Ahmet ErtegĂĽn Tribute Concert

history

The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegun at The O2 in London on December 10, 2007. The headline act was the English rock band Led Zeppelin, who performed their first full-length concert since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, in a one-off concert. Bonham's son Jason Bonham played drums during the band's set, and also provided backing vocals on two songs.

Background

On September 12, 2007, it was confirmed during a press conference by promoter Harvey Goldsmith that the surviving members of Led Zeppelin would reunite for the show, with Jason Bonham filling in on drums. The concert was originally scheduled to take place on November 26, 2007. It was to help raise money for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, which pays for university scholarships in the UK, US and Turkey.

Tickets were made available via a lottery system through the website » Ahmettribute.com, costing ÂŁ125 / $250, with all proceeds going to Ahmet's own charity. The website exceeded its bandwidth allowance and crashed almost immediately following the announcement, with the promoter predicting that the gig would cause the "largest demand for one show in history". The promoter claimed that one million people registered for fewer than 20,000 available tickets.Nagara, Bunn. [http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=2007/12/10/music/19693065&sec=music "Get your Led out"], The Star (Malaysia), December 10, 2007. Accessed January 5, 2008. "Today they play a one-off concert at London’s 02 Arena, in aid of the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun’s education fund. More than two million fans chased nearly 20,000 tickets, and with more than a billion page views the website soon crashed." Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page later commented:

On November 1, 2007, it was announced that Page fractured the little finger on his left hand after a fall in his garden and the reunion show was postponed to December 10, 2007.[http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/11/01/led-zeppelin-reunion-concert-postponed-due-to-fractured-finger Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert Postponed Due to Fractured Finger]

The concert

Opening acts

 The show opened with a band consisting of Keith Emerson, Chris Squire, Alan White and Simon Kirke with the brass section from Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. They played Emerson, Lake & Palmer's version of "Fanfare for a Common Man", including sections from Yes's "the fish" and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir". Initially the openers should have been Squire, White and Rick Wakeman but Wakeman was unavailable for the rescheduled date due to prior commitments and Emerson was called in as a last minute replacement.

The show also featured Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Paul Rodgers, Paolo Nutini, and Foreigner as supporting acts. The majority of the performance was by the Rhythm Kings, with Nutini and Rodgers both guesting on two songs each. The performance billed as "Foreigner" was in fact only Mick Jones performing "I Want to Know What Love Is" with the Rhythm Kings as the backing band. Other guests on the Rhythm Kings set included Maggie Bell and Alvin Lee.»Led Zep To Record New Material? | News @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com»Rodgers ready to rock Ertegun tribute Pete Townshend was scheduled to perform as a supporting act, but he pulled out when he heard Led Zeppelin was performing, saying, "They really don't need me."»"Pete Townshend pulls out of Ahmet Ertegun concert Other acts considered for the show included a reunited Cream.

Led Zeppelin

The band performed sixteen songs, including two encores, featuring a range of songs from across the spectrum of their career; however no material from the band's final album, In Through the Out Door, was performed. Included in the set list were two numbers which were played live in their entirety for the first time ever by Led Zeppelin, "Ramble On" and "For Your Life".

Setlist

  1. "Good Times Bad Times"
  2. "Ramble On"
  3. "Black Dog"
  4. "In My Time of Dying""Honey Bee"
  5. "For Your Life"
  6. "Trampled Under Foot"
  7. "Nobody's Fault but Mine"
  8. "No Quarter"
  9. "Since I've Been Loving You"
  10. "Dazed and Confused"
  11. "Stairway to Heaven"
  12. "The Song Remains the Same"
  13. "Misty Mountain Hop"
  14. "Kashmir"
First Encore:
  2. "Whole Lotta Love"
Second Encore:
  2. "Rock and Roll"

Many of the songs were performed one step tuned down in order to accommodate singer Robert Plant's vocal range. Some were kept in their original key.

The concert sound was mixed by Metallica's FOH engineer Big Mick »Led Zeppelin reunion feature. The concert was also filmed for a possible DVD release.»Led Zeppelin Release Reunion DVD - Kerrang.com In an interview he gave in March 2008, Page commented

In January 2010, when asked whether a DVD of the O2 reunion gig is expected, Page responded: "Not in the foreseeable future, I can’t give you an answer on that."James Jackson, "» Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin IV, the band's peak and their reunion, The Times, January 8, 2010 .

However, the concert was recorded by many fans. Sophisticated bootleg versions of the show are available on the internet, including a widescreen DVD with a surround sound audio track mixed from 10 different audience recordings of the show.

A number of celebrities attended the gig, including Dave Grohl (who praised Jason Bonham's performance, and was one of the other candidates to play drums),»Led Zeppelin reunion: Dave Grohl praises Jason Bonham | News | NME.COM Chad Smith, BBC Radio 1 DJs Chris Moyles & Fearne Cotton, Brett Hull, BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans, Bob Harris, Ilan Rubin,[http://lostprophets.buzznet.com/user/journal/1459121/ilan-rubins-take-on-led-zeppelin-live buzznet]Ilan Rubins take on the gig Retrieved December 12 2007 Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Brian May,[http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbdec07a.html#05/ brianmay.com] David Gilmour, Lulu, Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, Ann Wilson,[http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=210261679&blogId=368069267#06/ Ann Wilson's Myspace Blog] Arctic Monkeys, The Edge, Bernard Sumner, Dave Mustaine (who received free tickets from Ross Halfin), Peter Gabriel, Mick Jagger, Matt Morgan, Juliette Lewis, James Dean Bradfield, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Ashcroft,»NME Marilyn Manson, Warren Haynes, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, David Boreanaz, W. Earl Brown, Erika Sawajiri, Jerry Hall, Priscilla Presley,»The moment Led Zeppelin fan tried to rip Naomi Campbell's VIP pass from her neck. Daily Mail Paris Hilton»Erika Sawajiri & Tsuyoshi Takashiro Spotted Together in Led Zeppelin Concert and Neil Finn.[http://frenzforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7501061171/m/4231069564?r=9001097084#9001097084 Enz on Campbell Live - Topic Powered by eve community][http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/hilton%20to%20attend%20led%20zeppelin%20gig_1052987 To Attend Led Zeppelin Gig]

Critical response

Music critics in attendance were unanimous in their praise for Led Zeppelin's performance. New Musical Express proclaimed, "What they have done here tonight is proof they can still perform to the level that originally earned them their legendary reputation...We can only hope this isn't the last we see of them."»Led Zeppelin reunion: the review | News |NME.COM

The New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who attended the concert wrote, "The failed gigs of the nineteen-eighties and nineties have been supplanted by a triumph, and the band should be pleased to have done Ertegun proud with such a spirited performance."»Stairway to Here: Musical Events: The New Yorker

Members of the band have also expressed their satisfaction with the concert. Page commented that "it was a wonderful celebration of the music, a celebration of the fact that the essence of it, the energy, was still there,". He also reflected that "It’s great that we did it. I look back on that night with a great amount of fondness, but Jason »Bonham was the hero. For me that gig was about him.James Jackson, "»Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin's good times, bad times and reunion rumours", The Times, January 8, 2010.

Plant has stated:

In an interview he gave to The Times in January 2010, Page recalled:

References

External links

home | This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. See full license termsIt uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ahmet_Erteg%C3%BCn_Tribute_Concert ". | compliance | March 17th 2010