They Give No Quarter

Jonesy back to the Korg keyboards.

Nobody's Fault But Mine, Continued

Another blurry picture, but you can still make out Page's grimace.

Many reviewers mentioned that despite the large stage, all three guys tended to cluster around the drums quite often, as if they were still in a small rehearsal space.

Below, the band prepares for No Quarter.

Above, Presence's For Your Life gets its first live airing with Jimmy on the Black Beauty Les Paul Custom. This song had such a fantastic crunch, both on the studio version and at the O2.

Jonesy goes to the keys for Trampled Underfoot. The keyboards were directly in front of us.

I like this shot of JPJ on his custom-made Hugh Manson 10-string bass for Nobody's Fault But Mine.

You can see the dry ice came out just a bit early here. The band was still in the middle of Nobody's Fault when the fog started drifting across prematurely (prior to No Quarter).

In My Time of Dying, Continued

A pretty good shot of the rhythm section above.

I know the photo below is blurry, but it shows Jimmy smiling (as each of the guys were all night) and that makes me happy.

Rambling On

Page switched to a Gibson hollow-body ES-350 model for In My Time of Dying (also employing a slide, of course). In 1975 and 1977 performances of this song, he had used the black & white Danelectro guitar. Some have noted that he did not use a single non-Gibson guitar for the entire show. It seems probable that he now has endorsements in place for Gibson and Marshall (the non-Marshall amps hall had parts of their names taped over/blacked out [Orange, Petersburg]).

Page, Plant, Jones, and Jason Bonham Hit the Stage

SETLIST:
Good Times Bad Times
Ramble On
Black Dog
In My Time Of Dying
For Your Life
Trampled Under Foot
Nobody's Fault But Mine
No Quarter
Since I've Been Loving You
Dazed & Confused
Stairway To Heaven
The Song Remains The Same
Misty Mountain Hop
Kashmir

ENCORES:
Whole Lotta Love
Rock And Roll

Opening Acts

Bill Wyman and his Rhythm Kings were joined by Paulo Nutini, a Scottish singer-songwriter signed to Atlantic in the last year or two. He's a really talented guy, and you could tell that easily enough just in the song or two he performed. With his accent, his lyrics are sometimes difficult to make out, but he certainly has a soulfulness about him.

Paul Rodgers came out to do "All Right Now," a big hit from his Free days, as well as a good version of "Seagull" from Bad Company's debut album - dedicated to Ahmet.

Can you tell we're happy to be in the second row?

More Pilot Inn, the Line, and Overkill

Scott M (who came from Tampa) was, strangely enough, a SUNY Fredonia alum. An odd coincidence. Scott is a longtime Royal-Orleans.com (I just joined this year) member and was a fun guy to talk to at the Pilot. To his right, Jon M (from Richmond, VA) was a guy who bought his passcode on eBay after finding out I successfully purchased tickets that way. To many FBO people at the meet-up, I was known simply as "the guy who bought the passcode" - although there were many others who did so. Jon was really nice and thanked me many times for sharing my story with the list, which inspired him to take the same route. Tom (Seattle) was yet another member of the FBO contingent to make the journey.

We arrived at the O2 on Monday a little after noon (we had spent over two hours on Sunday waiting in line to collect our wristbands and tickets) to queue up for entry to the standing-room-only floor area of the arena. I was surprised that we weren't very far back in the line. There were people who camped out for three days (the line was indoors, but you could see your breath at various times), but probably less than 10 of them. Above, I'm seated next to Leo and Vincent - two guys from Calgary, Alberta. Laura and I both enjoyed talking to these guys about Canada's universal health care, American politics and foreign policy, hockey, football, and music. They helped the time pass quickly. I told them about my Canada-loving friend who loves to fish and says "eh" all the time (they were amused... "oh, he does, eh?").

These guys are a tribute band known as Boot-Led-Zeppelin, based in the UK. They played a mini-set while we all waited impatiently in line. They sounded pretty decent, although I think they were talked into doing parts of Whole Lotta Love about five different times for the benefit of a TV crew covering the event.

The O2 and the Pilot Inn

The O2, formerly known as the Millenium Dome - in the Docklands of London.

(Edited)In the center is Stephane of Montreal, who came with 'TangerineMan' Mike (not pictured for some reason!). On the right is Nech, the Keeper of the Flame on FBO (For Badgeholders Only), the Led Zeppelin mailing list to which I've subscribed for almost ten years. He has become a VIP Zeppelin fan over the years and was the first to break the news (in August, I believe) that the rumors were true this time - Zeppelin was really getting back together. He also sat in Sunday's soundcheck and provided a full report that night to those of us Zeppelin faithful gathered at the Pilot Inn, less than a kilometer from the O2. Nech gave us a small idea of what to expect (AKA 'prepare yourselves - this is going to be beyond any reasonable expectations - you will have your minds melted') the following day.

Laura was very patient while surrounded by Zep-geeks and I think she might have had a good time.

12.10.07

Pictured above is Jason Bonham, courtesy Ross Halfin's site (http://rosshalfin.co.uk).

Laura and I will fly to London Thursday evening/Friday morning.
The plan is to meet up with some of the faithful Sunday evening at a pub in the Docklands area, near the O2, site of the show.
The show? LED ZEPPELIN...I can't really believe it...
Monday, we'll head over to begin waiting in line (we have general admission/floor entry).
I will provide an expansive narrative of my experiences upon my return.