Led Zeppelin
Celebration Day
(Atlantic)

After years of rumors and prodding, it was the passing of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun that managed to reunite the surviving members of Led Zeppelin along with drummer John Bonham’s son, Jason, and the tribute show, which may very well be the last show of Zeppelin’s career. The show took place on  December 10, 2007 at the O2 Arena in London and is now being released as an album, entitled Celebration Day, in a variety of different packages with accompanying DVDs and other extras such as rehearsals and BBC footage.

The  two-disk set features over two hours of Zeppelin classics, 16 songs in all, including fantastic versions of: “Kashmir,” “Rock And Roll,” and of course “Stairway To Heaven,” which are the real highlights of the show.  There is no question that the show was epic, though the boys didn’t nail everything, they warm up as the show progresses, which is understandable being that the group hadn’t played together since their three awkward and mostly disappointing shows in the late 80’s and 90’s. Fortunately, this show wipes that slate clean. The album has some amazing moments and features some notable firsts such as a live performance of “For Your Life” and really shows that Zeppelin can still rock hard, even after all these years.