Did Anybody go see Celebration Day?

[winterburn69]

You know... the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion show... but at the theatre... on a really big screen...

I haven't seen anyone mentioning anything about it here. No love for Zeppelin anymore?

Well I went with my sister yesterday, got there at 4:30, theatre wasn't open yet, no line or anything, so I went to Starbucks, went back to the theatre at 5:30, (it started at 7:15), had to make sure I got a good seat. There wasn't a line of any sort, and there was probably only about 12 people there. I just find it so strange that no one would wanna go see Led Zeppelin at the theatre... was it like this anywhere else?

As for the performance... amazing!! truly the hammer of the gods. I'm a crazy huge Zeppelin fan, I have a few dozen bootlegs, so I have lots to compare it with. Jonesy's tone was amazing, those Manson basses are great! sure, there was a few things I didn't like (the guitar solo in Stairway wasn't long enough IMO, couldn't hear Jason's vocals during Misty Mountain Hop, Plant's harmonica completely drowned out the rest of the band during Nobody's Fault But Mine, some of Plant's inbetween song banter was edited out and the transitions from one section to the next of Dazed & Confused were kinda sloppy, even though each section was performed flawlessly).

Highlights: It was all great, but some moments shined more than others:

Good Times Bad Times, Black Dog: no need to explain these, y'all know how awesome these songs are (with amazing bass parts too!)

Trampled Underfoot: the natural-ish sound of the piano was the polar opposite of whatever uber funky-sounding keys he used in the '70s on this, it changed the whole mood of the song IMO. Also, my favorite Zeppelin song <3

Kashmir: simply amazing, listening to Kashmir won't be the same ever again.


Sorry to ramble on like this.

[AntonCross]

My friends and I are planning to see it when it is released here in Budapest. We are really excited about but we don't expect too many people there. Not many people at school are into classic rock like we are.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by winterburn69

Sorry to ramble on like this.

...you had me until this.





Anyway, I am considering buying the DVD...release is in Nov? Good Xmas gift to myself.

[Calico]

Saw it last night in a packed house at the Cinerama in Seattle. Huge screen and great sound. It was totally bad ass and I agree - Kashmir was incredible!

[winterburn69]

Originally Posted by JimK

...you had me until this.





Anyway, I am considering buying the DVD...release is in Nov? Good Xmas gift to myself.

Yep. November 22. The day after my girlfriend's due date. I'll definitely be buying it. I'm quite excited to see the rehearsal footage. Maybe it'll have footage of other songs they rehearsed but didn't play? IMO they missed alot of good stuff, would've loved to see them play In the Evening, Heartbreaker, Communication Breakdown or What is and What Should Never Be.

[Tapp]

It was great. I really liked "In My Time of Dying". Jones was playing a 70's fretless P-bass; don't know if it's a reissue or original; it was clean looking. I don't know if it was the theater I was in but his tone seemed a little undefined. I couldn't hear the busy parts clear; ala Ramble On. Oddly the fretless cut through better. I just loved the "musical communication" through the whole show!

I also looked for in-ears and didn't see any! I don't know if Jason Bonham had them or a click track. It was so nice to see just straight up rocknroll the old fashion way LOL. NO in-ears, NO click; just humans making music!

[fraublugher]

Didn't go , should have , will probably get the dvd .
Did manage to promote my Zep tribute band at the theatre though.

[winterburn69]

Originally Posted by Tapp

It was great. I really liked "In My Time of Dying". Jones was playing a 70's fretless P-bass; don't know if it's a reissue or original; it was clean looking. I don't know if it was the theater I was in but his tone seemed a little undefined. I couldn't hear the busy parts clear; ala Ramble On. Oddly the fretless cut through better. I just loved the "musical communication" through the whole show!

I also looked for in-ears and didn't see any! I don't know if Jason Bonham had them or a click track. It was so nice to see just straight up rocknroll the old fashion way LOL. NO in-ears, NO click; just humans making music!

It's a 1970 Precision. He used it for In My Time of Dying and Bron-Y-Aur Stomp in the '70s, and if he only used it for two songs, it wouldn't get too much wear over the past 40 years. It was most certainly the theatre, I thought his playing on Ramble On was very clear, although altogether it wasn't loud enough. I heard Jimmy saying that their in-ears didn't work for the first two songs, although I didn't see any in-ears either.

[bassistjoe93]

Mid west Ga is too behind the times to have a Zeppelin movie here but I will definitely get the DVD when it comes out.

[62Jazzbass]

I saw it tonight - wrote a long email to my bandmates who did not make it (their loss). Rather than rewrite it, I'll cut and paste it in tomorrow - going to bed now.

Decent turn out for a Thursday dinner time showing. Same threater showed it twice last night too, I bet there were more last night.

My only complaint is they didnt have the sound loud enough. I have been to movies where a plane take off shook the seats - why didn't the low end rattle the place at a concert film? Bad call by the theater people.

Movie was great though, more tomorrow.

[62Jazzbass]

Here is the email I sent to my bandmates when I got out of the movie - ended up being a bit of a show review:

These guys clearly worked their a$$es of to prepare for this show, and it showed all the way through. The performance was every bit as great as reported at the time. Yet, they are nowhere near over rehearsed or on auto pilot. There is such a great interaction between them all, a give and take, and that "tight but loose" vibe they had on good nights back in the day. No tired old rockers here.

Jason does his father justice while also adding his own touches that didn't take away from the songs or have you thinking "why did he do that"? The only time I thought he missed the mark was during No Quarter. There is something that his dad does during the main groove of that song that Jason simplified and I missed that feel. That said, the song was still one of the highlights of the show.

Page played as well as he did in his early days before drugs made him so erratic. JPJ is stellar, rock solid and adding embellishments along the way- dude never plays things exactly the same way, love it. And Plant sounds WAY better than I thought he would. In fact I like him better here in some ways without the banshee wail. And I hardly noticed the lower pitch on some of the songs. In fact I thought they may have pitch corrected it, but I have played along to the movie trailers, and no, the pitch on the soundtrack is as performed (many songs one full step lower).

Many of the songs benefited from being, well, shorter than they did them back in the day. Eight or so minutes of D&C is plenty to get the point across and still stretch out a bit.

I gotta say, to this day these guys are masters of controlling how they present themselves. They did it in their heyday, and continue to do it. They did this concert, waited five years to put it out on film, and then before releasing it in stores they have big premieres in major cities and then show it for two nights only in select theaters. Talk about supply and demand - brilliant. I much prefer it to the over saturation we have had ever since MTV.

And as much as I would love to see them in concert, they did the right thing in playing this show and going out on a high note. Always leave them wanting more!

I can think of a number of their peers that should do the same.

[Balog]

Saw it Weds with a friend down in Federal Way. Crap theater, and it started out way way way too quiet, but apparently a couple dozen cries of "Turn it up" from various folks in the audience got through and it wasn't too bad.

Amazing show, you can really see why they were the biggest band in the world at one time. Great music, great musicianship.

I didn't recognize either the main bass JPJ used, or the funky ten string he pulled out for one song. Anyone know what those were?

[62Jazzbass]

Those basses are made by Manson in the UK. The 4 stringers were made just for the O2 gig, I remember seeing a gallery of pics on the Manson site. He has 8, 10 and 12 string Mansons that he has used for years.

[Goatrope]

Saw this today while I'm here working in Portsmouth, UK.

Truly wonderful show. While Jason gave a smashing performance, JPJ made it all come together. Really shows what musicianship and sensibility that guy has/had. All are extremely gifted but I think I know who's really responsible for the success of the Zep.

[JimK]

...as mentioned above, I did buy this for myself for Xmas.

LZ should be proud of this reunion show...I would hope Papa Bonham is smilin', too.
"
Kashmir" rock'd.
I would say JPJ's bass on "Ramble On" & "Good Times/Bad Times" needed to be louder...

[jerry]

Bought the DVD when it came out, I thought they killed it!
They sounded tight! I heard Jason listen to all their old live board tapes to prepare, and he did an awesome job.