LONDON:

Rock legends Led Zeppelin showed they have not lost any of their appeal, despite a

27-year break in performing, advancing years and the death of the band’s original drummer, British press said on December 11.

The legendary 1970s band’s one-off reunion gig at London’s O2 Arena on December 10 night was hailed as the return of rock and roll, although clearly the old rockers’ wild party days are well behind them. Instead of vodka and champagne-fuelled parties, the band’s only riders were apparently cups of tea and coffee.

Inevitably, the band’s most famous song Stairway to Heaven — scourge of guitar shop owners the world over — became a stairlift in several commentaries. But all were approving.

“Led in their old pencil,” The Sun tabloid said over a photograph of singer Robert Plant, 59, and guitarist Jimmy Page, 63, strutting on stage in front of 20,000 fans.

“Older equipment may take a while to get going, but once the requisite valves heat up, the quality is unmistakable,” Pete Paphides wrote.

At the Daily Mirror, reviewer Gavin Martin said, “Page may no longer swagger across the stage, his guitar worn low like a gunslinger as he churns out riffs. And Plant can’t scream and strut like he did in his rock god heyday. But the awesome power and majesty of the music was undiminished.”

The Times and The Independent pinpointed Black Dog as one of the highlights.

“Page dispensed power chords like an aged Thor lobbing down thunderbolts for kicks,” Paphides said.

“It had been good before, but something of the devil seemed to get hold of them at this point.” The Independent’s Andy Gill said the sound to that point had been “somewhat murky”, but Black Dog was where it settled down.

“Robert Plant’s call-and-response jousting with the crowd on the ‘uhh-uhh/uhh-uhh’ mid-song breakdown is one of the night’s more engaging moments,” Gill wrote under a headline, “The Return of Rock and Roll.” At The Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote, “After a tentative, feedback-scarred opener of Good Times, Bad Times, it’s difficult to believe this is a band who have barely played together for the best part of three decades. “They sound awesomely tight.”

For many the ethereal Kashmir was the high point. “Some tunes have dated better than others — because the moment Page and Bonham locked into Kashmir something transcendent took hold,” said Paphides. The two-hour concert was one of the music world’s most anticipated concerts of the year.