Becoming Led Zeppelin 2025
There are so many music documentaries that it is hard to believe any of them get released theatrically. The movie gets mostly positive reviews, but, since it has the band's blessing, is maybe a little soft. Still, it does a nice job of showing the origin of the four members of the band before they are a band, and then tells the story through the recording of the second album, including two American tours, making it through 1969. So that means "Stairway to Heaven" doesn't even exist yet. There is plenty of material, so that's fine with me anyway. They interview the three surviving members (separately) and have a recording of an interview that drummer John Paul Jones made before he died. They don't talk with anyone else and most of the footage seems to be footage owned by the band, so no news pieces or features. There is some music by influencing bands and the more and more music by Led Zeppelin including some live footage that I had never seen before (nor the band in one instance). It is neat to see these very young guys (about 20 years old) hit it so big, but partly because they had started playing music professionally in their young teens. If you are a rock fan and of course if you are a Led Zeppelin fan, this movie is for you. It would be nice if there could be a sequel with some of the later years, but this will have to do for now.
Written: 24 Feb 2025