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Jason Bonham embraces late father’s fame Led Zeppelin legacy
By John Benson
Dazed at times but not confused is how Jason Bonham describes his involvement with the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion.
During rehearsals for the London’s O2 Arena show, in which Bonham filled in for his deceased father, John, the percussionist enjoyed a surreal experience with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
“It’s a strange thing when you’re in that environment with them for the six weeks rehearsing and hanging out,” said Bonham, calling from San Jose, Calif. “It was just for me a very cool bonding to be with all of them and just hanging out. It brought me a lot closer to the old man.
“I always felt as if it was like he’d just be in the restroom. Like he would be the one missing from the room, the one guy that would be last to walk in.”
Bonham laughed that during his brief tenure with Led Zeppelin he became known as His Lordship. “No matter what, I was always late to rehearsals,” Bonham said. “And I’d get there and they’d all be there early, waiting for me. They’d call me His Lordship. It was very funny they were so punctual. I’d say. ‘That’s not rock ’n’ roll,’ and they’d say, ‘Yes, it is.’”
When you’re a drummer and your last name is Bonham, you can’t hide from your past. Early on, the percussionist was a part of original projects, including an eponymous band, but it was 20 years ago, just after Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that he decided to stop running from the ghost of Bonzo.
Today, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience is a touring entity with yet another Northeast Ohio show booked for Sunday at the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. The show included iconic songs from the band’s entire career, as well as a multimedia experience.
For diehard Zeppelin fans, the real marrow can be found in hearing songs live that the band never performed in concert. This includes “Presence” album track “Hots On for Nowhere” and “In Through the Out Door” songs “I’m Gonna Crawl” and “Fool in the Rain.”
“The thing about ‘Fool in the Rain,’ it’s one of the songs I’ve rehearsed more than others because it’s such an iconic groove,” Bonham said. “When I got to meet [Toto’s] Jeff Porcaro before he passed away, I told him I loved the groove of ‘Rosanna.’ He said, ‘You need to go back and listen to your pops. I got that straight from your dad playing “Fool in the Rain.” That’s probably for me one of the most difficult songs to play. And if it takes too much work, and we’re not feeling it, I always say let’s not force the song. Like ‘Heartbreaker.’ For some reason, it just doesn’t work well when we play it. I choose not to do it rather than do it badly.”
Ironically, “Heartbreaker” wasn’t played at the Led Zeppelin reunion show, which in 2012 was released as CD/DVD “Celebration Day.” It turned out Bonham would enjoy something his father never achieved with Led Zeppelin when the concert recording later won a Best Rock Album Grammy Award.
“If you told me three years ago that I’d have a Grammy Award for playing with Led Zeppelin, it wouldn’t have really registered,” Bonham said. “It was huge for me to receive that honor, especially when the Grammy Awards kind of ignored Led Zeppelin in their heyday.”
Regarding his O2 performance, Bonham think his pops would have been proud. Bonham said, “I think he’d go, ‘You did good.’”