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Mon 10 Dec – Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, Paolo Nutini, Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman & the Rhythm Kings


I arrived at the O2 Arena on Monday afternoon, brimming full of anticipation. I was actually going to see and hear the legendary Led Zep live. I hadn’t even been born when they were in their hey-day but I’m a massive fan. The place wasn't buzzing yet and I still had to collect my ticket from the box office. Just five minutes later (I had been expecting to queue for several hours) I was bestowed with the glorious key to all my dreams – a blue wristband and an entrance ticket!
The doors opened, and to my surprise I was able to get relatively close to the stage (about 13 rows of standing in front). The Progressive rock stylings of the first support act got tedious rather quickly.
Obviously, the sound checks at the Arena earlier that day hadn’t gone well because the sound was atrocious and continued throughout the night - it seemed highly unprofessional for such an important and much anticipated event. Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings came out and formed the backing band; whilst several has-beens indulged themselves with meaningless interpretations of jazz tunes in the name of Ahmet Ertegun. The mediocrity of the support was solidified as soon as Paolo Nutini took to the stage and butchered Ray Charles' classic "Mess Around." By this time I had moved myself a few rows forward. Paul Rodgers (of Free, Bad Company and to a lesser extent "Queen + Paul Rodgers" fame) took to the stage and delivered an uplifting version of "All Right Now"; this was the sole moment when support was bearable, following this he delivered a solo acoustic performance to the middle-aged audiences delight.
Foreigner soon followed delivering a soppy love ballad which Ahmet Ertegun had adored. So fair play to them, and thank God it was only one song!
I felt slightly disappointed that Pete Townsend hadn't appeared as previously stated on the bill - being a huge "The Who" fan I couldn't wait for him to burst on stage and do a couple of tunes.
Oh well, support was over, so we waited in anticipation whilst the stage was set for the concert of the decade (perhaps century) to take place. The arena slowly filled up, those with seating tickets had no obligation to get there early for the gig. Zeppelin was the only band of interest ... and quite rightly so.
The rockers took to the stage at around 9 PM for what would be a two hour set, gaining an almighty roar from the crowd. The anticipation was finally over, they were right there in front of my eyes: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham (a more than adequate replacement for his father John.)
The set kicked off with "Good Times Bad Times" the opener off their debut album. The sound was terrible but it was no doubt a good opening song; the members needed to get through it to build up their confidence, so short and sharp was without a doubt the best way to begin.
Next was “Ramble On” and then the crowd-pleaser “Black Dog”. Black Dog ignited the crowd into a sing-along frenzy. The rockers, clearly feeling more comfortable on stage, treated us to the first epic song off of the Physical Graffiti album, and a personal favourite of mine, "In My Time of Dying”. The connection between Jason Bonham and Jimmy Page was spellbinding; the heavy metal-esque riff filled the entire arena and we were all gripped, it was literally mesmerising.
With their first epic delivered to perfection, the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal set about a new task: the one of performing “For Your Life” for the first time ever at a concert. They pulled it off with ease and smiles on their faces could clearly be seen; after all the preparations and rehearsals they were into the gig and it was going perfectly. The funk rock esque “Trampled Under Foot” soon followed and everyone was bobbing up and down to the music, and playing air guitar. Their second number from the Presence album “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”; never really a favourite of mine but growing on me all the time, enabled me to gain a certain amount of appreciation for the drum/guitar combination.
As Jimmy Page shone on “In My Time of Dying”, it was now time for John Paul Jones’ set-piece, the epic keyboard driven “No Quarter”. Vocals on this tune are few and far between so it was interesting to see the connection between Page and Jones after all this time. This song was immense, most certainly one of the highlights of the night – I only wished they would have played more off of “Houses of the Holy”. This dreamy set-piece was followed by the equally epic and beautiful “Since I’ve Been Loving You” which is deemed by many to be amongst Zep’s elite tunes. This slow driven ballad was perfect for the withering Plant to sing. The delivery itself wasn’t forced but he did engage with the audience, again you couldn’t have expected any better from Plant – he may have a lower voice after all these years but he can still deliver the goods and this song was a pleasure to watch.
Page needed to bring out one of his masterpieces now, the epic “Dazed and Confused” followed amidst rapturous applause from the audience, the violin bow came out and there we were watching a master craftsmen carve out his masterpiece as the bow moved across his guitar strings. Amongst the sea of distortion the O2 was silent, stunned and in awe of Page.
Where now you ask? Well if you’ve got a catalogue as good as Led Zeppelin’s then you’ve got to throw in a crowd pleaser, and they most certainly did. The one true song that EVERYBODY knows, Stairway to Heaven. The roof was ready to be lifted, but the poor sound quality caused problems, and the riff appeared to be slightly off.
Then came “The Song Remains the Same” and “Misty Mountain Hop”. Fans nodded their heads in appreciation - “there are 50 different nationalities in this arena” Robert Plant said, “... this is the 51st” before bursting into the thoroughly amazing set closer that is "Kashmir"; the riff was marvellous. Jason Bonham on drums was superb and here we are, viewing one of the best songs ever with Led Zep within touching distance. They’d done it, the set was fulfilled but no-one in the audience was budging one inch.
The crowd were hooked, insisting upon more and they weren’t disappointed – Zeppelin came out again and delivered a fantastic rendition of “Whole Lotta Love” before again going off stage. You know it’s been a long time since the rock and roll legends have taken the stage, Led Zeppelin realised this tonight but in the end it doesn’t matter. They are without a doubt one of the greatest bands to grace the earth, and a second encore of “Rock and Roll” most certainly proved this sentiment.




Led ZeppelinForeignerPete TownshendThe WhoFreePaul RodgersBad CompanyPaul Rodgers + QueenBill Wyman & the Rhythm KingsPaulo Nutini