evolution

It ain’t the same, but having been born just four years before John Bonham’s death, I missed out on the real thing by a decade or so.

The real thing, of course, being Led Zeppelin live:

Led Zeppelin returned to the stage last night with their first full set in 19 years — and younger members of the crowd had heard nothing like it.

Manufactured pop is ruling the charts and young music fans are an impatient sort.

Maybe that’s why the bars at the O2 Arena in Greenwich filled during some of the band’s winding rock epics.

But their classics proved music doesn’t rock like it used to. Tracks like Whole Lotta Love and Stairway to Heaven had every one of the fans — who included Liam Gallagher and Sir Paul McCartney — on their feet and shaking their fists… [snip]

As the band settled into a series of songs old and new, grown men in the mostly middle-aged and male audience began playing air guitar. Some of the old Zeppelin remained — during a monumentally long instrumental, Plant had time to go off stage as Page continued to play.

One thing not so new was when in the middle of Dazed And Confused, Page got out his violin bow and started to play his guitar with it, in his trademark style.

After more than an hour the bulk of the fans got what they seemed to want most — a rendition of Stairway To Heaven.

When the lights went out a massive demand for an encore brought them back to play Whole Lotta Love. The adulation of 20,000 almost-equally tired fans ringing in their ears, they trooped away into the darkness.

Fans of all ages had travelled from around the world to see the group and they weren’t disappointed – giving huge ovations and raving after the show.

I don’t care if they are 60. I still would have loved to see this show.