OK, I’ll say it: I think the Led Zeppelin reunion is a great idea, and I hope I get a chance to see it.
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It may be that their decision to break up and “never” play together as Led Zep again after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 was the height of integrity and friendship, as it’s often portrayed. The effect has been that they’ve never, er, devalued the brand the way, say, Lynyrd Skynyrd has. Not very many bands actually leave ’em wanting more with such brutal discipline.
There’s a notion that rock’n’roll is somehow inherently of its time, that any attempt to bring the past forward is suspect–a bit of baggage that doesn’t apply to classical or blues or jazz–and that the audience for this sort of thing is full of greybeards who ought to politely set themselves adrift on an ice floe instead of persisting in enjoying “youth culture.” Seems to me, though, there are often just as many folks in the crowd who were too young to catch the band the first time around. Maybe not even born yet. That doesn’t seem any more wrong than the continuing appreciation of Renaissance art, in my opinion.
