Greetings everyone. I'd like to welcome you all to my new weekly column here at digitaldreamdoor.com. It's been awhile since I made regular contributions here, and I look forward to getting feedback from all of you so that I can improve the column. I hope to make this into something that we can all enjoy from week to week on this website. Now on to business...
There's certainly a lot going on in the music world these days, but the story everyone seems to be talking about is the imminent Led Zeppelin reunion. Vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones will be joined by drummer Jason Bonham, son of original drummer John Bonham for a show on December 10 at The O2 in London. It has been decades since they played a full length show, and their brief reunions in 1985, 1988, and 1995 were short lived and mediocre. Why can we expect things to be different this time around? For one, these guys are all up around 60 (Page is the oldest member at 63) and certainly will feel a sense of urgency to finally get things right. It has even been implied that the reunion is happening because the band refuses to let their mediocre showings in the 80s and 90s become the last Led Zeppelin performances. Furthermore, Plant has aged extremely well. No, he can't hit the same notes he could thirty years ago, but what he has now that he didn't have before is maturity and taste. I saw Robert Plant sing with his solo band three years ago, and the guy is extremely aware of his strengths and limits as a singer. He was still plenty capable of bringing the house down with Whole Lotta Love and other Led Zeppelin standards, even without the range of his youth. I fully expect the band to be amazing next week, and when things go well, you can bet there will be talk of a full tour in 2008.
In other news, Tom Petty will be the next in line to play the Super Bowl. It seems the Janet Jackson incident a few years ago was just what we needed to finally get some good music during the biggest event in American sports. Halftime shows in the 90s and early 2000s were always embarrassing to watch. Remember when Aerosmith was forced to share the stage with Britney Spears, Nelly, and Justin Timberlake back in the 2001 game? Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will follow performances from Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Prince in the previous three years. On the topic of football, how many of us honestly expect anyone but the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots to play the big game? The Packers/Cowboys game last week proved that nobody in the NFC can compete with Dallas, and I don't think we even need to discuss New England. This has got to be the first time that we knew the Super Bowl teams before we found out who will play the halftime show. By the way, I think Petty is an excellent choice. I'd expect a safe set to go something like this: Refugee, Free Fallin', American Girl.
And a note for our jazz listeners on the West Coast...7-string guitar wizard Charlie Hunter has lined up dates up and down California in support of his excellent new album, Mistico. I've seen Hunter play several times before, and he is always an incredible musician to watch. For those unfamiliar, the man uses three bass strings (plucked with his thumb) and four guitar strings (played with the other four fingers). I have never seen a guitarist with busier hands. Where else can you hear groovy bass lines and intricate solos coming from the same two hands?
Two nights ago, I attended a phenomenal performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony by the San Francisco Symphony, under the direction of Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. During the performance, I noticed a surprisingly large amount of more casual viewers in the seats. As a regular attendee at orchestral shows for the last ten years, this seems to be a growing trend in the concert halls. People who look like they wouldn't be out of place in a mosh pit at a rock show are now turning up at the symphony. This is due to an effort that has been made by orchestras across the country to lower costs of seating and to move away from the exclusively upper class clientele that is typically associated with these groups. And you know what? The kids in jeans and t-shirts seemed to be having a great time at the show. I'd encourage any enthusiastic music listener to look at what your local symphony has to offer. The San Francisco Symphony, for example, offers excellent seats for only $25 a piece at almost every show. We all get so caught up in the pretentiousness associated with symphony goers that we often overlook how good the music itself is. Today, you can see world class groups performing masterworks on classical music for bargain bin prices. It's worth a look.
As for rock shows, the best show I saw in 2007 was easily Bruce Springsteen's second night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. The Boss has a ton of energy and he's putting on fantastic shows behind his latest release, Magic. The E Street Band is tight, the song selections are eclectic, and the shows have been spectacular. With another run of the states coming up in March and April, I'd encourage anyone to make one of the shows. Best song of the night at my show? It was a tie between a beautiful take on Racing In The Streets and an exciting run of She's The One, which the band still plays with the same energy and urgency that they had in the seventies.
I hope you all enjoy the column. I'll be paying close attention to your comments, suggestions, and criticisms. I'd like to make this an entertaining read for as many of you as possible. Please let me know what you'd like to see in this space in the future. In the coming weeks, I'll be talking to you about Christmas shopping for music listeners and predictions for 2008. In a couple weeks, I'll do my list of the top albums of 2007. I hope you all keep reading and I look forward to writing this column each week.