The headline act was the English rock band Led Zeppelin, who performed their first full-length concert in almost three decades, since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, in a one-off reunion.
[2] On 12 September 2007, it was confirmed during a press conference by promoter Harvey Goldsmith that the surviving members of Led Zeppelin would reunite for the show, with Jason Bonham filling in on drums.
The website exceeded its bandwidth allowance and crashed almost immediately following the announcement, with the promoter predicting that the gig would cause the "largest demand for one show in history".
[7] Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page later commented: I knew it was going to sell out quickly, but the tidal wave of euphoria that preceded the gig—the anticipation—went beyond what I could possibly have imagined.
[8]On 1 November 2007, it was announced that Page fractured the little finger on his left hand after a fall in his garden and the reunion show was postponed to 10 December 2007.
[9] The show opened with a band consisting of Keith Emerson, Chris Squire, Alan White and Simon Kirke[10] with the brass section from Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
They played Emerson, Lake & Palmer's version of "Fanfare for the Common Man", including sections from Yes' "The Fish" and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".
[citation needed] The show also featured Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Paul Rodgers, Paolo Nutini, and Foreigner as supporting acts.
It all feels quite fresh to me because I haven't played any of this stuff for years and I never listen to the records at home… Jason makes it more interesting too, because he's not trying to reassemble things exactly the way his father did.
"[15] Without Bonham, said Robert Plant, "it would've been a totally different thing because his enthusiasm and points of reference were spectacular – his knowledge of shows that had been performed when he was a tot.
Hundreds of fans with General Admission tickets arrived at the O2 Arena days in advance with the hopes of being front and center for such a landmark occasion.
As the concert was expected to be Led Zeppelin's last, a number of celebrities attended the gig, including Joe Elliott, Chad Smith, Dave Grohl, BBC Radio 1 DJs Chris Moyles & Fearne Cotton, Mark Butler, Brett Hull, Chris Evans, Bob Harris, Ilan Rubin,[18] Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Brian May,[19] David Gilmour, Lulu, Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, Ann Wilson,[20] Arctic Monkeys, The Edge, Bernard Sumner, Dave Mustaine, Peter Gabriel, John Squire, Mick Jagger, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Matt Morgan, Juliette Lewis, James Dean Bradfield, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Ashcroft,[21] Marilyn Manson, Warren Haynes, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, David Boreanaz, W. Earl Brown, Jerry Hall, Priscilla Presley,[22] Paris Hilton,[23] Neil Finn and Mark Kermode (Kermode applied for tickets via the lottery system on the website).
New Musical Express proclaimed, "what they have done here tonight is proof that they can still perform to the level that originally earned them their legendary reputation...We can only hope this isn't the last we see of them.
"[24] The New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who attended the concert wrote, "The failed gigs of the nineteen-eighties and nineties have been supplanted by a triumph, and the band should be pleased to have done Ertegun proud with such a spirited performance.