Jason Bonham has gone in depth on the difficulty Robert Plant still has in moving forward without his dad, the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham – feelings that ultimately ended any hoped-for reunion of the band’s surviving members.
Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page last convened as Zeppelin, with Jason replacing John Bonham, in 2007 at London’s 02 Arena. The event was later commemorated with the release of Celebration Day, on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts.
Still, Robert Plant has stood firm: There are no plans to continue on, despite the new-found excitement that surrounded this Led Zeppelin release.
“It wasn’t just him going ‘I don’t want to do it,’ there were other things going on,” Jason Bonham tells 98.7 The Gater. “He told me, ‘It doesn’t matter how great you are on the drums, Jason. I love you to bits, and you play absolutely amazing. But John was the drummer in Led Zeppelin, and John was part of me and Jimmy and John Paul. We shared something very, very special.'”
[WHEN LED ZEPPELIN, WELL, SUCKED: We’ve carefully sorted through all nine of their albums, looking for Led Zeppelin’s worst clunkers and most obvious missteps so you won’t have to.]
John Bonham died in his sleep at age 32 in 1980, and Led Zeppelin never returned to the studio again. Jason Bonham earlier appeared in a pair of other partial, one-off Zeppelin reunions, even while achieving his own musical success as a drummer with UFO, Foreigner and Black Country Communion.
In the end, Jason believes that the 2007 show will be Led Zeppelin’s last time together, despite his own feelings. Robert Plant simply misses Bonzo too much.
Jason Bonham says Plant confided: “‘I struggle sometimes just thinking about trying to create some magic again when he’s not there. He was a very, very dear friend of mine, that I miss every day.’ He’ll probably kill me for telling you that.”
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Bologna….. same cheap story since 1983. Plant can kick up a storm playing zep songs as long as it’s not with Jones. There’s as much dislike of the living members as there is love for the deceased. No respect for fans.
I Would Think Plants Problem With Playing Zep Tunes Would Be His ( Lack Of ) Vocal Abilities At His RAPIDLY Advancing “Age ” …..
Snarky much?
As good as they were, and as good as the music was for all of us, there are some pretty serious losses for Robert that are connected to that period in his life: his closest friend and also his son. Honestly, the grief may make returning to Led Zeppelin emotionally intolerable. Also, the notion of greedy promoters etc. just waiting to cash in on something truly precious to Robert might make the situation beyond intolerable. I can understand all that, and I’m glad Jason shared this information.
i never had the chance to watch them live ,,,,simply a bit to Young ..07 it was impossible to get a ticket …
I was there, at the O2 in London and it was magical!
Plant needs to accept the reality of who he’s telling this to and try to give Jason “time served” as a part of ZEP seeing how he was 2yrs. old when John joined the group.
Plant needs to get over bonhams death now and let zeppelin and jason bonham grow then expire properly because bonhams death by drinking stopped the band’s growth.
That was 1980 which may as well have been 1890 by now.
Anyway, plants reasons sound like a cop out.
Sure we all lose friends but we must continue and do. Jason seems the logical replacement for John if not the perfect replacement .
Plant did continue and made tons of cash and that’s what it’s all about and always was right?
And fame. Adoration.
But whatever . Zeppelin and most rock bands were never a big deal to me and still aren’t .
They are talented though.