JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING Extends Celebration Of 50th Anniversary Of 'Physical Graffiti'

On the heels of a successful tour that brought multiple sellouts, JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING (JBLZE) is back with another round of dates to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the LED ZEPPELIN classic "Physical Graffiti". The latest 22-city trek is billed as "An Evening With JBLZE Celebrating 50 Years Of Physical Graffiti". The show made headlines as JBLZE has been performing all the songs from the album that fans have been clamoring to hear including classics such as "The Wanton Song" and "Kashmir" live alongside deeper cuts like "In The Light" and "Boogie With Stu". The evening is also made up of other LED ZEPPELIN favorites, including "Good Times Bad Times", "Whole Lotta Love" and, of course, "Stairway To Heaven". The tour kicks off on August 1 in Omaha, Nebraska and wraps August 31 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Along the way, the tour will make stops in Denver, Colorado (August 08),Napa, California (August 16),Bakersfield, California (August 23) and Seattle, Washington (August 30),to name a few markets. Public on sale for tickets with begin on Friday, May 30 and more information on all tickets and performances can be found at www.jasonbonham.net.

At the time of the first tour announcement, Jason Bonham had this to say: "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."

JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING tour dates:

Aug. 01 - Omaha, NE - Steelhouse Omaha
Aug. 02 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Criterion
Aug. 03 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec Theatre
Aug. 05 - Albuquerque, NM - Kiva Auditorium
Aug. 07 - Vail, CO - Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater
Aug. 08 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
Aug. 10 - Park City, UT - Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater at Deer Valley Resort
Aug. 12 - Flagstaff, AZ - Pepsi Amphitheater
Aug. 13 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
Aug. 15 - Lincoln, CA - Thunder Valley Casino Resort
Aug. 16 - Napa, CA - Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions at Meritage Resort
Aug. 17 - Redding, CA - Redding Civic Auditorium
Aug. 19 - Monterey, CA - Golden State Theatre
Aug. 21 - Anaheim, CA - Grove of Anaheim
Aug. 22 - Alpine, CA - Viejas Casino & Resort
Aug. 23 - Bakersfield, CA - Dignity Health Theater
Aug. 25 - Salem, OR - Oregon State Fair
Aug. 26 - Jacksonville, OR - Britt Music & Arts Festival
Aug. 27 - Boise, ID - Morrison Center for the Performing Arts
Aug. 29 - Spokane, WA - Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox
Aug. 30 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
Aug. 31 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre

Previously announced JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING tour dates:

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 *

* Jager Henry opening

In a December 2024 interview Terrie Carr of WDHA-FM 105.5 FM, the rock music station licensed to 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 last 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, 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 LED ZEPPELIN] guys 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 — 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 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."

Jason Bonham spent nearly a decade touring as JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE before changing the band's name to JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING. Bonham 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 Bonham's father, 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. It's not us and them; it's about love for LED ZEPPELIN, and that's how it's grown, as a very honest, natural, fan-based show. You guys all knew him as Bonzo; I knew him as dad, and there's a great interaction."

Jason launched JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE two years after taking part in LED ZEPPELIN's aforementioned one-off performance at London's O2 Arena tribute concert for friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The rare live set, which saw Jason behind the drums in place of his late father, was released in 2012 as "Celebration Day".

He told the Chicago Tribune about JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING: "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.

"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."

Image credit: DeadMike.com