Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Led Zeppelin (JBLZE) to tour USA '25

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Led Zeppelin (JBLZE) to tour USA '25

THE MILLENNIUM DOME Led Zeppelin 2012 (Jason on drums) perform "Kashmir" live at Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at London's O2 Arena (from Celebration Day film) (175,627,988 views).

JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING to celebrate 50th anniversary of 'Physical Graffiti' on 2025 US tour

Jason got all the members back together?

On the heels of a successful tour that wrapped last December, JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING (aka JBLZE) is back with another round of U.S. dates.

The latest tour will be a first for JBLZE as it will focus on the 50th anniversary of the LED ZEPPELIN classic album Physical Graffiti. The latest 21-city trek across the U.S. is billed as "An Evening with JBLZE celebrating 50 years of Physical Graffiti."

Son of original drummer John Bonham, Jason

JBLZE has never done a tour centered around a specific LED ZEPPELIN album before as Jason live celebrates all things about his father, drumming legend John Bonham.

The show will feature all the selections from Physical Graffiti performed alongside numerous other LED ZEPPELIN classics.

Physical Graffiti, the Led Zeppelin album featuring "Kashmir"

The tour kicks off on May 3rd in Wallingford, Connecticut, and runs across the country until it wraps on May 31st in Los Angeles, California.

We let the kid do it if he wants to tour

Along the way, the tour will make stops in

Wheeling, West Virginia (May 07),
Nashville, Tennessee (May 15),
Phoenix, Arizona (May 23), and
San Diego, California (May 28)

to name only a few markets. Public ticket sales begin Friday (February 28). More information on all tickets and performances can be found at jasonbonham.net.

Jason says, "This is my favorite LED ZEPPELIN album of all time. Being able to celebrate it the way we are planning on this tour is something I am extremely excited about. I can't wait for people to come out and see these shows and celebrate this extraordinary record with us. My goal is to play at least 50 shows to commemorate 50 years…And don't worry there will be plenty of other songs that you also love played that night."

Uncle Bobby, Robert Plant, on Jason's struggle

TOUR DATES:

May 03 - Wallingford, CT - Toyota Oakdale Theatre
May 04 - Stamford, CT - Stamford Palace Theatre
May 06 - Syracuse, NY - Landmark Theatre
May 07- Wheeling, WV - Capitol Theatre
May 09 - North Kansas City, MO - VooDoo at Harrah's Kansas City
May 10 - Tulsa, OK - The Cove Margaritaville at River Spirit Casino
May 11 - Waukee, IA - Vibrant Music Hall
May 13 - Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside Theater
May 15 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
May 16 - Robinsonville, MS - Bluesville at Horseshoe Tunica
May 17 - St. Louis, MO - The Factory at the District
May 19 - Austin, TX - The Paramount Theatre
May 20 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center
May 21 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre
May 23 - Phoenix, AZ - Celebrity Theatre
May 24 - Indio, CA - Fantasy Springs Resort Casino
May 25 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery
May 28 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay
May 29 - Paso Robles, CA - Vina Robles Amphitheatre
May 30 - Henderson, NV - Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa & Casino - Backyard Amphitheater
May 31 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre

This JBLZE is going down like a Lead Blimp

In a December 2024 interview, Terrie Carr of rock station WDHA-FM 105.5 FM, Dover and Morristown, New Jersey, Jason Bonham spoke about what it was like to perform in front of full houses with his LED ZEPPELIN EVENING show across North America the previous fall. He said:

"I always find it's a pinch-yourself moment because I look at it as I started this purely as a therapeutic way to get the LED out of me.

"After playing with the real McCoy, the real deal [the original lineup], in [December] 2007 [at London's O2 Arena], I remember when it stopped, it was a huge, 'Now what?'… because I just spent six weeks with the [surviving members of LED ZEPPELIN] every day [in preparation for the London show].

"Every day we were together, hanging out, telling stories. They would tell me things that I didn't know [about my dad]. Now I'm a grown-up — they would tell me all these different things. So suddenly you feel part of it. And my mom said, 'Are you gonna be okay when it stops?' I'm like, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got this.' Because you've been given the keys to the kingdom, and you sat in the throne of the greatest rock and roll band in the world.

"So when it stopped, it was hard, I must say. And then when the idea came, 'Why don't you do a band, a tribute thing," I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? I've just played with [the original guys]. I don't wanna tarnish that.' So it became more therapeutic. And I realized it's about the fans. The reason why we're still doing it, after I got over my stories... 'It's about me and my dad' — it's not. It's about our love for Dad, me and everyone, because we all have stories of what he meant to us.

"I lost my dad; you lost your drummer. So that's the only reason — the love and the passion that we do it and still do it -- because there's a lot of other things that I like to do."

Jason Bonham spent nearly a decade touring as JBLZE before changing the band's name to JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING. He later explained that the switch was prompted by a request from the LED ZEPPELIN camp, who wanted to use the "experience" name for a project involving the archive of ZEP live recordings.

JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE was formed in 2009 to pay tribute to Jason's father, the band's original drummer, who died in 1980 at the age of 32. "It was meant to be part of my way of expressing my love for music and expressing myself with a tip of the hat to my father," Jason told Mixdown in a 2017 interview.

"Soon after doing the 28 shows that we did with an orchestra, everyone said, 'You're not going to stop now, are you? You haven't been here; you haven't played there…' And so I said, 'As long as you guys want me to do it, I'll do it.' It's really fan-based. More