Ticket 2 Ride

Jason Bonham is more than the son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, Jason was been a working musician for four decades and actually performed with the surviving Led Zeppelin band members.

In addition to having his own band, Jason has performed with a variety of artists including Heart, Foreigner, Kid Rock, Slash, Joe Bonamassa, Sammy Hagar, Little Steven and Paul Rodgers.

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience performs the best known Led Zeppelin tunes, plus some deeper cuts. Some of his players have been with him since he started these shows in 2010. While this is a cover band, these are talented, multi instrumentalists who sink their teeth into these Zeppelin songs.

• Jason Bonham: Drums 
• James Dylan: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar 
• Dorian Heartsong: Bass, Mandolin 
• Alex Howland: Keyboards, Guitar, Mandolin, Background Vocals
• Jimmy Sakurai: Lead Guitar

We caught him at Harrah’s Voodoo Lounge in Kansas City. The show was advertised to start at 7pm, but when we got there everyone was told the show was delayed. We were standing in line with general admission ticket holders even though we had reserved seats. People were backed in double lines in the hallway. It made for an unexpectedly long evening. Thankfully, the show started about 8:10pm.

After the second or third song, Jason addressed the audience, he was chatty and would be so throughout the evening. For 15 years he’s been performing Zeppelin music, saying it was his therapy. He playing with the other members of his dad’s band for the Celebration Day concert. At the time, the members of Led Zeppelin were supposedly received lucrative offers to tour, but the band was not in agreement, so it didn’t happen. Understandably, Jason was in a heavy LZ vibe but it was suddenly over. Playing the music in front of fans was his therapy. Not only does he love the music, but it obviously connects him to his dad. The specter of John Bonham hangs heavy, an image of his dad’s face is on Jason’s bass drum. Jason told some stories of his dad and the band, things he remembered and things he’s been told. More than anything, it’s that boy missing his dad, and understanding in his late 50s, the fragility of life.

This tour was advertised as a concert of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti (1975) album, to be played in its entirety. In the land of 1970s double albums, Physical Graffiti ranks as one of the best. It was also the last really great album by Led Zeppelin. Not every song on the album is a classic, but there are no weak or filler songs. This album also includes songs that did not make the cut for earlier albums, as LZ was writing and recording like crazy in 1971-1974; hence, the double album.

Jason indicated the songs were not in the running order of the album. Here’s the set list with a few comments. These are not my videos.

Custard Pie

The Rover – Sterling performance, rocking.

The Wanton Song

In My Time of Dying – Not my favorite song on the album. The band stretched it out a bit too long from the original.

Houses of the Holy – A song that did not fit on the album of the same name, but fits like a glove on Physical Graffiti. Solid performance.

In the Light – Impressive performance.

Sick Again – Sakurai is a damn fine guitar player and for the most part nails Page’s guitar parts on all of the songs.

Bron-Yr-Aur – Played with two acoustic guitars. Howland played one guitar with a string bow, in Jimmy Page fashion. Nice rendition.

Boogie With Stu – Acoustic guitars, mandolin with drum machine

Black Country Woman – Acoustic guitars with mandolin.

Ten Years Gone – An underrated song, the band hit it on all cylinders.

Night Flight – Guitar riffs unleashed. Respectable version.

Down By the Seaside – Maybe the roughest of the songs performed. Sakurai’s guitar was raw and loud.

Trampled Under Foot – Rocking song thanks to Howland with the great John Paul Jones clavinet keyboard sound.

Kashmir – One of the audience favorites. And one of mine. Nailed the atmospheric quite well.

Encore:

Good Times Bad Times – From the debut album, another hard rocker.

Whole Lotta Love – Performed with the extended drum solo and spacey guitar effects.

Stairway to Heaven did not play, likely because of time limitations.

Rock and Roll – Great way to end the concert, if you weren’t on your feet you were asleep.

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Final thoughts…

The concert was well over two hours in length and the band had to be exhausted. Certainly members of the audience were wasted (people around us). Harrah’s sold GA standing room on the main floor; thankfully my wife purchased seats upstairs. GA is tough to do at this age.

Reviewing cover bands is tricky: are you reviewing the music, the stage performance, or how close you were connected to that time in your life? I’ve seen a lot of cover bands, but not one quite like this one. Naturally, the expectations are a bit higher. Jason’s band was quite enjoyable. The videos do not quite give you the experience, but you get the idea.