Nearly five years on since that night of nights, and a week of mounting speculation,  the Led Zeppelin reunion concert for Ahmet Ertegun staged at the 02 Arena, London on December 10th, 2007 is finally confirmed for official release.

After all the pre -announcement excitement, we now know that the Led Zeppelin Ahmet Ertegun 02 Reunion concert will initially appear as a full length film titled Celebration Day. This will have screenings across the globe from October 17th.

To find out where the film is being screened near you log on to

http://www.ledzeppelin.com/news

I am lining up to attend the Bedford screening which is just down the road from here. It will be a luxery to walk back from a Zep gig as it were!

Here are some of the other details from the official news release:-

(Los Angeles, Sept. 13, 2012) – On December 10, 2007, Led Zeppelin took the stage at London’s O2 Arena to headline a tribute concert for dear friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. What followed was a two-hour-plus tour de force of the band’s signature blues-infused rock ’n’ roll that instantly became part of the legend of Led Zeppelin. Founding members John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, to perform 16 songs from their celebrated catalog including landmark tracks “Whole Lotta Love,” “Rock And Roll,” “Kashmir,” and “Stairway To Heaven.”

Although 20 million people applied for tickets, the band’s first headline show in 27 years was seen only by the 18,000 ticket holders who were fortunate enough to have secured seats through the worldwide lottery.

The film of Celebration Day will see a worldwide theatrical release by Omniverse Vision on 1,500 screens in over 40 territories on October 17. The theatrical screenings will follow premieres in London, Los Angeles, New York, and other major cities. Tickets for the public screenings will be available on September 13 via ledzeppelin.com.

Celebration Day will then be available in multiple video and audio formats on November 19 from Swan Song/Atlantic Records. Specific product details will be announced soon.

So the countdown to the arrival of the 02 reunion concert on film and multiple formats commences – 34 to the theatrical screenings and 70 days to the official release on DVD etc.

The one minute 18 second trailer is a thrilling preview of what is instore.

They are back…again..

ANNOUNCING THE TBL LED ZEPPELIN O2 REUNION JOURNAL

Led Zeppelin: ‘’Ahmet We Did It’’ – The 02 Reunion Concert Journal

Whilst we are celebrating the long awaited news of the 02 reunion concert DVD release, this is an appropriate time to announce initial details of a forthcoming book from the Tight But Loose Publishing arm.

I first mentioned my intentions to produce a book that chronicles the 02 reunion saga last December. This project is now in the planning.

This will comprise of a journal in book form that tracks all aspects of the reunion concert. The timeline of events leading up to the show, the concert itself and the aftermath. It will also include fan reminisces from the day, exclusive interviews, memorabilia and photos, bootleg listings and more.

In effect, this is the perfect companion to your enjoyment of the Led Zeppelin 02 Reunion DVD.

Led Zeppelin: ‘’Ahmet We Did It’’ – The 02 Reunion Concert Journal will be produced in a strictly limited edition run.

To that end, I would like to again put a call out to fans that have their own 02 experiences to share. If you would like to relay your personal story of attending the show for future publication in the 02 TBL book project I would welcome your input. Even if you did not attend but have been touched by it all, your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Contributions can be up to 2000 words maximum. I am also looking for personal photos and memorabilia surrounding the event. All contributions will be fully acknowledged and credited.

As I am aiming to get this book published as soon as possible so I would need all contributions by October 20th

All contributions should be sent to my email davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com

Many thanks in advance.

Further details on publication date and ordering details will follow.

Finally with all that in mind…one of the key aspects of the 02 event was that it brought together fans from all corners of the globe to create a unique multi-cultural audience. All of those fans who came so far have stories to tell –many of which will be captured in the forthcoming book.

Here is one such example:

This is the 02 reunion experience as told by Donato Farace of Mississauga,Ontario Canada

Right from the announcement of the show, I booked a flight to London right away. I was determined to be there even if I did not have tickets to the show. I figured I should at least be there on sacred ground and feel the reverberations coming from the building.

As it turned out I got far more lucky and got two tickets to the show.

I entered the lottery at the website just like everyone else. And just like most everyone else I did not get a pass code.
I was sad that I did not get a code but certainly was not surprised. The odds of winning one of the codes was truly like winning in a lottery. My next step was to check e-bay. There was some very suspicious sellers with no feedback score, so I stayed away from them. I did however come across a seller in Australia with a high perfect feedback score and a long standing member of e-bay. Confident this seller really had the pass code, I purchased it. I was also lucky in the fact that there was no bidding involved. It was a ‘buy it now’ auction for only $250 us. I bought it, payed the seller via Paypal, and got the pass code.

I was now on the Ticketmaster UK website, entered the code, which indeed worked, and purchased two floor standing tickets to the Led Zeppelin reunion show. I was extremely excited in purchasing two tickets to the show of the century when it seemed almost impossible.

What I wanted most out of life was to see Led Zeppelin. I was 12 years old when they disbanded, so like a lot of people out there, we never got that chance. For myself it was 25 years of dreaming the impossible dream. I could not believe that I actually might be seeing Led Zeppelin perform live for an entire show.
The whole situation about the promoter and non original pass code holders was a little stressful but I felt their threat of non entry to the show was not enforceable.

So fast forward to Sunday December the 9th, my cousin (Fred) and I land in London at roughly 6 am. We hop on the Tube and head straight for the 02 Dome. We arrived at the 02 Dome and waited about one and a half hour to get our tickets that Sunday morning.
Praise our lucky stars, our two tickets were there for us with my name on them.

We had the Ahmet Ertegun concert tickets in our hand and now we were looking to line up for our floor standing spot. I could not settle for a spot other than right in the front of the Zep Men. We asked a staff member of the 02 as to where we could start a line up. They said the show was tomorrow night. We replied that we know that but we want to start a line up right now. This person thought we were crazy but said go ahead start a line over by gate F. Fred and I had wasted some time in finding gate F and two Americans just beat us by about 15 feet to this gate and a formation of a general admission line up. Nonetheless Fred and I were number 3 and 4 in this line up to this historic event. We spent just about 30 hours in this line and slept on a concrete floor (I could not really sleep) so we could be right up by the stage. If I had to, I would have camped out for a month to be that close to the stage.

Dave, I want to add how shocked I was that there was about 15 of us camped out over night to get so close. In Canada or America, I bet there would have been 500 of us. The staff at the 02 were great for letting us stay inside the dome. It was still very cold but at least we were not outside.

Oh boy, I don’t how I almost forgot to mention that I was lucky enough to get into the rehearsal that Sunday night.
Led Zeppelin are doing a last little rehearsal and sound check on the Sunday night. I noticed dozens of people ( maybe you were one of them ) walk by with a sheet of paper in their hand and are allowed entry into the arena while you hear Zeppelin playing. I figured it was some kind of contest thing and these were lucky winners allowed in to see Zeppelin rehearse. I walked closer to the entrance to get a better listen of Zeppelin playing and a staff member asks for my pass. I tell her I do not have a pass and in her sweet British accent she says ‘right you go on in’ and gives me a laminated pass for the rehearsal. This sweet lady is the nicest British person I will ever end up meeting in my life. Such a small thing she did, but the world to me.

I entered the arena to the sounds of ‘No Quarter’ and just about jumped ten feet high. It was about a half hour of rehearsal that we were able to take in. I was already in Zeppelin heaven and the as Monday arrives and this is it. I had not really slept the last two nights because of an over night flight, the time change and a brutally cold dome that Sunday night. None of that mattered on Monday. I new adrenaline was kicking in. All of Monday was so exciting. Hundreds are now starting to flock in. Meeting of new people from around the world. All great people of course. Being interviewed by reporters. Getting your picture taken with others and the Canadian flag. It truly was a wonderful experience. This is what life should be about. And, the show was still yet to happen.

It is time for the show. We are all here. The greatest two hours of my life was seeing that Led Zeppelin performance.

I do not need to go into detail. We all know how awesome it was.

Whenever I am asked about the Led Zeppelin reunion show, I simply say it was amazing. I do not sugar coat it because it does not need sugar coating, it truly was out of this world.

The icing on the cake for myself was being up on the big video screen with my cousin Fred. This was at the end of ‘Rock and Roll’ where we were all smiles on the video screen, then it fades to black and then you see the huge letters – LED ZEPPELIN.

I am of course hoping this image will be captured on the forthcoming official DVD release.

Led Zeppelin at the 02….an incredible experience…

Donato Farace -photo’s by Donato Farace.

This and many other stories surrounding the night Led Zeppelin came back to the stage will be featured in the book.

If you want to be part of it –relay your memories now.

Summary:

So ends an incredible week, when once again the enduring appeal of Led Zeppelin has firmly been back in the spotlight.

The prospect of the impending cinema screenings,the DVD release and all the media hub it will create is a mouthwatering one to say the least. It’s about to propel Led Zeppelin’s status to new levels of popularity.

It continues to be an absolute privilege to relay all this and we will be endeavoring through all the TBL mediums and the forthcoming book, to help maximize your enjoyment of yet another glorious chapter in this band’s history.

So stay with us –for many Celebration Days ahead…

Dave Lewis & Gary Foy

September 14th 2012