Music News
Led Zeppelin to perform one-off comeback gig
Wednesday 12 September 2007
The band will perform for the first time in 19 years in tribute to the late founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who signed the band in 1968.
Tickets for the show at London's O2 Arena will cost £125 (€183) and fans will have to enter a ballot with the winning names chosen at random.
The group's three original members, singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones, will be joined by late drummer John Bonham's son, Jason, on drums.
The Who's Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, rock band Foreigner and Scottish 20-year-old star Paolo Nutini, will also play on the tribute night.
Plant said: "During the Zeppelin years, Ahmet Ertegun was a major foundation of solidarity and accord.
"For us he was Atlantic Records and remained a close friend and conspirator - this performance stands alone as our tribute to the work and the life of our long-standing friend."
Nutini was the final British artist that Istanbul-born Ertegun, who founded Atlantic Records in 1947, mentored before he died last year at the age of 83.
His label signed names like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and The Drifters and Ertegun became a mentor to some of the biggest names in music.
He made his first move into rock in 1968, when he signed Led Zeppelin, followed by the likes of the Rolling Stones, Cream and Genesis.
Profits from the O2 show will go to the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, which pays for student scholarships to universities in the UK, US and Turkey.
It will also be used to establish a music scholarship at Ravensbourne College in Kent.
Led Zeppelin split when Bonham died in 1980 after a drinking binge.
Since then, they have performed only a handful of gigs, including Live Aid in 1985 and an Atlantic Records anniversary gig three years later.
Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 as The New Yardbirds, with Page bringing in Plant, Bonham and Jones.
They released their self-titled debut in 1969, regarded as one of the pivotal records in the creation of heavy rock.
Led Zeppelin have sold more than 300m albums worldwide and in 1995 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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