Eighteen thousand fans packed London's O2 Arena on Monday, December 10, for the most anticipated concert in recent history. John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, Jason Bonham (son of original band member, John Bonham) and Jimmy Page played a two-hour, 16-song set through a massive Meyer Sound MILO system provided by UK-based sound rental company Major Tom. At front of house, Big Mick Hughes of Metallica fame mixed the band, while Roy Williams handled Plant's vocal.
The first full concert Led Zeppelin has played since they disbanded in 1980, following the death of John Bonham, was a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969. The 18,000 "chosen" (upwards of one million people registered a lottery for a chance to buy the 18,000 tickets at $255 a piece) began lining up outside the arena on the Friday before, including a 25-year-old Scottish man who was rumored to have paid $170,000 for a pair in a charity auction.
Major Tom Ltd., headed by Lars Brogaard, which recently provided the sound system for the sold-out Prince concerts at the O2, deployed a powerful sound system comprised of 72 MILO high-power curvilinear loudspeakers, with a center hang of six MICA high power curvilinear loudspeakers, and ten flown 700-HP subwoofers per side. Ground stacks included nine 700-HPs per side, and four MICAs per side for outfill. In addition, one MICA per side along with eight UPA-1Ps were strung across the stage lip for front fills. Three Galileo loudspeaker management systems handled 36 outputs, and a SIM 3 audio analyzer was used by Meyer Sound's Director of European Technical Support Luke Jenks to tune the system.
"It was an honor and privilege to participate in this iconic event," says Brogaard. "There was a lot of pressure but it's always reassuring for us to know we're working with the best sound equipment in the business. The entire crew from the engineers to the guys running the PA did a tremendous job."
The sheer impact of Led Zeppelin's influence on rock-and-roll is echoed by the popularity amongst generations of fans who weren't even born when the band first played, and also by the 300 million albums that have been sold to date. Monday's crowd was a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 400,000 people who attended their last two UK concerts, but their enthusiasm was no less contagious as the world's greatest rock band played "Good Times Bad Times," "Misty Mountain Hop," "Stairway to Heaven," "Dazed and Confused," and "Whole Lotta Love" to the world's most enthusiastic crowd, through the world's greatest sound system.
The first full concert Led Zeppelin has played since they disbanded in 1980, following the death of John Bonham, was a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969. The 18,000 "chosen" (upwards of one million people registered a lottery for a chance to buy the 18,000 tickets at $255 a piece) began lining up outside the arena on the Friday before, including a 25-year-old Scottish man who was rumored to have paid $170,000 for a pair in a charity auction.
Major Tom Ltd., headed by Lars Brogaard, which recently provided the sound system for the sold-out Prince concerts at the O2, deployed a powerful sound system comprised of 72 MILO high-power curvilinear loudspeakers, with a center hang of six MICA high power curvilinear loudspeakers, and ten flown 700-HP subwoofers per side. Ground stacks included nine 700-HPs per side, and four MICAs per side for outfill. In addition, one MICA per side along with eight UPA-1Ps were strung across the stage lip for front fills. Three Galileo loudspeaker management systems handled 36 outputs, and a SIM 3 audio analyzer was used by Meyer Sound's Director of European Technical Support Luke Jenks to tune the system.
"It was an honor and privilege to participate in this iconic event," says Brogaard. "There was a lot of pressure but it's always reassuring for us to know we're working with the best sound equipment in the business. The entire crew from the engineers to the guys running the PA did a tremendous job."
The sheer impact of Led Zeppelin's influence on rock-and-roll is echoed by the popularity amongst generations of fans who weren't even born when the band first played, and also by the 300 million albums that have been sold to date. Monday's crowd was a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 400,000 people who attended their last two UK concerts, but their enthusiasm was no less contagious as the world's greatest rock band played "Good Times Bad Times," "Misty Mountain Hop," "Stairway to Heaven," "Dazed and Confused," and "Whole Lotta Love" to the world's most enthusiastic crowd, through the world's greatest sound system.
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