Two weeks ago, former Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones attended the London premier of the late rock band's two-disc concert DVD, "Led Zeppelin DVD." To his surprise and amusement, the bass and keyboard player felt a bit like a teenager experiencing his first Zeppelin concert.
"I actually let out a cheer with everyone else in the theater at the end of 'Moby Dick,' " Jones says with a laugh. "It was nice to actually see a Led Zeppelin gig [as a fan], because at the time I was always working! I had forgotten how tight we were as a band. The live music works so well on DVD because of [the format's 5.1] surround sound. It puts you right in the first row."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday May 29, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
Led Zeppelin -- A caption with a photo of the band's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in Tuesday's Calendar incorrectly stated that the performance took place in 1982. The exact date of that performance isn't known, but the band ceased performing as Led Zeppelin in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham.
To a host of Led Zeppelin fans, today's release of the 5 1/2-hour DVD set -- along with a separately packaged, three-CD offering of live music from the quartet titled "How the West Was Won" -- represents the arrival of Christmas seven months early.
The crux of the two-DVD set revolves around footage from three performances in England: a Royal Albert Hall show in 1970, an Earls Court concert in 1975 and a Knebworth Festival show in 1979.
Led Zeppelin was without question one of the most dominant rock acts of the '70s. The British outfit has sold approximately 200 million albums worldwide, an astounding number for a band that released nine albums during its life span, between 1968 and 1980. (The band dissolved shortly after the death of drummer John Bonham.) While the group was adept at delivering acoustic folk music, it played an indispensable role in establishing a heavy-metal template that would influence countless bands and musicians.
But until now, the only officially available visual documentation of the media-shy band had been the 1976 concert film "The Song Remains the Same." The movie captures the band on stage at New York City's Madison Square Garden in 1973.
For 21 years, the soundtrack to "The Song Remains the Same" was also the only official audio representation of Led Zeppelin on stage. In 1997, the group released a two-CD package of live material from 1969 titled "BBC Sessions."
The latest Led Zeppelin offerings are especially welcome by disc jockey Gary Moore, who devotes a half-hour to the band every weekday at 4 p.m. on KLOS-FM (95.5).
