Jason Bonham recently announced that he’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppein’s Physical Graffiti by playing the entire double LP on tour with his band.
As he shares on an upcoming interview for the UCR Podcast, there’s many different reasons that Physical Graffiti is his favorite Zeppelin album, starting with one of its most famous tracks,”Kashmir.” The song features a legendary drum performance by his father, late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and demonstrates the importance of following the creative muse, in spite of any perceived limitations. “‘Kashmir,’ that was inspired by a young drummer coming back from a lunchtime pint, singing to the guitar player [Jimmy Page],” he explains. “My father couldn’t play any other instrument than drums.”
“A lot of time when you see Dad’s writing credit, there was a band around him that would understand what he was trying to get across,” he continues. “‘Out On the Tiles‘ [from 1970’s Led Zeppelin III], you know, he’d sing something to Jimmy and Jimmy would obviously be able to figure out what he was trying to get across. So I love that aspect of Physical Graffiti [and] ‘Kashmir,’ a song which started with my dad going, ‘I’ve got this idea of this continuation.’ I always say, ‘Never be afraid to try and write. If you can’t play an instrument, hum the idea [for] somebody that can understand what you’re trying to get across.”
Listen to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’
Bonham is also fascinated by some of the demos and sketches that emerged later on the deluxe edition of Physical Graffiti. “The early version of ‘In the Light‘ [has] a very strange piano intro and literally, the track was done and they redid the intro completely,” he says. “But the drum tracks they put down stayed with the track forever. I’ve always loved that. It’s as [Black] Sabbath as Zeppelin ever got, with the riff [for ‘In the Light’].”
What Fans Can Expect at Bonham’s Upcoming ‘Physical Graffiti’ Concerts
The drummer assures fans that when they come out to hear Physical Graffiti live, it will be an experience. “I don’t want you to know what’s coming,” he details. “We will be playing the entire album, but not necessarily in the right order. Who wants to put ‘Kashmir’ that early in the set? There’s going to be a lot of thinking on our part to make it more of a show, so it’s not so obvious, but you’re still surprised as well as pleased.”
“That’s [another] goal is to make people happy with the choice of the arrangements that we choose…some of these songs, they never did live,” he adds. “You know, I’ve been fortunate [that we’ve been playing the music long enough] that we have played, in some way, every song from Physical Graffiti, but not necessarily all at the same time. So putting the show together is a key thing to [also] make it all work visually. The whole concept of the [tour] poster [and] the building in the sand, was inspired by Planet of the Apes, when Charlton Heston sees the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the beach and he goes, “You blew it up, you idiots!” [There’s also] a bit [of] the Wizard of Oz. It’s like, with the twister, the house had been picked up and dropped in the middle of the Sahara Desert. That was to give it the element of ‘Kashmir’ and you know, the magic Led Zeppelin had.”
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The tour is scheduled to begin May 3 in Wallingford, CT and Bonham expects they will add additional dates. But for now, he’s focused on making sure they deliver what fans are anticipating — and he knows that’s a heavy task. “The goal of this is to present it like Zeppelin did all their shows,” he explains. “They were in search of making the perfect night. They never stuck to exactly what what was on the album. If they felt just something needed to go longer, they would go longer. That was always my goal with this.”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
