Led Zeppelin Reunion

Contrary to popular perception, Led Zeppelin isn't exactly averse to reunions. If anything, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant can't keep away from each other. Just four years after John Bonham's 1980 death, Page laid down guitar on Robert Plant's oldies act the Honeydrippers, and not long after that, John Paul Jones joined the pair for a performance at 1985's Live Aid…

Contrary to popular perception, Led Zeppelin isn't exactly averse to reunions. If anything, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant can't keep away from each other. Just four years after John Bonham's 1980 death, Page laid down guitar on Robert Plant's oldies act the Honeydrippers, and not long after that, John Paul Jones joined the pair for a performance at 1985's Live Aid. That set was trashed by the public and band alike, as was their subsequent 1988 appearance at Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary celebration, but despite these lackluster gigs, rumors of a full-fledged reunion continued to circulate well into the new millennium, even after Page & Plant recorded a pair of albums in the mid-'90s - a project that caused tension with Jones, who was unaware of the collaboration until its release…

Led Zeppelin's reunion for an Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert in November 2007 (pushed back a couple of weeks due to a finger injury Jimmy Page sustained during rehearsals) seemed like a spur of the moment thing – but how spontaneous could it have been if it just happened to coincide with the release of an expanded The Song Remains the Same on both CD and DVD, the debut of their catalog as digital downloads, and the new two-disc compilation Mothership as a sampler of the whole shebang? Considering this full-scale, multi-prong assault – which also included a new album by Robert Plant, after all – it was probably not all that spontaneous. Such a precise attack suits this most mythic of classic rock groups, who always benefited from an enormous sense of scale.

Led Zeppelin's reunion for an Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert in November 2007 (pushed back a couple of weeks due to a finger injury Jimmy Page sustained during rehearsals) seemed like a spur of the moment thing – but how spontaneous could it have been if it just happened to coincide with the release of an expanded The Song Remains the Same on both CD and DVD, the debut of their catalog as digital downloads, and the new two-disc compilation Mothership as a sampler of the whole shebang? Considering this full-scale, multi-prong assault – which also included a new album by Robert Plant, after all – it was probably not all that spontaneous. Such a precise attack suits this most mythic of classic rock groups, who always benefited from an enormous sense of scale.

Robert Plant shouldn't have been at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. He and his Sensational Space Shifters have been recording a new album in England, with no plans to tour…