Jason Bonham Reveals Why He Launched Led Zeppelin Evening

12-15-2024

Jason Bonham is currently on the road with his latest JBLZE (Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening) tour and he spoke to New Jersey radio station WDHA-FM 105.5 FM about what inspired him to launch the project that pays tribute to the music of his legendary father John Bonham.

He originally launched the touring project as Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin experience but later changed the name to evening. The tours followed his experience taking the place of his legendary father in Led Zeppelin when the group reunited to perform at the 02 Arena in London back in 2007.

Bonham said of his tribute tours, "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, in 2007, I remember when it stopped, it was a huge, 'Now what?' Because I just spent six weeks with the guys every. Every day we were together, hanging out, telling stories. They would tell me things that I didn't know, 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 real band]. 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 the my stories and me, '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."