Led Zeppelin Evening returns to Rialto Square Theatre
One way to keep loved ones alive is to do something in their honor.
Drummer Jason Bonham has honored his late father, John Bonham, in several ways from filling in for the legendary drummer when Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 to releasing the 1997 album “In the Name of My Father – The Zepset.”
“In the short time I had with him, he was larger than life,” said Bonham via phone from his Florida home about his father, who died in 1980 when Bonham was 14 years old.
“He was more generous than you could imagine and never wanted a thankyou for it. He would rather be nameless and do something good for somebody than take the glory. He really was that kind of person.
“He was a very quiet and shy person but that drum kit gave him that voice. Bonzo was the guy in Zeppelin. John was my dad.”
VenuWorks and Rialto Square Theatre welcome back Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening on Nov. 18 in Joliet where the tribute show to the English rock band was presented in December.
“I’m fortunate to have the people in my band that are very good. We’re not Led Zeppelin. We are fans. We love the music. We give it 150 percent energy and time to make it as good as we can make it to give people that feeling and make people go back to their youth,” Bonham said.
“I never wanted it to be we are just playing music. It had to be personal with stories to tell people what Dad was like at home. It’s nice to know that so many people love hearing that music played in a live environment.”
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening’s sets can feature live versions of tracks from “The Song Remains the Same” or “How the West Was Won” albums.
“The hardest thing is picking the songs,” said Bonham about the catalog of songs recorded by Led
Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham.
“There’s more deeper songs — ‘In the Light,’ ‘Friends,’ ‘Four Sticks’ — songs that never got played live and never made it to a Zeppelin show. The list could go on for the more obscure ones that fans like to hear.
“Of course we still do ‘Kashmir,’ ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and ‘What Is and What Should Never Be.’ We just started doing ‘Dancing Days,’ ‘Houses of the Holy’ and ‘That’s the Way.’ This show is one of the most fun things to do because I get to play all this great music in front of people that really appreciate it.”
Bonham, who played drums for the 2007 reunion concert featuring Led Zeppelin surviving members at London’s O2 arena, said one of his favorite songs to perform live is “Whole Lotta Love.”
“When it’s right and got such a bounce to it, I grin to myself and say, ‘Yeah, he’s smiling right now. It’s like Dad’s going, ‘Oh, he’s finally got it.’ I have to remember who was the master and who was the pupil. I’m still the pupil,” said Bonham, who was skilled on drums at age 5.
“I’m 53 now. As a young kid I never saw myself as a drummer. I was very into motocross and racing dirt bikes and was very good at that. It took a thing like my father’s death to make me decide that I actually wanted to pursue drumming.”
That pursuit led to his band, Bonham, earning a gold record for the 1989 song “Wait for You,” appearing as drummer of the band Steel Dragon in the 2001 film “Rock Star” and drumming for the Circle, which includes former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar and current Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony.
“I never imagined in my wildest dreams when I was 17 watching Van Halen at a Donington Park rock festival and seeing Sammy Hagar later on when I was in the United States playing that I would end up with a band of guys I bought albums of,” he said.
“To be in a band playing with these guys and to get another project like Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, which is representing my family and the music, to where we have it now is a wonderful thing.”