ROLLING STONE's David Fricke reviews JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE in NYC (see below)…
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/david-fricke/blogs/DavidFricke_May2010/232439/38726

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience performs at the Best Buy Theater in New York City, November 8, 2010.
"This is my story, what my dad and Led Zeppelin meant to me," Jason said in a prerecorded overture, accompanied by family photos and films of the childhood and teenage Bonzo. The order in Jason's comment was intentional. The Led-Zeppelin Experience is comprised entirely of Zeppelin music, played by Jason with an able, spirited band: guitarist Tony Catania, bassist Michael Devin, keyboard and guitar player Stephen LeBlanc and singer James Dylan. But the night — which went the distance from "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "The Lemon Song" to "The Ocean" and "Kashmir" — is mostly about his dad's titanic presence in that music and the giant absence created by his death. "Thank You" came with more home movies, while Jason, a keen student of Zeppelin concert bootlegs, revived and built on his father's live improvisations in "How Many More Times" and the extended closing turbulence of "Dazed and Confused."
There was the inevitable "Stairway to Heaven," and Catania did the theremin honors in the middle of "Whole Lotta Love." But like two other cut-above-tribute enterprises — Beatles specialists and session pros the Fab Faux and Zappa Plays Zappa, led by another true heir, guitarist Dweezil Zappa — Jason's Zeppelin Experience is a band of players, not actors. Dylan has none of Plant's hair and more of AC/DC's Brian Johnson in his mid-range rasp, which was effective in "I'm Gonna Crawl," a surprise pulled from 1979's In Through the Out Door. Catania enacted certain Page solos to the letter, but he took advantage of the slow-blues terrain in "Since I've Been Loving You," blazing his own way between Page's keynote licks.
The other Zeppelin members did not appear on screen, and Jason mentioned Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones gratefully but in passing, during a segment about the weight of replacing his father at the 2007 reunion show in London. Instead, he shared memories that personalized the canon, like the time in 1968 when Jason, only two years old, heard spooky organ music coming from the family stereo. It was his dad playing Side Two of his new band's first album — and the cue for Jason's group to hit the heavy church of "Your Time Is Gonna Come."
"I got to play with my heroes," Jason remarked about the '07 concert, except "one of them wasn't there." In this show, he gets to have Bonzo in the house every night — a reunion, at last, of father and son.
Catch JASON BONHAM’s LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE on the road:
DATE |
|
CITY |
VENUE |
Wed |
11/10 |
Stamford, CT |
Palace Theatre |
Sat |
11/13 |
Jacksonville, FL |
Florida Theater |
Sun |
11/14 |
Clearwater, FL |
King Center |
Tue |
11/16 |
Houston, TX |
Verizon Theatre |
Wed |
11/17 |
Tulsa, OK |
Spirit Bank Event Center |
Thu |
11/18 |
Dallas, TX |
Fairpark Music Hall |
Sat |
11/20 |
Chandler, AZ |
Wild Horses Pass |
Sun |
11/21 |
Riverside, CA |
Fox PAC |
Tue |
11/23 |
Los Angeles, CA |
Pantages Theater |
Wed |
11/24 |
San Francisco, CA |
The Warfield |
Fri |
11/26 |
Portland, OR |
Schnitzer Concert Hall |
Sat |
11/27 |
Seattle, WA |
WaMu Theater |
Sun |
11/28 |
Bellingham, WA |
Mount Baker Theatre |
Mon |
11/29 |
Vancouver, BC |
The Center PAC |
Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets.
For more information about JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE, visit: www.jblze.com.
For JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE publicity, contact MSO:
Libby Coffey 818-380-0400 x224
LCoffey@msopr.com
Bari Lieberman (tour press) 818-380-0400 x222
BLieberman@msopr.com
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