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.