Rob, I can't believe I would ever get into the predicament of having to defend LZ of all bands, but I saw the DVD in full yesterday morning while reading a file for work (yup, multitasking, in fact I can read legal texts better with music playing than without) and I thought it was a worthy gig, the band has aged gracefully, tackling some of the songs in a different key has proven a worthwhile decision too as Plant can sing them now (well) like a man his age and avoid banshee histrionics (while I watched I thought that current DP should actually downtune some of their stuff too to give Gillan live less hard a time, he seems to refuse to let them do that).
The light show was tasteful and hats off to them for not getting in any guest musicians to beef up their sound, when Jones plays keyboards they have to rely on keyboard bass, what other band of their status would do that? Jimmy Page is not Ritchie Blackmore in melodic and technical dexterity (I always told you, Rob, yet you wouldn't listen!), but he plays with gusto and warmth, there is sloppier and more bored/listless stuff on The Song Remains the Same. The only naff part was him getting the bow out - in my eyes always more a visual stunt than an acoustic embellishment (what's so great about getting an expensive Custom Shop Les Paul to sound like a screeching door in a cheap horror movie?), without drugs it looked all a bit silly (always has).
And for the first time I was impressed by John Paul Jones, who with an admirably rich vintage bass sound (no treble at all, never mind what basses he switched from song to song, even the eight string sounded mudbuckerish) held everything together, nice fretless playing on In my Time of Dying too (while combining fretless bass and slide guitar in one song seems - duh!- obvious, I haven't seen it before, it sounds great), and has more of stage presence now than I think he had in Hammer of the Gods heydays.
Maybe because I am not a fan my expectations weren't as high as yours (I remember how utterly disappointed I was about The Song Remains the Same when that came out, Whole Lotta Love was barely recognizable on that), but I found the DVD entertaining and it gave me a warm feeling about the three old geezers. Maybe it's time they and I make peace?
Ok, let's not get carried away.
One, no, two final observations:
- I like Jason's drumming better than his dad's and JPH seemed to enjoy it too.
- The sound of the three instrumentalists playing together is very full and warm on that DVD plus it sounds a lot more cohesive than anything else I've heard from them live (including some of the "How the West was Won"-stuff). The few bum notes and breaks here and there don't detract from the overall groove they have.
I still think that Plant is an aloof (or is he just shy?) frontman. Certainly no "embracing the masses"-guy (though not everyone has to be) and about as talkative as Liam Gallagher!
But he sings well and relaxed on that concert. Laid Back Zeppelin, but befitting their age. Not everybody has to be Mick Jagger.
