Idolator

Above, Led Zeppelin performs "Kashmir" at the O2 Arena last night, and some dude with a cell phone is there for sharing his ticket bounty on YouTube. It doesn't sound bad, although this pitched-down, singalong version of "Black Dog" is a little... meh. Excerpts from a few reviews by people who were actually there after the jump.

• "There was a kind of loud serenity about Led Zeppelin's set. It was well-rehearsed, for one thing: planning and rehearsals have been underway since May. The band wore mostly black clothes, instead of its old candy-colored wardrobe. Unlike Mick Jagger, Mr. Plant — the youngest of the original members, at 59 — doesn't walk and gesture like an excited woman anymore. Some of the top of his voice has gone, but except for one attempted and failed high note in 'Stairway to Heaven' ('there walks a la-dy we all know'), he found other melodic routes to suit him. He was authoritative; he was dignified." [NYT]
• "For Your Life (a grinding blues from the Presence album), played in public for the first time, the rolling and tumbling Trampled Underfoot, a trio of long, cascading set-pieces in Nobody's Fault But Mine (another of the underrated Presence's reclaimed gems), No Quarter and Since I've Been Loving You - through them all, the Led Zeppelin of contemporary vintage grow in confidence and stature. In doing so, they roll back the years, bringing so much of their inherent iconography back into focus." [Q]
• "How much better could it get? Here's how much: In My Time of Dying, driven by such a dark, filthy, shivery blues riff, the electrifying change of pace, drums and guitar locked into a sensational groove. It scarcely seemed possible that a group could be this good. Trampled Underfoot was a reminder that Zeppelin were fusing funk and rock 20 years before the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and that John Paul Jones is a great keyboard player. And Nobody's Fault But Mine was a reminder that, contrary to myth, Zeppelin were - are - not a heavy metal band, not a prog-rock band, but a band who played and loved the blues, were electrified by it, and in turn electrified it." [Telegraph]
• "Whether Plant is won round in the long term remains to be seen, but for last night at least, it seems to do the trick. His between song-patter remains self-deprecating: 'this is a song we first heard in about 1932,' but at particularly intense moments, the three of them huddle together before Jason Bonham's drum riser. There's even an argument to suggest that the reformed Led Zeppelin might be slightly leaner. The kind of excesses that once sent Hornby scuttling off in search of a nearby solo-free hostelry have been trimmed out of necessity: as Page has pointed out, it's almost physically impossible for men in their 60s to play three and a half hour sets. Depending on your perspective, that's a pity or an unexpected bonus of old age. Either way, anyone nipping out last night would have missed something faintly remarkable." [Guardian]

Kashmir - Led Zeppelin, London O2 Arena [YouTube, via Blabbermouth]