CONTEST: Win Tix To See An Exclusive Press Screening Of The New Led Zep Concert Movie

 

UPDATE: Tonight’s screening has been postponed to Monday night.

Been a long time since we rock n’ rolled, hmmm? (Actually, it’s only been a few hours, but stick with me, I’m going somewhere with this) Tomorrow Monday night at 7:30 PM there will be a special press screening of the new Led Zeppelin concert film Celebration Day at the Rave in University City. We have pair of tickets to give away to the 24th Phawker reader to sign up for our mailing list. In addition to email updates about new and special Phawker content, mailing list subscribers get special advanced word on future concert ticket giveaways and special promotions. So if there’s a bustle inbox hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just a spring clean for the May Queen of Phawker swag. Sorry, I know some day I will have to pay for these bad puns when I meet my maker, but that day is not today. Good luck and godspeed!

NEW YORK TIMES: The film is a no-frills record of the band’s two-hour performance on Dec. 10, 2007, in honor of Ahmet Ertegun, the Atlantic Records founder. That camera captures the concert from start to finish, bringing the viewer close to the musicians, with very few shots of the audience and no backstage scenes. The director, Dick Carruthers, who used more than a dozen cameras to film the concert, chose to stress closeups of the band members in action, giving fans an intimate look at their playing techniques, their nods and nonverbal cues to each other, and their boyish grins when the music came together. The film includes no interviews, nor backstory segments, nor archival footage of the group in the 1970s. That concert was the first time Mr. Jones, Mr. Page and Mr. Plant had played together since the mid-1980s, and they were joined on drums by Jason Bonham, the son of the drummer John Bonham, whose death in 1980 from alcohol poisoning caused the group to split up.  MORE

ROLLING STONE: Led Zeppelin clashed with reporters at a press conference this afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art while promoting Celebration Day, an upcoming film capturing their 2007 reunion concert at London’s O2 arena. The conference started out as congenial, with Plant jokingly singing lines from Elvis Presley’s “Love Me” into the microphone, but turned contentious when an Associated Press reporter asked if the new film will possibly anticipate something bigger from the band. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham became uncomfortably silent. “I mean, we’ve been thinking about all sorts of things,” Plant said. “And then we can’t remember what we were thinking of. Schmuck.” From the beginning, Plant seemed uncomfortable. “There are some people in here who are not journalists,” he said early on. “There’s a masseuse in here who’s not a journalist. I think that’s ever so exciting.” The room erupted in uncomfortable laughter.  Minutes later, a radio host praised the film but added, “I don’t know if it’s going to quench the thirst of those who wished to see you in the flesh.” Again, the band was silent until Plant said simply: “Sorry!” Later, Plant clarified himself. “We were so happy we were getting it right and taking it beyond what we thought we were about that night,” he said of the O2 gig. “There were moments where we took off … But the responsibility of doing that four nights a week for the rest of time is a different thing. We’re pretty good at what we do but the tail should never wag the dog, really. If we’re capable of doing something, in our own time, that will be what will happen. So any inane questions from people who are from syndicated outlets, you should just really think about what it takes to answer a question like that in one second. We know what we’ve got, you know.” MORE

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