Heart Zeppish

Heart is releasing a box set of demos and live versions of their materials over the course of their career. Included in the box set, Strange Euphoria, will be a 5 song bonus disc of Led Zeppelin material.

Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson have been very upfront about the Zeppelin influence in their music, and have covered a number of Zeppelin songs during their live sets through the years.



The "Zeppish" disc will include Going to California, Battle Of Evermore, What Is And What Should Never Be, Immigrant Song, Misty Mountain Hop.

Heart's Strange Euphoria will be available June 5th.

“What Should Never Be" on American Idol

Haley Reinhart tonight sang a shortened version of Led Zeppelin's What is and What Should Never Be on American Idol. Reinhart is a top three contestant in season ten and sang the Zeppelin classic beside her father, who played guitar.



Earlier in the day it was reported that Haley would be singing the song. According to the young singer's mother:

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant has never given any permission to use a Led Zeppelin songs to Idol. When they heard Haley do ‘House of Rising Sun’ they contacted Idol and said if she wants to do one of our songs she can.

That is, of course, not true. Second place finisher in season 8, Adam Lambert, sang Whole Lotta Love on the show.

Furthermore the idea that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, who have trouble agreeing on where to eat, agreed to phone American Idol and offer their song doesn't sound quite right somehow.

The story at Examiner.com managed to get the name of the song wrong as well, referring to it as “What Should Never Be by Led Zeppelin."

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)

Kitchener Nov 4, 1969

[caption id="attachment_174" align="alignright" width="144" caption="This as began appearing Oct. 11, indicating the show had been booked approximately four weeks before the show"][/caption]

In November 1969, Led Zeppelin was a young rising band. Their first album, released in January of 1969, went to number 11 in the Canadian album charts. They toured North America relentlessly, including 3 stops in Toronto, beginning their fourth American tour on October 17, five days before the release of their second album. That second album would reach number one worldwide and launch Led Zeppelin into the 1970s, the decade in which they would dominate the rock world. The only single from Led Zeppelin II, Whole Lotta Love, would go on to reach number 4 in the Billboard charts and become one of rock's ubiquitous classics. Led Zeppelin was on the rise, and Kitchener Ontario, population approximately 100,000, would have an opportunity to see Led Zeppelin before they became too big for shows in front of 2,000 people.

"Jimmy Page is Led Zeppelin." So begins the K-W Records Jim Clements in reviewing Led Zeppelin's Nov 4, 1969 show. The concert was performed to a less than full house of 2,000 fans, mostly university students. Iron Butterfly had played the week before at University of Waterloo, and $4.00 and $5.00 for tickets was considered high for the time. The show was shorter than usual Led Zeppelin fare: drummer John Bonham was ailing, and his showpiece Moby Dick was missing from the set list, as was Jimmy Page's Indian themed solo White Summer/Black Mountain Side due to a blown amplifier. Singer Robert Plant was having voice problems as well. The three issues combined meant the usual 90 minute set was a 45 minute affair.

For all the above, reviews of the evening were positive, noting the skill of the musicians, Page's virtuosity ("he stuns and amazes..." says Dave Fairfield), Plant's vocal counterpart and solid back beat of the rhythm section. The crowd was "with it..." according to Jimmy Page, calling for an encore despite the problems the band encountered. Kitchener Memorial Arena was a less than perfect acoustic environment, yet the set up was done "in such a way that everyone could see and hear the performance."

[caption id="attachment_173" align="alignleft" width="116" caption="Jimmy Page with his sunburst Les Paul"][/caption]

An enthusiastic audience is hardly surprising. Led Zeppelin would go on to become very well known for their outstanding live shows and from the very first shows they were noted as exceptional. Yet their was little of the shows in late 1969 that would resemble the Led Zeppelin concerts that the band would become so well known for. Granted, Jimmy Page had replaced his paisley telecaster guitar with a sunburst Les Paul as his main stage instrument. The guitar, sold to him by Joe Walsh, is the one he would use to define what rock guitarists should look like, and be immortalized in Paul McCartney's Rock Show. But little else would be familiar to those who saw Led Zeppelin even a year or two later. The set list was dominated by songs that would soon be gone: Good Times Bad Tomes, Communication Breakdown, I Can't Quit You Babe, What is and What Should Never Be, How Many More Times. All would cease to be performed in the near future. Whole Lotta Love, not yet in their set list, would become a vital component to the Led Zeppelin experience within a month.

Noted in later years for his strong stage presence, on this night Page, "rarely took his eyes from the guitar long enough to look at the audience." Stage clothes in 1969 lacked the pizazz of later years, Page appearing in Kitchener in jeans and a peach t-shirt, Plant in jeans and white t-shirt with black logo. Page was at this stage, however, playing his guitar with a violin bow, a holdover from his days with the Yardbirds and a showpiece of Led Zeppelin shows from their first show through to their last performances in 1980.

[caption id="attachment_175" align="alignright" width="126" caption="The ad changed the day of the concert"][/caption]

If you saw Led Zeppelin in Kitchener on November 4, 1969, you saw a Led Zeppelin vastly different from the band who travel the world by private jet in a few short years. Two years away from Stairway to Heaven the music was much more raw, the performance much less polished. But you also saw a hungry band of talented musicians, paying their dues, giving an undoubtedly powerful performance. If you saw Led Zeppelin in 1969, you saw them when it was virtually the last chance to see them in an intimate environment. Beginning early 1970, they would play major halls and arenas, and never return to smaller venues.