On December 10, 2007, the three remaining members of "Led Zeppelin", Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones, accompanied by drummer Jason Bonham, son of John Bonham, went on stage at the "O2" in London for a one-off reunion show, in memory of Ahmet Ertegun who was the band's musical director and passed away a year earlier.
It was the band's first full-length concert in over three decades, since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980.
This show broke the Guinness record for the concert with the "highest demand for tickets for a single musical concert". Tickets were put up for sale via a lottery system on a website at £125 / £250, with all proceeds going to Ahmet's charity. As soon as the website was opened for sale, it has collapsed due to excess demand reaching 20 million requests for only 18,000 tickets.
During the show, the band performed 16 songs, including the two encores, from the band's entire repertoire, with the exception of their latest studio album, "In Through The Out Door".
Two of the songs performed that night were played live in their entirety for the first time ever by the band: "Ramble On" and "For Your Life".
In October 2012, the film "Celebration Day" documenting the event, was released. The film gives viewers who were not included among the 18,000 lucky ones, a chance to see the brilliant performance in the closest way to how it actually happened, since the band members wanted to make as few edits as possible and intervene as little as possible in the sound mix or the song list.
The band members look and sound precise and cohesive, considering the fact that almost 40 years have passed since they last played a full show together on the same stage. Jimmy Page's guitar work is amazing, despite the effect of age on his voice Robert Plant screams his soul into the classic songs and pushes them forward, and the quiet force - John Paul Jones as always amazes with his playing both on bass and keys. But above all, the crazy chemistry of the three with Jason Bonham should be noted. Jason stepped into his father's huge shoes and even challenged himself to raise the bar with some interesting and unique drum fills he concocted himself. Rumor has it that Jason listened to gigs and quite a few bootlegs, trying and emulate his father's versatile and powerful playing.
This show was also released on a double album on November 19, 2012, to critical acclaim.
On the 15th anniversary of the show, on December 10, 2022, the show will be broadcast live on the band's YouTube channel.
For listening to the album: Spotify, Apple Music