to the Dallas Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience and "snuck" his Canon 7D with 24-70L lens in:

...Security immediately started shaking their heads saying it was a professional rig and I argued it was a consumer camera and they asked me to step to the side and they called someone on a walkie talkie and said they would have to get it approved. As they turned back to incoming patrons I handed my camera bag to my wife and told her to quickly go and she did. I stood there for a few minutes more and they realized I no longer had the camera and gave me one of those "no you didn't" looks. I just shrugged and walked on in and nobody pursued me.

The result is the best set of pictures I have seen of this tour, and I've looked at a lot of them.  He has graciously allowed me to post some of the pictures here.

For the whole set, go to imagesbyaubrey.com/jblze/

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience: October 28, Kitchener, Ontario

“Kitchener,” says Jason Bonham from the stage, bowler hat much like his father would occasionally wear perched on his head, “is very special to me. The background picture on my phone is of my dad in Kitchener.”

John Bonham, Jason’s father and the Raison d’etre for the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience, visited Kitchener once as drummer of Led Zeppelin. On Nov 4, 1969 Led Zeppelin played the Kitchener auditorium to a “with it,“ crowd of 2,000 mostly college kids. “Coming into town,” Bonham continues with a laugh, “it doesn’t look like it’s changed much.”

Fourty-one years later, almost to the day, the crowd of 2,000 people ranging in age from pre-teen to people who might have seen the father in Kitchener, had a great time rocking out to the fathers music, the sons beat.

JBLZE ran through a three hour (with intermission) 20 song set that had fans stomping the floor boards of the usually staid Centre in the Square. From the beginning of John Bonham’s famous Rock and Roll introduction to the final lick from Rush’s Tom Sawyer (an add on to the end of Whole Lotta Love for JBLZE’s Canadian crowds) the band was on a rocking journey and the fans happily came along for the ride.

Very little attempt was made to be Led Zeppelin outside of guitarist Tony Catania efforts to channel Jimmy Page. Bald-headed singer James Dylan neither looks, nor particularly sings like Robert Plant: Dylan has a rasp in his voice Plant never had and lacked Plant’s tendency to miss the occasional note completely. Bassist Michael Devin’s long flowing black hair was more Page than Jones, he moved and jumped about the stage more in fitting with his next gig as Whitesnake bassist than John-Paul Jones’ less robust stage presence. Utility man Stephen LeBlanc, who handled Jones’ keyboard duties, as well as some guitar and lap-steel guitar, smiled rather too much to do an effective John Paul Jones imitation.

The visual representation came from the video screens behind the drum set. They offered glimpses of home movies, pictures from the Bonham family album and on some numbers, a psychedelic backdrop to create atmosphere. Despite the pre-tour talk about the home movies making this more than just a Led Zeppelin tribute, it was it’s use for psychedelia when the screens were most effective.

The show was presented in two parts with a twenty minute intermission. Each half began with Bonham home movies and a Jason Bonham monologue. The beginning of the second half showed a video of young Jason Bonham doing a hip swinging, sexed up dance routine for his mother and father that was hilarious. A third monologue and video, prior to Stairway to Heaven, was on the 02 concert: “the greatest night of my (Bonham’s) life.”

When the band was playing, however, the screen was secondary, at least from my seats in the fifth row: perhaps farther back it took on greater importance. Personally, I had to keep reminding myself I’m supposed to watch the screen, not the guitar player right in front of me. However, a couple of screen moments bear comment:

During Thank You home movies were playing, likely the summer of 1980 vacation that Jason Bonham has mentioned in a few interviews. At one point, John Bonham is looking at the camera, filling the scene, for about ten seconds. During the songs quietest moment, Stephen LeBlanc quietly filling the air with organ and James Dylan plaintfully singing, “and so today my world it smiles, your hand in mine we walk the miles.” John Bonham looks down, Godlike from overhead, touches his thumb to his nose and wiggles his fingers mockingly.

The other was the show’s much talked about highlight, Moby Dick. Not being a fan of drum solos, except as a much needed bathroom break, I sat almost transfixed as Jason matched John Henry beat for beat, bass pedal roll for bass pedal roll. The screen offering sometimes dad, sometimes son and sometimes both in split screen made an extremely effective ending to the first half of the show, and gave he band their first of many standing ovations on the night.

But this show was about the music, and it was in the music that it stood out. Jason Bonham put together a very good band and on this night, they were on fire. It felt, seemed from close in, that it was a special night. Some early reviews had suggested flaws, and video showed this to be true. Not on this night. The band, simply put, was white hot.

They were spot on: not note perfect for the records spot on, but an in the moment perfection where even the wrong notes sounded right. They nailed the evenings second song, Celebration Day as it was done on The Song Remains the Same, and you just knew it would be a good night. Celebration Day was always to my ears a hit and miss song for Zeppelin. Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience played it bang on. A good start that got better. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You was spine tingling good, Catania bouncing back and forth between electric and his stand mounted acoustic. What is and What Should Never Be was outstanding.

But the shows real highlights were in the second half. Good Times, Bad Times flat out rocked, Since I’ve Been Loving You steamed, Cantania having his moment and nailing it, The Ocean was a blast of good fun, I’m Gonna Crawl heart wrenching. When The Levee Breaks was magical, Jason leaving the drumming duties to his father early in the song: “It’s such a simple beat, but such a difficult feel,” Bonham tells the crowd beforehand. On Stairway to Heaven Catania again pulled out the acoustic guitar stand, and they played a variation of studio and live version that left you wondering why Page never thought of taping his acoustic to a mic stand. Kashmir, which Bonham declared was, “my favourite song, period,” had everyone on their feet.

It was, in all, a very good show. Great music, done by a band that was good enough to do it, and having a very on night. Never mind the story-line that went with it, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience put on a great rock concert.

It’s safe to suggest the feeling is mutual, the Bonham’s are very special to Kitchener.

[caption id="attachment_415" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="Tony Catania plays Stairway to Heaven"][/caption]

Setlist: Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience:
Centre in the Sqaure, Kitchener, Ontario
October 28, 2010

Set One
Video
Rock and Roll
Celebration Day
Black Dog (w/Bring it on Home intro)
----------Jason Bonham Monologue----------------
You’re Time is Gonna Come
Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You
-----------Bonham Chatter--------------
Dazed and Confused
What is and What Should Never Be
I Can’t Quit You Baby
-----------Bonham Chatter--------------
Thank You
Moby Dick (drum solo with” John Bonham)

----------------------Intermission------------------------

Set Two
Video
Good Times, Bad Times
How Many More Times
Since I’ve Been Loving You
When the Levee Breaks (“With” John Bonham)
The Ocean
Over the Hills and Far Away
I’m Gonna Crawl
------Video - 02 concert Dec 2007 ------------
Stairway to Heaven
Kashmir
-----------------Encore--------------
Whole Lotta Love (w/ Tom Sawyer)

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience

First video evidence from the tour opener in Dawson Creek BC last night.



Who's playing with him? How about these names you've never heard of:




************************* Spoiler Alert **************

Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, Keyboards: Stephen LeBlanc

Bass: Michael Devin of Whitesnake

Vocals: James Dylan of Virtual Zeppelin

Lead Guitar: Tony Catania

************************* Spoiler Alert **************

Update: Tony Catania, lead guitar, added.

A new video of When The Levee Breaks has been uploaded.



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Update 2: Stephen LeBlanc plays lap steel guitar on this tour, not a pedal steel as originally noted.

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Thanks to Lemon Squeezings, who spent the night leaking the news.