Celebration Day [Double CD]

So here it is at last on general sale: the 2xCD/Blu-Ray of Zeppelin's now-legendary one-off celebratory reunion performance on 10th December 2007 at London's O2 Arena. The event was to honour the life and work of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who in 1968 had such faith in a young British band that he backed them with money and a recording contract, and who died aged 83 of a backstage fall during the Rolling Stones benefit concert in October 2006.

Is all the hype about this concert justified? You bet. The performance is indeed worthy of all the superlatives heaped on it, and in every way outstanding.

Having seen the youthful band several times in the 1970s, the initial shock of seeing three guys in their 60s (well OK, in 2007 Plant was 59) - plus the near-perfect-fit Jason Bonham standing in for his long-departed father on drums - on stage together, is swept away once the music starts. From the storming opener `Good Times Bad Times' through two hours of some of their best-known numbers, this is Led Zeppelin, and this band ROCKS. The fast-fingered Page is outstanding; Plant - ever the great showman and commanding stage presence - retains power, emotion, volume and range in his voice even though he avoids the screaming high notes which gave Zeppelin distinctive character in their youth; JPJ is the bedrock for the band both on keyboards and bass, and Jason Bonham almost unbelievably gels with the band so perfectly that he might indeed be his father pounding the skins with power and feel.

Much of the time Page, Plant and Jones stand close together, physically; almost touching each other. The astounding thing is how relaxed they are, how at ease, how professional - and how they simply enjoy themselves on stage so much. The sense of occasion is intoxicating, the numbers powerful, tight, joyous. Plant relaxes and interacts good-naturedly with the audience between songs, the atmosphere that of a celebratory family reunion where everyone is simply having a great time.

Highlights: too many to list. `Kashmir' probably takes the Gold. Awesome.

The 2CD+Blu-ray package is a fine artefact. The cover shows the iconic Zeppelin over London, presented in the slightly archaic style so frequently characteristic of the artwork employed by the band. CD1 displays the time 10.12 on an antique clock-face, on CD2 it's 12.10: the walk-on and walk-off times of the band on the night. Nice touch.

Seeing them play and interact with each other and with the audience is a must, and adds so much to the experience. Many of the frames are close-up and personal, with a front-row audience perspective. You do, however, need to hear the music through a big powerful sound system: play loud.

Some minor points: there is no acoustic set, a standard of the band's stage shows in the 1970s, and the actual song `Celebration Day' - the perfect name for this event - is not performed. These are not niggles, just observations: the whole concert is awesome.

For those fortunate enough to have won tickets, they have the experience of a lifetime, a night to remember. There were tales of ticketless devotees on the night offering more than GB£4,000 in cash for a ticket, and of ticket-clutching fans refusing to sell. They made the right choice. For the rest of us, this is as good as it's going to get - and fortunately, that's pretty darned good. Personally I hope this was Zep's final concert, as it's difficult to imagine they could ever top it, and they go out in style.

Once, giants walked the Earth. Alas, we may never see their like again. But at least we have the record, and what a record it is.

I'm one of the lucky ones to have been in the Hammersmith Apollo last night at the Premiere of this movie. I did have a concern on this release or at least the Amazon choices. All I could see originally were NTSC choices but then found the PAL DVD versions - the review covers the content rather than media standards and formats......BluRay will come to me eventually but only when the current backside kicking DVD home cinema system I own gives up the ghost!

Now for content alone it's gets 5 stars. And on watching this I hope they never reform because frankly it won't get any better than this in terms of musical tightness and perfection. This should and will stand as their most solid concert across their career in my view and as a legacy memory it will never be surpassed. I feel sorry for today's youngsters that they have nothing remotely close to this or Pink Floyd ( who should also resist any further reunifications for the same reasons) in terms of musical creativity and longevity (a dirty word for today's music hacks and DJs) .

The concert starts with a rip roaring version of Good Times Bad Times. Cue much air guitar and audience head nodding (not banging, the Zep crowd have long since gone beyond that). Plants voice isn't as strong and piercing as in his heyday and one wouldn't expect it, but its still streets ahead of any I've heard past and present and remains fully capable of carrying off the music. Note the high long notes of Stairway and Kashmir, which he carries off here with arrogant aplomb. I won't do a track by track critique because each is extraordinary in terms of variation and execution. Plants overcomes his ageing voice shortcomings with brilliant improvisation that is inspiring and creatively exciting. Stand out tracks for me were the first track which throws you straight into the energy and passion and the sheer enjoyment of crowd and band. If the boys were nervous then it didn't show. Black Dog and Ramble On send shivers down the spine before the utter gorgeousness of the magical In My Time Of Dying . Each song is performed with craftsmanship and Page has rarely ever been better than in this concert. One of the bonuses of this is the decent screen time for John-Paul Jones so one of the quieter members gets the chance to display his skill on bass and keyboards for perhaps a greater appreciation than normal, as he generally lived in the shadows of the other three (as do most bassists I guess). Then through to another stand out piece with No Quarter filling the auditorium with its haunting keyboard beginning. Plant himself states that Dazed and Confused was one of the songs that couldn't be left out and the version here is a masterpiece and yes, Jimmy's violin bow does feature and yes, it is one of the highlights of the entire Page master class. Play this at 11!

Stairway is epic as expected and even my least favourite song. The Song Remains The Same comes to new life and appreciation here. Misty Mountain Hop is executed superbly for what in my view is a tough one to do live. But the final 3 songs leave you gasping for more. Kashmir is a track that they've never quite nailed live in my view. Usually a brilliant live track ruins the album original a little for me but Zep have never done this quite like Floyd have with Comfortably Numb or Shine On. However this time they absolutely do nail it. It's fantastic. This now brings me to mention the Man of the Match. Throughout the whole thing I watched Jason Bonham carefully wondering if he could do justice to his dad. Well let me tell you - he does more than that. Jason Bonham on this entire gig is a 'tour de force'. He is very possibly the best drummer in music today and certainly the best I've seen. I don't believe in ghosts but even a hard bitten old atheist like me could be persuaded that Johns spirit was being channeled into Jason throughout this concert. His bond and the warmth and friendship to the other band members is plain to see and his drumming on Kashmir is simply sensational. Every bit as good if not better than the original. I'd question that if John were alive he'd have had the energy to carry off a 2 hour concert as well as his son.

The film ends with 2 encores, a hugely varied Whole Lotta Love with Page excelling with that iconic riff and Plants voice, Jones bass driving the song with Bonham pushing the song harder with yet more excellent drumming. The final song had to be Rock n Roll. And boy does this get the treatment. It finishes with Bonham drum crescendo which defies the laws of coordination and possibly physics! Both encores are superb but the final track left the audience cheering, stomping and probably a tear or two of joy at having witnessed this. I would love to have been at the original gig but only 18000 from 20 million applicants got tickets. This was the absolute next best thing. I urge you to see this in the cinema, and then buy it but watch it on as big a TV with as good a home cinema as you can get. It's epic, it's awesome, it's thrilling, inspiring, joyous and emotional. It's rock and roll as raw and exciting as possible . It is how music should be :)

Just back from the Screen Cinema in Winchester. Objective summary: the film is sensational, it looks utterly great, it sounds fantastic. Way beyond my expectations! It is fantastically well edited, excellent but not excessive use of film effects including what looks like super eight "fan footage" shot from the audience, and some great slow-motion moments too. Most importantly, the cutting between shots is not too fast, as has been a common complaint in other band concert films. There some lovely close-ups of Page's beautiful Gibson guitars too.

It is fabulous to see so much eye contact, smiles and warmth between the band - most of the time they are standing very close together - no long catwalk excursions here. A real sense of joy is palpable throughout.

My face is hurting from smiling so much. The whole thing is beyond terrific but if forced to pick highlights I'd say the epic, pulverising Kashmir, a lovely Stairway, and Trampled Underfoot, Nobody's fault but mine, and the "never played live before" from Presence - For your life (great black and white backdrop projections on that song). Oh hang on, I've just remembered, Since I've been loving you was an absolute tour de force too!

Thank you so much for releasing this Led Zeppelin.