News

Stairway to Cinema Heaven with the Greatest Rock Band of All Time

On 10th December 2007 Led Zeppelin gave a one-off critically acclaimed performance at the O2 arena in London, for a concert in aid of the the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. It was their first concert since the death of their drummer John Bonham in 1980. Founding members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, to perform 16 songs from their celebrated catalogue including landmark tracks "Whole Lotta Love", "Rock And Roll", "Kashmir", and "Stairway To Heaven".

Eastwood Sound and Vision Ltd (ESV) founder Richard Eastwood makes no secret of the fact that he is a big Zeppelin fan and recalls that one of his proudest days in the business was when his company was brought in to supply equipment for the live recording. "CTV Outside Broadcast based in Park Royal is one of the UK's top OB companies. They cover everything from X-Factor, Got to Dance and The Brits thru to the Ryder Cup, Olympics 2012, BAFTA's and pretty much everything in-between. There's a huge demand with OB companies to hire in HD VTR's and we're very busy supplying Sony HDW-M2000 HDCAM and SRW-5500 HDCAM SR decks to all the OB companies on a daily basis. It's basically a numbers game and we do it with our eyes closed and to cap it all we're open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including bank holidays and weekends. We make it very simple for our clients - they like to be able to make one call to one company job done. A high proportion of our business is supplying the OB market."

"Back in 2007 CTV contacted me with a requirement to hire in 16 decks for the O2 arena, hush, hush. The P.O reference was left blank but I figured out it was for the Led Zep concert. What a job, outside broadcast, a one off live gig, no second chances, if the machines fail that's it – our reputation takes a hit. ESV delivered, the decks performed without a glitch and I got to go and hang out to make sure everything went smoothly (from three rows back centre stage of course). I mean a concert of a lifetime, they had 20 million requests for 20,000 tickets, and I get a free pass."

What followed was a two-hour-plus tour de force of the band's signature blues-infused rock 'n' roll that instantly became part of the legend of Led Zeppelin. In October 2012, Celebration Day, a concert film documenting the event, was released. Both the film and performance by Led Zeppelin have been highly acclaimed. A shortened version of the concert was broadcast by the BBC in the UK on 8 December 2012.

"You can't beat that for a days work, a bit nerve racking, but it ranks as one of my favorite concerts of all time, I love this business."

Reunion | Led Zeppelin – Official Website

http://www.ledzeppelin.com/reunion

CTV Outside Broadcasts

http://www.ctvob.co.uk