Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience in Stamford

Jason Bonham brought his Led Zeppelin Experience on Wednesday night to Stamford, Connecticut and the Stamford Center for the Arts, which is a mere 40 miles north of Madison Square Garden where his father John and the mighty Led Zeppelin ruled so often in the 1970s.

The show started promptly at 7:30 with the opening drum roll of “Rock and Roll” sending folks who were milling about in the lobby running for their seats. From that point on the energy inside the 1,500 seat theater ebbed and flowed throughout the first set. Jason came out from behind his drum kit a few times during the opening half of the show to talk to the crowd; explaining the format of the concert, where the idea came from and the difference between John Bonham the father and “Bonzo” as the world knew the great Led Zeppelin drummer who died when Jason was 14 in 1980.

James Dylan was solid on vocals throughout. While Dylan wisely did not try to copy Robert Plant, his singing still paid homage to one of rock’s great frontmen. Other than Jason Bonham’s frantic drumming, guitarist Tony Catania stood out for me the most. His guitar work was brilliant as he alternated on some songs such as “Stairway to Heaven” between a double necked guitar and an acoustic six string. He broke out the bow during “Since I’ve Been Loving You” which received an enthusiastic response from the crowd. Bassist Michael Devin (Whitesnake) and keyboardist Stephen LeBlanc also were good, though less spectacular.

One of the more touching moments of the night was watching Jason perform “Moby Dick” as the giant video screen behind him showed a clip of Bonzo playing the same song. You couldn’t help but get choked up. The videos were spaced out perfectly during the concert and were never a distraction. In addition, there was some old footage shown of Jason playing the drums with his mother and father looking on.

A 15-minute intermission followed “Moby Dick” and then the second half of the show ensued with the crowd really revved up. The majority of the people in attendance stood throughout the second half of the performance with some people dancing in the aisles. The fans were a mixed bag ranging from the very young (I saw some kids that couldn’t be more than 12) to some older folks (mid-60s) and everything in between.

I didn’t know what to expect heading into the concert – I’ve read some pretty nasty and unfair criticism of Jason for even doing the tour in the first place - but it exceeded my expectations by a mile.

Jason Bonham definitely made his father proud on this night.

The Setlist:
1 - Rock and Roll
2 - Celebration Day
3 - Bring it on Home (Intro)
4- Black Dog
5 - Your Time is Gonna Come
6 - Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
7 - Dazed and Confused
8 - What is and What Should Never Be
9 – The Lemon Song
10 - Thank You
11 - Moby Dick
12 - Good Times Bad Times
13 - How Many More Times
14 - Since I’ve Been Loving You
15 - When the Levee Breaks
16 - The Ocean
17 - Over the Hills and Far Away
18 - I’m Gonna Crawl
19 - Stairway to Heaven
Encore
20 - Kashmir
21 - Whole Lotta Love