Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park in Wilmington(WECT)
Published: Jan. 31, 2023 at 11:26 AM EST|Updated: 3 hours ago
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park has announced that Robert Plant & Alison Krauss will perform with JD McPherson on May 10.
Former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and bluegrass musician Alison Krauss have reunited for the album “Raise The Roof” after their 2007 album with T Bone Burnett titled “Raising Sand,” per the LA Times.
The concert will be part of the Reeds Jewelers Concert Series.
Tickets will be available this Friday on the Live Nation website.
Jason Bonham will bring his Led Zeppelin Evening tour to Australia this April, playing a run of theatre shows around the country. The drummer, son of the original Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, will kick off the tour in Perth on Wednesday, 5th April, before heading to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Check out the full tour itinerary below.
Jason Bonham has stepped into his father’s shoes on a number of occasions over the years, first playing with a reunited Led Zeppelin at Atlantic Records’ 40th anniversary concert in New York in 1988.
Led Zeppelin: ‘Kashmir’
Bonham has played in a number of other projects across his career, including California Breed, Virigina Wolf, Air-Race, and Motherland. He was also the touring drummer for Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page on his Outrider album run.
For the last few years, Bonham has been mostly touring the Led Zeppelin Evening show around the world. The band won’t be comprised of Zeppelin members; rather, Bonham has recruited singer James Dylan, guitarist Jimmy Sakurai, and bassist Dorian Heartsong for the group. The Led Zeppelin Evening tour was last in Australia in 2018.
“As you get older and suddenly realise the things [John Bonham] accomplished in the short time he was here, it’s a very proud moment as his son,” Bonham told TheMusic.com.auin an interview this week.
“I don’t think he ever imagined that he would be so legendary. He was just this regular chap, but the amount of influence he had on the complete rock’n’roll world was enormous. I mean, it’s a complete honour to even get mentioned in the same sentence as my dad. It’s an accomplishment for any drummer.”
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening Tour 2023
Wednesday, 5th April – Astor Theatre, Perth
Friday, 7th April – Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Saturday, 8th April – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Sunday, 9th April – The Tivoli, Brisbane
Tuesday, 11th April – Hindley Street, Adelaide
Pre-sale tickets will be available Wednesday, 1st February at 12 pm local time. General sale tickets on sale Friday, 3rd February at 12 pm local time. Tickets via Metropolis Touring.
The son of the legendary drummer John Bonham, Jason Bonham continues the legacy his father forged as an integral member of Led Zeppelin, bringing The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Evening back to Australia for the first time since 2018.
With the eyes of the rock & roll world on him since he was five years old, Jason is a well respected drummer in his own right having performed in such bands as AIR-RACE, Bonham, Virginia Wolf and Foreigner earning several Grammy nominations along the way.
After being invited by Jimmy Page to play with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin in 1988 (eight years after his father’s death), Jason has performed in several other Zeppelin tribute acts.
In 2010, Jason formed his own project – The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Evening – a tribute to his father’s music. “To be in that band is a phenomenal feeling,” says Jason on playing with the original Led Zep.
“You can’t really describe it regardless of whether your Dad was in the band or not, it’s just one of the greatest experiences to be in that seat and playing those songs, it’s a dream come true.”
With such a vast and iconic catalogue to choose from, the hardest part for Bonham is deciding the set list. “You never want to leave anything out,” he confirms.
“There were so many sides to the band – the acoustic side, the blues side – there are so many great songs we can play.”
The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Evening will headline concerts in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide in April.
“It’s the greatest to represent my family and play these songs live.”
Jason Bonham, the son of the legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, has been playing the drums since he was five years old. At 17, he and his band Air Race recorded an album with Atlantic Records and toured alongside Queen, Meat Loaf, and AC/DC. John Bonham died at 32 years old when Jason was just a teenager.
He has since carried the mantle for his father, performing with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin – Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones, who disbanded after John’s passing. Those instances were in 1988, at the band’s first-ever televised reunion concert for Atlantic Records’ 40th anniversary and the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, commonly known as Celebration Day, in 2007. In 2009, Jason Bonham founded Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, which he’s bringing back to Australia this April. Even being mentioned in the same sentence as his father is bizarre, he shares.
“As you get older and suddenly realise the things he accomplished in the short time he was here, it’s a very proud moment as his son,” Bonham says. His dad was a down-to-earth kind of guy, “I don’t think he ever imagined that he would be so legendary. He was just this regular chap, but the amount of influence he had on the complete rock’n’roll world was enormous. I mean, it’s a complete honour to even get mentioned in the same sentence as my dad. It’s an accomplishment for any drummer.
“There was jealousy earlier in life,” Bonham continues, “it was hard when you read all these articles about him, going ‘John Bonham this, John Bonham that,’ but he’s my dad, get your own heroes. I’m glad I grew out of it – it’s mind-shattering to read the lists of top drummers of all time; that list might change, but my dad will always be in the top three, and that’s pretty spectacular.”
The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Evening is returning to Australia, and fans are in for a real treat with the band Jason has amassed. There’s vocalist James Dylan, who’s an absolute powerhouse; Jimmy Sakurai, who makes you do a double-take when you watch him on stage to make sure it’s not Jimmy Page; and Bonham’s “main man,” bassist Dorian Heartsong. The band has become the premier way to experience Led Zeppelin’s music in 2023.
“In the beginning, it took a while to put together. The first time I came to Australia, going back to the beginning of 2010 – 13 years, somebody said to me, ‘have you checked out this guy on virtualzeppelin.com?'” Bonham begins, and then he witnessed James Dylan in action. “And then I got his phone number, invited him to my place in Florida, because I didn’t believe what I saw, to the voice coming out of him. So he came to Florida, and he sang, and it blew my mind.” Then it was time to start rehearsals.
Bonham’s bassist at the time, Michael Devin, was offered a position with rockers Whitesnake, which Jason encouraged his bandmate to accept. Bonham was then introduced to Heartsong, who’s also a drummer and “understands me a lot more than most people,” Bonham admits. And the rest, as they say, was history.
Once again, on a different tour – while the band were in America, someone asked Bonham, “have you checked out this Japanese guitar player named Jimmy Sakurai?” At the time, the band was called the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience, which had to be amended as Led Zeppelin wanted to use similar terminology. “So, I was thinking, Jason Bonham with a new name, new guitarist, a new band… it was like a rebirth.”
While I’ve only watched Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening perform through YouTube videos, it’s mind-blowing watching the band – the energy matches early Led Zeppelin. If you close your eyes, it’s easy to feel transported to another time when Led Zeppelin was king.
When Jason Bonham plays Kashmir, one of the most beloved Led Zeppelin songs of all time, he models it after his dad’s 1979 performance at Knebworth. “Dad really went for it,” Bonham exclaims. The reason why it’s one of Jason’s favourite songs to play is because he found out that his dad hummed those opening chords to Jimmy Page – you know how it goes – “so when Kashmir started up, that wasn’t anyone else’s but dad’s. He came in and said, ‘I’ve got this.'”
The hardest thing about playing Kashmir, Bonham notes, is keeping it simple. “In 79, when he played it, at the end, he added these amazing fills, so it always stuck with me that the first time the guys heard Kashmir came from dad. That’s one of the best things you could ever say. It stands up to him. It’s probably the second biggest Led Zeppelin song there is – he was a pretty, pretty good drummer,” Jason chuckles.
The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Evening provides audiences with “a heartfelt journey,” Bonham says. “Not only through the music, but through the emotions. What it was like, growing up and that’s your family. That’s what your dad does. When you’re so close to it, you don’t understand it. You don’t really get it as much as you do when you walk away from it later on in life.”
He adds, “The show is all of those demons I had to go through growing up and realising that everybody I knew understood how great my dad and Led Zeppelin were. To me, he was just dad, and I was more interested in other music. By the time I understood how amazing he was, dad was gone. I couldn’t tell him, and that was the sad part. I figured out how great he was, and I never had the chance to tell my dad, ‘do you know how good you are?’ That’s why when I do the show now, it’s my way of saying that to him.”
JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING
2023 AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Wednesday 5th April, PERTH – Astor Theatre Friday 7th April, MELBOURNE – Palais Theatre Saturday 8th April, SYDNEY – Enmore Theatre Sunday 9th April, BRISBANE – Tivoli Theatre Tuesday 11th April, ADELAIDE – Hindley Street
Pre-sale tickets available tomorrow at 12 pm. General sale tickets are on sale this Friday at 12 pm local time. Tickets via Metropolis Touring.
Jimmy Page helped write the book on classic rock with Led Zeppelin. Between his guitar playing, John Bonham’s drumming, Robert Plant’s distinct vocals, and John Paul Jones’ underrated instrumentation, Led Zeppelin albums were essential for rock fans of the 1960s and beyond. Zep’s founding guitarist had a plan on Led Zeppelin I, but making Jeff Beck cry when Page played the record for him might not have been part of it. Still, we can see why Beck shed tears when he heard Led Zeppelin’s version of “You Shook Me” — Page’s band thoroughly upstaged Beck’s version of the tune in every way.
(l-r) Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page | Dave Hogan/Getty Images
Jeff Beck cried when Jimmy Page played him Led Zeppelin’s version of ‘You Shook Me’
Once upon a time, Page recommended his friend Beck for the Yardbirds (and received a gift for not taking the job). That was in 1965. Fast forward to 1968, and Beck’s solo career started taking flight as Page looked to form a new band after his stint playing guitar in the Yardbirds ended when the band broke up.
Willie Dixon’s “You Shook Me” regularly appeared in Beck’s live set. It became one of his earliest signature songs. Rod Stewart sang while Beck played precision blues licks underneath the vocals. His version was a fan favorite that allowed Beck to showcase his guitar skills. The song was also one of the blues staples Led Zeppelin turned to as it recorded their first album.
As he shopped the album around to record labels, Page played a rough cut of the album for his friend when they crossed paths in New York. According to C.M. Kushins, author of the Bonham biography Beast, Beck cried when he heard Led Zeppelin’s version:
“I looked at him and said, ‘Jim, what?’ And the tears were coming out with anger.”
Jeff Beck
Beck cried with anger when Page played Led Zeppelin’s version of “You Shook Me.” We can see why he shed tears, and it’s not just because he was seeing red.
Led Zeppelin did ‘You Shook Me’ much better than Page’s friend did
Beck cried in anger when he first heard it, but perhaps he later realized the truth — Led Zeppelin did “You Shook Me” much better than he ever did.
Plant’s vocals and Page’s guitar match notes during the first two minutes of the Zep song, and that’s about as close as the two versions come to matching. From there, the version Page played for Beck goes off in its own direction.
Jones comes in with an electric organ solo that somehow blends blues and gospel music. Beck’s take has a piano backing track on the studio cut, but nothing like what Jones adds to the Led Zeppelin version.
Then Plant plays a harmonica solo (yes, he wasn’t only a singer), which helps give it a delta blues feel. But the moment where Led Zeppelin bests Beck in the battle of the best “You Shook Me” is Page’s guitar solo.
Not only does the song feature one of Page’s best guitar solos, but then Bonham, who more or less plays a steady shuffle beat for most of the song, launches into a drum fill that grabs part of the spotlight from his guitarist. You won’t find that on Beck’s version.
Beck’s version of the song stays closer to the original
Dixon’s “You Shook Me” is a straightforward slow-paced tune. Beck’s version hews close to the original, and there’s something noble about maintaining the purity and essence of the original.
The vocals are the closest similarity between Beck’s take on the song and the version Page played for him. Rod Stewart and Robert Plant possess similar deliveries, even down to their scratchy-throat singing styles. Beck displays some guitar heroics a la Page, but not nearly to the same extent. (Credit where credit is department: Beck’s version of Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” is an excellent showcase of his guitar skills, especially his delicate control of his wah-wah pedal).
Page and Led Zeppelin use the original “You Shook Me” as inspiration, but then they raise the bar several notches. Each band member has a chance to shine on the Zep song, and each one does.
Beck cried tears of anger when Page played him Zep’s version of “You Shook Me,” but they might as well have been tears of jealousy. His friend’s band took one of the songs he loved performing and blew it out of the water.
There were no grudges between the guitar-playing friends
Even though Page and Led Zeppelin took a signature Beck tune to the next level, it seems he didn’t hold a grudge.
Beck and Page shared the stage during the Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS) benefit concert in 1983. What was initially supposed to be a one-off show turned into a mini tour with Beck and Page performing together at each stop, according to Guitar World.
Nearly three decades later, Page inducted Beck into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. The 2009 honor was the second induction for Beck. Both guitarists entered the hall as members of the Yardbirds in 1992.
Jeff Beck cried when Jimmy Page played Led Zeppelin’s take on “You Shook Me” because he was so angry. Beck’s version hewed closer to the blues original, but Zep took the song to a whole new level. Still, any bad blood between the two guitar legends didn’t last long.
Jimmy Page helped write the book on classic rock with Led Zeppelin. Between his guitar playing, John Bonham’s drumming, Robert Plant’s distinct vocals, and John Paul Jones’ underrated instrumentation, Led Zeppelin albums were essential for rock fans of the 1960s and beyond. Zep’s founding guitarist had a plan on Led Zeppelin I, but making Jeff Beck cry when Page played the record for him might not have been part of it. Still, we can see why Beck shed tears when he heard Led Zeppelin’s version of “You Shook Me” — Page’s band thoroughly upstaged Beck’s version of the tune in every way.
(l-r) Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page | Dave Hogan/Getty Images
Jeff Beck cried when Jimmy Page played him Led Zeppelin’s version of ‘You Shook Me’
Once upon a time, Page recommended his friend Beck for the Yardbirds (and received a gift for not taking the job). That was in 1965. Fast forward to 1968, and Beck’s solo career started taking flight as Page looked to form a new band after his stint playing guitar in the Yardbirds ended when the band broke up.
Willie Dixon’s “You Shook Me” regularly appeared in Beck’s live set. It became one of his earliest signature songs. Rod Stewart sang while Beck played precision blues licks underneath the vocals. His version was a fan favorite that allowed Beck to showcase his guitar skills. The song was also one of the blues staples Led Zeppelin turned to as it recorded their first album.
As he shopped the album around to record labels, Page played a rough cut of the album for his friend when they crossed paths in New York. According to C.M. Kushins, author of the Bonham biography Beast, Beck cried when he heard Led Zeppelin’s version:
“I looked at him and said, ‘Jim, what?’ And the tears were coming out with anger.”
Jeff Beck
Beck cried with anger when Page played Led Zeppelin’s version of “You Shook Me.” We can see why he shed tears, and it’s not just because he was seeing red.
Led Zeppelin did ‘You Shook Me’ much better than Page’s friend did
Beck cried in anger when he first heard it, but perhaps he later realized the truth — Led Zeppelin did “You Shook Me” much better than he ever did.
Plant’s vocals and Page’s guitar match notes during the first two minutes of the Zep song, and that’s about as close as the two versions come to matching. From there, the version Page played for Beck goes off in its own direction.
Jones comes in with an electric organ solo that somehow blends blues and gospel music. Beck’s take has a piano backing track on the studio cut, but nothing like what Jones adds to the Led Zeppelin version.
Then Plant plays a harmonica solo (yes, he wasn’t only a singer), which helps give it a delta blues feel. But the moment where Led Zeppelin bests Beck in the battle of the best “You Shook Me” is Page’s guitar solo.
Not only does the song feature one of Page’s best guitar solos, but then Bonham, who more or less plays a steady shuffle beat for most of the song, launches into a drum fill that grabs part of the spotlight from his guitarist. You won’t find that on Beck’s version.
Beck’s version of the song stays closer to the original
Dixon’s “You Shook Me” is a straightforward slow-paced tune. Beck’s version hews close to the original, and there’s something noble about maintaining the purity and essence of the original.
The vocals are the closest similarity between Beck’s take on the song and the version Page played for him. Rod Stewart and Robert Plant possess similar deliveries, even down to their scratchy-throat singing styles. Beck displays some guitar heroics a la Page, but not nearly to the same extent. (Credit where credit is department: Beck’s version of Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” is an excellent showcase of his guitar skills, especially his delicate control of his wah-wah pedal).
Page and Led Zeppelin use the original “You Shook Me” as inspiration, but then they raise the bar several notches. Each band member has a chance to shine on the Zep song, and each one does.
Beck cried tears of anger when Page played him Zep’s version of “You Shook Me,” but they might as well have been tears of jealousy. His friend’s band took one of the songs he loved performing and blew it out of the water.
There were no grudges between the guitar-playing friends
Even though Page and Led Zeppelin took a signature Beck tune to the next level, it seems he didn’t hold a grudge.
Beck and Page shared the stage during the Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis (ARMS) benefit concert in 1983. What was initially supposed to be a one-off show turned into a mini tour with Beck and Page performing together at each stop, according to Guitar World.
Nearly three decades later, Page inducted Beck into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. The 2009 honor was the second induction for Beck. Both guitarists entered the hall as members of the Yardbirds in 1992.
Jeff Beck cried when Jimmy Page played Led Zeppelin’s take on “You Shook Me” because he was so angry. Beck’s version hewed closer to the blues original, but Zep took the song to a whole new level. Still, any bad blood between the two guitar legends didn’t last long.
Alabama Shakes are one of the greatest live outfits you’ll ever be lucky enough to see. Brittany Howard has a voice that could stop a category five hurricane in its tracks simply for the joy of hearing her soulful growl, one step up on the same Zeus scale that summoned the phenomenon. Very few singers in history have that same Thor-like thunderous force without straining beyond their chest voice. Fortunately for this cover, Led Zeppelin’s frontman Robert Plant is one of them.
Slipping like a jigsaw piece into the Shakes’ back catalogue, the song is swamped in a bluesy origin. As Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page explained to the BBC: “We had numbers from the Yardbirds that we called free form, like ‘Smokestack Lightnin’,’ where I’d come up with my own riffs and things, and obviously I wasn’t going to throw all that away, as they hadn’t been recorded.
Continuing: “So, I remodelled those riffs and used them again, so the bowing on ‘How Many More Times’ and ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ was an extension of what I’d been working on with the Yardbirds, although I’d never had that much chance to go to town with it, and to see how far one could stretch the bowing technique on record, and obviously for anyone who saw the band, it became quite a little showpiece in itself.”
As fate would have it, ‘Smokestack Lightnin’ singer Howlin’ Wolf has a similar live prowess to Howard. As Bob Dylan once said of the old blues sensation: “Howlin’ Wolf, to me, was the greatest live act, because he did not have to move a finger when he performed — if that’s what you’d call it, ‘performing.’”
As fellow bluesman Cub Koda testified, “No one could match Howlin’ Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.” While Howard might not bring about any fear, she can certainly rattle the rafters of the heavens while hushing a crowd into stultified awe.
As Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys testified when he saw Alabama Shakes at an unsigned stage in their career in Nashville, “They knocked our socks off, everything about it was just [speechless].”
When you add the truly exceptional band behind Howard into the mix — a band that entwines as tightly as any, you have yourself a force to contend with. Thus, they’re pretty much tailor-made for the anthemic flow of ‘How Many More Times’. The clip below is testimony to that.
Led Zeppelin was like a championship baseball team — every member was essential to making the magic happen. Guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant commanded much of the spotlight. Bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham didn’t receive as much credit for Zep’s music. Those in the know understood Bonham was different from his peers, but Jones said his rhythm section cohort never got the credit he deserved as a songwriter. The only trouble with that is that Jones isn’t 100% right.
(l-r) Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin in 1969 | Chris Walter/WireImage
John Paul Jones said John Bonham never received much credit for helping to write Led Zeppelin songs
Bonham was a revolutionary drummer even before he plied his trade with Led Zeppelin. He formed a vision for his drumming when he was still a fledgling player — to have his drums complement the guitar instead of taking a back seat to it. Page was the perfect guitarist to make it a reality. His goal for Led Zeppelin I was to make it a showcase for the entire band. Bonzo made his presence felt in the first few seconds of Led Zeppelin’s debut. He continued to do so as the band achieved worldwide fame and sold millions of albums worldwide.
Jones needed just a few words to describe Bonham’s drumming skills. Still, the bassist said he and his rhythm section partner never received proper credit for what they brought to Led Zeppelin (per Beast author C.M. Kushins):
“In all honesty, I’d say that I probably should have paid much more attention to the writing credits in the earlier days of Zeppelin. In those days, I’d just say, ‘Well, I wrote that, but it’s part of the arrangement,’ or something like that, and I’d just let it go. Not realizing at the time that that part of the arrangement had more to do with the writing than just arranging something. John Bonham’s contribution was always much more than he even received credit for. In fact, I know it was.”
John Paul Jones
Jones stood up for his bandmate and said Bonham never got the credit he should have for what he added to Led Zeppelin’s songs. Unfortunately for Jones, he’s not even close to being 100% right.
Jones wasn’t even close to being right about Bonham’s writing credits for Zeppelin tunes
The only problem with Jones saying Bonham never got credit for his writing contributions is that he’s not 100% right.
Bonham received writing credits for songs on several Led Zeppelin albums, and not just for his drum solo tracks “Moby Dick” and “Bonzo’s Montreux.” Per ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), Bonham received writing credits on 24 Zep songs, and most of those ended up being album cuts.
Everything from “Heartbreaker” to “Whole Lotta Love” to “Kashmir” to “Good Times Bad Times” bore Bonham’s name in the writing credits. Some tunes, such as “Bathroom Sound” and “Driving Through Kashmir,” transformed into album tracks “Out on the Tiles” and “Kashmir,” respectively. “The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair” surfaced on The Complete BBC Sessions, though Led Zeppelin fans recognize it as the music that segued into “Moby Dick” in concert.
Page also had a hand in Bonham receiving credit for Led Zeppelin songs. The guitarist freely shared credit on songs based on blues standards, such as “How Many More Times” and “Lemon Song.” Bonham received a writing credit for “Out on the Tiles” even though it was only loosely based on a drinking song Bonham often hummed around the band.
Thumbs up to Jones for sticking up for his bandmate, but Bonham received more credit than most drummers do. Page and Plant wrote much of Led Zeppelin III during a vacation in Wales; they took most of the writing credits for that album. Page fleshed out early demos for songs such as “The Rain Song” and “Ten Years Gone,” it’s almost a miracle Bonham received 24 writing credits on Led Zeppelin songs during the band’s career.
Perhaps Jones meant Bonham’s drumming was so impactful and unique that he deserved credit for every beat he played. The world of music writing is a bit different, though. Credit often comes down to who created the melody, lyrics, and arrangement. Bonham didn’t do much of that, but he received credit for his contributions to Led Zeppelin songs.
Bonzo’s death signaled the end of the band
Bonham died in September 1980 after a day of binge drinking ahead of Led Zeppelin’s upcoming North American tour. The band called off the tour and then called it quits by the end of the year. Page said there was no way for Led Zeppelin to replace Bonham.
It wasn’t just Bonzo’s individual playing style that couldn’t be replicated. Led Zeppelin couldn’t replace Bonham because he was the one who helped shape their songs into what they became. He was one-quarter of a unit that shared a mind when they played live. Zep developed that collective mindset by playing together for 12 years. There was no way a newcomer could possibly duplicate Bonham’s ingrained knowledge of how Page, Jones, and Plant performed live.
John Paul Jones said John Bonham deserved more credit than he got for Led Zeppelin songs. Still, Bonzo was one of the few drummers in any band to receive writing credits on a substantial number of their bands’ songs. Led Zeppelin breaking up instead of soldiering on without Bonham shows that he was integral to the band no matter how many writing credits he earned.
Technology is empowering employees to make their own decisions. Organizational structures need to catch up.
In a permissionless organization, teams are given guardrails rather than forced to work their way through tollgates. Approvals are part of the process; they don’t stop the process.”
— Rita McGrath
LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, January 18, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — Both CEO’s and front-line staff agree that they are capable of self-management. So why do so few firms operate this way?
Ram Charan and Rita McGrath co-authored an article just out in this month’s Harvard Business Review about how technology is creating the conditions for what people call the “permissionless” corporation. In it, the authors suggest that corporations organized like conventional bureaucracies are going to give way to organizations that have figured out new ways of working.
To explain why, McGrath builds on another great piece about the evils of bureaucracy co-authored by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, called “What we Learned About Bureaucracy from 7,000 HBR Readers.”
Elements of the permissionless organization
Obviously, there is a need and essential role for leadership in any human social group – someone has to determine strategic priorities, figure out who is supposed to do what and provide guidance as to goals. What McGrath suggest in her article, however, is that many of the bureaucratic tasks of reporting, giving assignments, collecting status updates and providing metrics are now able to be handled by technology with far more speed and accuracy than by using conventional management methods.
A ’permissionless’ organization, therefore, is one in which groups that have all the essential functional skills (engineering, marketing, design, and so on) are given a single objective to work on full-time for a short period of time. It looks a lot like the realization of agile ways of working that McGrath has been learning about for some time now.
Among its core attributes:
-Agreement on key metrics; in particular, leading indicators of important outcomes. -Using digital technologies to bring operating information right to the front lines. -Communicating context using simple heuristics that allow everyone to align without the need for time-consuming meetings. -Switching to multi-functional, often asynchronous, teamwork. -Identifying and promote leaders who are motivated by team accomplishment, not by political or power goals.
So why does McGrath believe that eventually this way of working will make traditional bureaucracies obsolete? Lean into Hamel and Zanini’s research to sketch out the answer. They received responses from over 7,000 readers of the Harvard Business Review who filled out their Bureaucracy Mass Index diagnostic (try it – it’s free and fun).
Bureaucratic pain is felt most deeply at the ‘edges’
One striking finding from the research is that “individuals working in customer service, sales, production, logistics and R&D were more likely to feel that bureaucracy was growing than those working in functions like HR, finance, planning, purchasing and administration. In other words, the individuals who feel most hamstrung by bureaucracy are the ones most directly involved in creating customer value.”
Recent research by Tiffani Bova of Salesforce finds that firms in which employees have poor experiences are likely to be foregoing significant value and potential revenue growth. So it stands to reason that bureaucratic processes undermine the ability of an organization to please customers, eventually undermining their competitive advantages.
McGrath also pointed out that many of the so-called clever automated systems for customer service are actually creating the conditions for enraging customers.
More than three quarters of respondents also said that front-line employees were either ‘never’ or only ‘occasionally’ involved in the design and development of major change initiatives or programs. If you’re not involved, it’s hard to be enthusiastic, a major predictor of failure for organizational change. McGrath has said elsewhere, …”if you want to keep on top of the pulse of what’s going on, you need to build robust flows of information to the edges and back again.”
Bureaucracy sucks up time with no corresponding creation of value
The survey respondents reported spending an astonishing average of 28% of their time – more than a whole day each week – on feeding the bureaucratic beast. Preparing reports, attending meetings, dealing with internal requests, getting approvals and working through staff function requirements all consumed time that could be much better spent with a different organizational design.
In the permissionless structures McGrath highlights in her article, most of these activities are kept to a bare minimum and are mostly handled either by making sure all the people with necessary skills are working on intact teams devoted to a single objective at any given time and by moving the controls and cross-checks to technology platforms.
Bureaucracy slows things down
Two thirds of the survey respondents – and more than 80% in the largest companies – reported that bureaucracy slows down decision making. Getting approval for an unbudgeted expense, for instance, could take as long as 20 days or more.
In permissionless structures, budgeting cycles are short and flexible. For more on how this can work, please see Bjarte Bogsnes’ excellent work on “beyond budgeting.”
Bureaucracy increases the return on politics
This one was a shocker. Survey respondents said they spent fully 42% of their time on internal issues, such as resolving disputes, competing for resources, HR issues, negotiating targets and other internally-focused issues. Even worse, the proportion grows with the seniority of the survey respondent. The unfortunate implication is that those who need to be most externally focused to pick up weak signals, understand markets and spend time with customers are the least free to do so!
70% of big-company respondents to the survey indicate that political behaviors (such as blame-shifting, resource hoarding and turf battles) are “often” observed. 64% said that political skills often or almost always influence who gets ahead, with that number going to 76% for the larger organization.
As Safi Bahcall has pointed out, when the return on politics exceeds the return on innovation, that’s a competitive drag on performance.
Bureaucracy stifles experimentation and innovation
One common trait shared by innovative companies – 3M, Lego, Adobe, Spotify and many others – is that experimentation by people at the front lines is encouraged, made easy and is modestly resourced. The survey respondents report a completely different reality. 80% reported that new ideas were likely to encounter indifference, skepticism or outright resistance. Even worse, 96% of people working in companies with more than 1,000 employees said it was ‘not easy’ or ‘very difficult’ for a front-line employee to launch a new initiative.
Going permissionless and eliminating bureaucracy requires a new leadership model
As McGrath described in her article, the organizations that successfully made this transition are conscious that leaders who got ahead in the old hierarchical systems are unlikely to be thrilled to give up the power and perks that often came with having a high-status role. “At Fidelity Private Investments, one of the case studies we use, the attention to a new kind of leader was taken so seriously that only people who could demonstrate that they were people-maximizers were considered for leadership positions,” states McGrath. “Others had to find new organizational homes elsewhere.”
One of the more interesting findings from the research is that both front-line staff and senior executives don’t doubt that their operating staff are capable of managing themselves. Only 26% of the CEO’s and 36% of front-line employees felt that a lack of information or competence was a barrier to devolution of authority and responsibility.
Dismantling bureaucracy is not only do-able but essential.
For more on Rita McGrath’s insights and tools go to:
Everything in Jimmy Page’s music career was a building block for Led Zeppelin. The guitarist learned studio tricks used by producers during his time as a session musician. He also learned how to work quickly in the studio, which was a skill he brought to Led Zeppelin. Perhaps most importantly, Page formed his recording approach, which he once summed up in just 14 words and committed to tape on Led Zeppelin’s debut.
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page | Chris Walter/WireImage
Jimmy Page summed up his Led Zeppelin recording approach in just 14 words
Page learned crucial skills and made a good living as a session musician, but one arduous day in the studio made him realize he had to quit.
He landed with the Yardbirds, and when that band splintered in 1968, he formed Led Zeppelin within weeks. They toured Scandinavia just a few weeks after that, in the early fall of 1968. Zep recorded their debut album soon after returning, then toured a wide swath of England before the year finished.
Page said the debut came together incredibly quickly, perhaps because he had his recording plan in place by then. Page summed it up in just 14 words, as C.M. Kushins writes in the John Bonham biography Beast:
“The whole idea, the way I see recording, is to try and capture the sound of the room live and the emotion of the whole moment and try to convey that across. You’ve got to capture as much of the room sound as possible. That’s the very essence of it.”
Jimmy Page
Page’s recording philosophy boiled down to 14 words: “Capture the sound of the room live and the emotion of the whole moment.” You can hear it come to life on Led Zeppelin I.
Page’s recording approach come to life on ‘Led Zeppelin I’
Part of Page’s recording philosophy with Led Zeppelin was capturing the room live, as he said. That included having the band essentially playing live to tape. That was especially true on Led Zeppelin I, which took a little over a day total to finish. As such, some tiny mistakes made their way onto the album:
Bonham flubs part of his jackhammer beat under Page’s “Dazed and Confused” solo. Bonzo gets a bit sloppy around the 4:30 mark, but it remains in the song. Why? Because that was the emotion of the moment. (And can you imagine asking Bonham to replicate it?)
Robert Plant utters some nonsensical lyrics toward the end of his harmonica solo (at roughly the 3:35 mark) on “You Shook Me.”
Page seems to miss the mark at the tail end of his “Communication Breakdown” solo (roughly 1:41 into the song). It’s nearly unnoticeable as he quickly recovers and finishes strong.
Those less-than-perfect moments stayed on the album, and not just because producer Page paid to record Led Zeppelin I himself. The emotion in those moments was a key part of what made Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin. The band accepted the warts if they were part of a strong performance. Seeking perfection wasn’t as crucial as getting the raw emotion on tape. You’d have a hard time convincing most Zep fans that the little blemishes somehow sabotage those songs.
Page had a plan on Led Zeppelin I — to capture listeners’ attention. Bonham’s energetic drumming within the first 30 seconds was enough to make it happen. “You Shook Me” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” are bare-bones blues tunes at heart. The emotion each band member conveys with their playing transforms them into something special.
Album closer “How Many More Times” is a shining example of adhering to Page’s 14-word recording approach. All four Led Zeppelin members are in fine form as they commit one of their early concert staples to tape. The song is heavy on energy and emotion, and there’s just enough space between Page, Plant, Bonham, and John Paul Jones for each one to shine.
Page’s plan to capture the emotion of the moment is evident on all of Led Zeppelin’s albums, and Led Zeppelin I is where it all started.
‘Led Zeppelin I’ is one of the band’s best-selling albums
The debut album might contain a few minuscule errors, but it’s also the first time Page’s recording philosophy came to life, and for that, it deserves to be celebrated. The energy and emotion from each Led Zeppelin member are part of what makes it such a memorable opening salvo in the band’s career.
Without that palpable energy, Zeppelin could have had a more difficult time achieving international fame. Fans embraced the emotion the band committed to tape.
Led Zeppelin I is one of the band’s best-selling albums, having gone platinum eight times, per the Recording Industry Association of America. That makes it a better seller than Led Zeppelin III, Presence, The Song Remains the Same, and In Through the Out Door.
Jimmy Page committed his recording approach — capturing the energy and emotion live — on the first Led Zeppelin album. Fans embraced that approach, and it helped launch the band on a path toward worldwide fame.