Robert Plant and Band of Joy rock the Louisville Palace
There are moments during a Robert Plant and Band of Joy show where you sink into the music and actually forget for a while that the Robert Plant is on stage. Band of Joy is so much its own thing, and so impressive, that even Plant’s epochal history recedes.
But then they start to play “Ramble On,” and there’s no fighting “Ramble On.”
Among the many highlights at Friday’s sold-out Band of Joy show at the Louisville Palace, there can be no downplaying …

40 years ago today, I first heard the music of Led Zeppelin performed live and the effect was pretty shattering to the ears of a young 14 year old.
The occasion was the Radio One broadcast of an hours worth of live Zep for John Peel’s In Concert programme.
Recorded three days earlier at the Paris Theatre on the back of the band’s ‘Back to the clubs tour’, at the time this was a very big deal.
Zeppelin had not appeared on a BBC radio session since August of 1969 –their return to …

Black Country Communion, featuring the talents of bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, blues rock guitarist/vocalist Joe Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham, and keyboardist Derek Sherinian, have released the artwork for their much-anticipated second album “2”. The album will be released in the UK and Europe on June 13th by Mascot Records and in America on June 14th by J&R Adventures.
Tracklisting for the new album is as follows: The Outsider, Man In The Middle, I Can See Your Sprit, The Battle For Hadrians Wall, Save Me, Cold, Smokestack Woman, Faithless, An Ordinary Son, Little …

Jason Bonham has announced a May tour in the USA with the Led Zeppelin Experience. The highly acclaimed tribute show to his father, John Bonham, was staged  last year to rave review across America. Jason said of the Experience.  “I never imagined that the tour would have received the overwhelmingly positive reactions that it did, It’s been beyond my wildest dreams to come out represent my family, my father and the music of Led Zeppelin”
As with last year, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience feature James Dylan on lead vocals, Tony …

London’ radio art station Resonance104.4fm is staging a live auction to raise funds to keep this unique project on air.
It’s being held from noon on Saturday March 19th until midnight on Sunday March 20th. Amongst the top items to bid for is the chance to win a 90 minute one to one bass guitar lesson with John Paul Jones.  For full details visit http://resonancefm.com/auction

Robert Plant and The Band Of Joy will perform at this year’s Montreal International Jazz Festival at the end of June. They are scheduled to play the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts on June 24.  Other Dates already confirmed this year are as follows:
April 8 – Louisville, KY – The Palace
April 9: – Chicago, IL – The Auditorium Theatre
April 11 – Milwaukee, WI – The Riverside Ballroom
April 12 – Minneapolis – The State Theatre
April 14 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live Arena
April 14-16  -Wanee Music Festival, Live Oak, …

Progress on the book I have been compiling titled  Feather In The Wind- Led Zeppelin  Over Europe 1980 is ongoing and we are now commencing the design stage with a view to publication in late May/June.
Here’s what the book is all about:
In the summer of 1980, Led Zeppelin undertook what would be their final tour –a low key 14 date trek across  Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria and Switzerland.
With a radically streamlined stage presentation and set list, the aim was to get back to being a working band after all the …

Own up time. My only previous flirtation with anything remotely operatic has been The Who’s Tommy. I loved the film for it’s sheer absurdness and the album (particularly Lou Reizner’s orchestral version) is still a particular favourite.
Standing outside the mightily impressive Royal Opera House last Friday in London’s Covent Garden, I had the feeling the evening’s entertainment ahead was going to be something altogether a little more high brow.
It was but then again it wasn’t.
I was there of course to witness John Paul Jones contribution as the bass guitarist in …

The first dates of Robert Plant and The Band Of Joy’s 2011 summer European tour have been announced. They will be appearing at the following venues:
19th July – CAPANNELLE FIESTA Italy, Rome
20th July – ARENA CVICA Italy, Milan
22nd July – LES ROMAN ARENES France, Nimes
23rd July – PALEO FESTIVAL Switzerland, Nyon
27th July – NEW ARENA Russia, St. Petersburg
29th July – CROCUS HALL Russia, Moscow
31st July – PALACE OF SPORTS Ukraine, Kiev
2nd August – TORWAR Poland, Warsaw
3rd August – ZITADELLE Germany, Berlin
5th August – LOCKERSEE FESTIVAL Belgium, Lokeren
Further dates are likely …

40 years ago this evening, Jimmy Page strapped on a newly acquired Gibson double neck guitar and played the first chords of a new lengthy composition in front of an audience for the first time.
The occasion was Led Zeppelin’s opening date on their UK tour at the Ulster Hall Belfast. The historic photo below captures the moment…

The song was Stairway To Heaven
The rest is history….
As TBL contributor Rikky Rooksby observes in the introduction to a major feature on Stairway To Heaven to be published in the next Tight But Loose …