Jason Bonham Plans to Take Led Zeppelin Tribute Act on the Road

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Led Zeppelin haven't answered fans' passionate calls for more shows after their one-night-only 2007 reunion concert in London. But Jason Bonham, who stepped in and played drums for his deceased father at the show, is offering the next best thing: a summer tour with his new project the Led Zeppelin Experience. Bonham is hitting the road to honor the 30th anniversary of his father's death with a 30-date tour featuring Bonham playing the band's greatest hits. Dates along with the lineup of musicians backing Bonham will be announced soon; more info is available at Bonham's official website. "When I was offered to put this together over a year ago, it wasn't right," Bonham said in a statement. "This September 25th is the 30th anniversary of my father's passing — I thought, what better way to celebrate his life than to do 30 shows for the 30 years he's been gone?"

The shows will be more than just a standard set of Zep covers. Bonham is planning to ratchet up the gigs with plenty of multimedia features, including a light show and giant screens displaying home movies and photos of Bonham and his family. Inspired after seeing the longtime touring show "Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles," Bonham partnered with the team behind the Pink Floyd Experience production. "I loved 'Rain' and its take on the Beatles," Bonham said. "The way they used a timeline and news reel to create a mood, and crafted set changes throughout, it was stunning."

As Rolling Stone previously reported, a true Led Zep reunion seems unlikely this year. Robert Plant will be touring and releasing a new album with his pre-Zep act Band of Joy, which also featured John Bonham. The singer is currently recording the disc with Alison Krauss (who collaborated with Plant on the 2007 Grammy-winning smash Raising Sand) and will be joined on tour by singer-songwriter Patti Griffin.

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Song Stories

“The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”

The Joy Formidable | 2011

The opener off the Welsh group’s The Big Roar album was an epic one, but the band was worried that track had polarized fans. “The first song is eight minutes long,” Rhydian Dafydd, the Joy Formidable bassist, said. “If you did that in the Seventies people would be, ‘Whatever.’ You do it now, people think, ‘Holy s---!’ Some people think it’s the f---ing greatest track on the entire album, and some people think it’s f---ing boring. It’s that element of needing to challenge people.” The band concluded through the song’s lyrics that love was the “everchanging spectrum of a lie.”

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