One glance from John Paul Jones sealed Led Zeppelin’s 2007 concert dream for Jason Bonham.
The drummer, who appeared in place of his late father John at the London memorial show for Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, defines the event as a life’s ambition.
But a single moment, captured in concert movie Celebration Day, shines brightest in Bonham’s memory – because it reminds him of a similar instant featuring his father in Led Zep’s 1976 film The Song Remains the Same.
He reports: “I kept saying, ‘I really am playing drums for Led Zeppelin!’ This really is something special, something I dreamed about all my life in a very strange way.
“On the night I remember there was one incident. Probably John won’t remember it like I do – there was a look I did with John during No Quarter.
“I’d watched The Song Remains the Same so many times and I remember thinking: ‘That was just like The Song Remains the Same: he gave me the look!
“It probably wasn’t for the same reason he did Dad, but that was very, very special for me, honestly.”
For his part, Jones laughs off the moment, saying: “That was the ‘Where are we?’ look.”
Meanwhile singer Robert Plant says he’s been told Led Zeppelin are responsible for the arrival of rock’n’roll music in India – even though the moment in question wasn’t one of their best.
A small venue appearance by Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page, during which the frontman plays drums, has been credited with introducing Indian musicians to the western sound, which they later ran with.
“Jimmy and I played a club in Bombay in 1972,” Plant tells the Guardian. “I played drums and he played guitar – it was the only club in Bombay that had a drum kit. Somehow or other we ended up in there with loads of illicit substances.
“Some guy is writing a book about rock in India. Apparently it was born in the club with Page and me wired out of our faces. I’m not a very good drummer, to say the least – but for some reason or another it left a mark.”
-Classic Rock Magazine
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