Cult singer announces that band is opening tour for Zeppelin -- during club show in Cincinnati! -- reps for both bands offer no comment.
By Gil Kaufman

CINCINNATI — It was one of those moments where all you can do is look at the guy next to you and wonder, "Did he really just say that?"

Is it possible that Ian Astbury, lead singer of '80s rock powerhouse the Cult, spilled the beans on the biggest secret in rock — during a club show in Cincinnati?

"We'll be back next year," a breathless Astbury said midway through the band's gig at Bogart's nightclub Saturday night. "Because we're opening for a band you may have heard of ... the name starts with an 'L' and has a 'Z' in it." Stunned looks bounced around the room until one sweat-drenched superfan shouted out the obvious: "Led Zeppelin!" Astbury, his eyes hidden behind dark shades, nodded affirmatively and stuck his hand in the air triumphantly before plowing into one of the band's signature Zeppelinesque rockers.

When asked about Astbury's seeming confirmation of the world tour, spokespeople for the Cult and Zeppelin both declined to comment. Zeppelin's spokesperson added that no decision has been made on any Led Zeppelin tour and the band is focusing on its appearance at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert in London on December 10; a Cult spokesperson declined to answer questions about Astbury's comment.

It's no secret that the three living members of Zeppelin — singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and long-estranged bassist John Paul Jones — will be performing together for the first time in many years at the December 10 show, which celebrates their mentor, late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. But so far, despite breathless speculation, the one-off gig — which was recently rescheduled from its original November 26 date after Page injured his finger — is the only official reunion show the trio has planned.

Spokespeople for the legendary group, who will perform with Jason Bonham, the son of late drummer John Bonham, have batted down rumors of a full-blown world tour — and as recently as last month, Plant said it was not in the cards. But Page suggested in an recent Guitar World magazine article that playing just one show would be foolish. "It's a bit silly not to because there is such massive demand," Page told the magazine. "It's a bit selfish to do just one show. If that's it, we probably shouldn't have taken the genie out of the bottle."

OMFG!!!!!! This has to happen. PLEAAAAASSSSE!

I'd be willing to pay $100 AND sit through the Cult to see Zeppelin live

the fact that this tour would play stadiums will be the only possible saving grace, ticket price-wise. i'd assume somewhere between $100 and $150.

if it's in arenas, you're looking at at least $300.

these are face value, of course.

but it's zeppelin, so you gotta go. they're the best band ever. and you make money to spend it, right?

I think I would actually pay 150 bucks to see this.

(note)
this ended up being a little long. so, if you don't want to read a lot, i'd like to start by saying that within a week black summer crash may take the place of the beatles in the following post. they're scary good.




i don't really consider music in competitive terms. but.

i consider led zeppelin to be the "best group ever" mostly by virtue of the fact that i can't think of the beatles as a band. they exist on a higher plain, somehow. it just doesn't seem fair to compare them with any other group.

so, by virtue of that, i feel that the very best and most powerful rock and roll band of all time is led zeppelin.

there are other bands that i hold in extremely high regard, either for their musical abilities (steely dan, even though they cheat) or their lyrical content (pulp and some other british pansies; steely dan again) or their pure pop hooks and sensibilities (jellyfish) or even their impact on my life and my feelings (the afghan whigs, guns n' roses, steely dan, or my beloved KISS.) and if an alien ever comes to your house and puts his ray gun to your head demanding to hear what rock and roll music sounds like, i suggest you put on ac/dc posthaste.

but as far as an out and out, headcuttin' throwdown, for my money no band can launch an all-out musical assault, a living, breathing thing, like led zeppelin. as a sheer sonic force, for me they have no equal. they're like a moving mountain, beautifully obliterating everything in it's way. on stage or on record, no band can destroy quite like led zeppelin.

i know they stole. that's what rock and roll is; a guild of thieves & window dressers. the blues songs themselves are literary and musical bastards; they're comprised of a million different versions of a thousand songs by a hundred million people. the blues standards that we know are hardly originals, just the offspring of the ones that came before it. and while i do listen to and appreciate a lot of those artists (wolf, willie dixon, john lee hooker) that zeppelin took from and were influenced by, at heart i like rock and roll and i like to rock. and nobody i've ever heard can rock like led zeppelin.

and yes, some of their lyrics are stupid and don't make any sense (at least to me, 'cause i've never read tolkien; i had girlfriends in high school ), and some of them are just blues retreads, and some of them i just plain can't understand what that screechy motherfucker is going on about, but some of them are pure gold. but it's mostly inconsequential. for me, what's important with led zeppelin's lyrics isn't what plant is saying, but rather how he's saying it (just like with dylan's singing, it's about the inflection). i don't know what percy's singing about, but i know how it feels when he sings "no quarter" or "in the evening" or "ten years gone." and, i like singers that just fucking wail. probably because of robert plant. like my good buddy donnie donuts says, "yeah, plant's the weak link in led zeppelin, but he's still in led zeppelin."

they may not even be my favorite band, but i still think they're the best one.

On this day, I'd like to give thanks to Dollar Lamp's very well put comment about why Led Zeppelin is the best group ever. I couldn't have said it better myself.

That sounds about as exciting as Joan Jett opening for Canned Heat, to me, with an extended snare drum solo, mid-set.

Does anybody remember laughter?