Celebration Day

A true celebration day

What else is it, if not a celebration day? The only day when an event of not a world, but universal importance occurred. Millions wanted to witness it, but only eighteen thousand did. On October 17, 2007, at Great Britain’s second largest concert arena, O2, the legendary Led Zeppelin played their one and only gig to commemorate the founder of the Atlantic records label, Akhmet Ertgun. ‘We did it, Akhmet’, said Robert Plant once Stairway To Heaven sounds faded to black. Five years later, fans of the great ensemble have a wide range of opportunities to virtually attend that show. The Celebration Day film, demonstrated at cinema theaters all over the world, is now available for home use, and not long ago a double live album under the same title was released, featuring all the sixteen songs played by Led Zeppelin that unforgettable evening.

A miraculous appearance of Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin had actually made a few attempts to come back onto the stage, but, considering the scale of the band and expectation of its fans, one could not call them a success. What real reunion can it be, if nothing can bring back to the lineup John Binham, who, should it be reminded, died back in 1980? However, on that October evening, in London, a miracle happened: behind the Led Zeppelin drumkit, the spectators saw and then heard… Bonham! Jason Bonham is the son of the famous drummer, who remarkably keeps his craft alive. The musician fits in the ensemble brilliantly and performs the entire program perfectly, including the explosive Dazed And Confused, and Rock And Roll, the songs known as demonstrations of John Bonham’s aggressive play. However, without belittling Jason’s credits or that of bassist John Paul Jones, we have to admit that the main figures of Celebration Day, as always in Led Zeppelin, are Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. The former sang with the same enthusiasm and inspiration he has always had. You can not say he is back in shape, simply because he has always been there! And it is sufficient to listen just to a couple of tracks, like In My Time Of Dying, or Nobody’s Fault, to make sure of that an extra time. The latter played everything filling each note with a special, supernatural meaning. Stairway To Heaven with Page on guitar is but a spell that has fallen upon the entire rock and roll world.

Celebration Day is an evidence of a phenomenon

The set of Celebration Day is compiled amazingly as it features the songs that did mark the most important times in the history of Led Zeppelin. It includes the first track of the first album, Good Times Bad Times, the versatile No Quarter, reflecting all the sides of the band’s manifold style, and the majestic Kashmir. There can be found individual epithets for each of the tracks, denoting thing that only this track has. What makes Celebration Day so unique as a Led Zeppelin gig is that the musicians reduced the improvisation to minimum, the component that dominated the band’s shows in the times of its superiority. Yet improvisation on Celebration Day would be extra, since the meaning of the whole event is the replay of the ensemble’s classics in their pure, studio form to make it possible to listen to what has been heard on the albums over a countless number of times, played live in the atmosphere of a real concert, one that will probably never have analogues. Of course, Led Zeppelin could have embarked on a tour, to delight many more people that those who came to that particular show, and, no doubt, earned properly. But thus the band would have slain the uniqueness, the mystique of that one performance which is recorded on Celebration Day.