Louder AAA
There are many geographical locations associated with Led Zeppelin.
Famously, there's Bron-Yr-Aur, the Welsh cottage where Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote several songs from the band's third and fourth albums. There's the basalt columns of Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway, the location used for the Houses Of The Holy cover shoot. There's St Mark's Place, the Manhattan street where two tenement buildings were photographed for Physical Graffiti s iconic artwork.
And there's the small town of Bewdley in Worcestershire, three and a half miles west of Kidderminster.
Plant knows Bewdley best. In 2019, his current band Saving Grace played a low-key early show supporting Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri at the town's St George's Hall. They performed at the annual Bewdley Festival in 2021 and at the Bewdley Treetops Safari Park the following year. In 2025, Plant became involved in a campaign to protect The Maypole Piece, a green space long used by residents. The same year, he attended a local protest against river pollution.
Most impressively, Bewdley also played host to one of the few occasions when the surviving members of Led Zeppelin have appeared onstage together since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980.
There have been others, of course. The shambles of Live Aid in 1985. The Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show in 1988, with Jason Bonham on drums. The triumphant Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at London's O2 in 2007, with Bonham behind the kit again.
All those performances were high-profile. But Bewdley wasn't.
On April 28, 1990, Bonham Jr. married Jan Charteris at St Mary’s the Virgin, a 130-capacity country church in the tiny village of Stone, Worcestershire. After the ceremony, the wedding party drove 10 miles west to the Heath Hotel in Bewdley, for a reception where guests drank beer and dined on meat pies.
And then Led Zeppelin played.
In 2015, Bonham shared pictures from the reception on his Facebook page. Leading the way was a black-and-white photo of the band taken by photographer Justin Thomas – who had gatecrashed the party – that captured the band in full flight. John Paul Jones sporting a ponytail. Robert Plant in archetypal Rock God mode. Jimmy Page, a cigarette casually dangling from his lips. Bonham at the back.
"I’d gotten word that there was the chance that Zeppelin might get back together for the occasion," Thomas told Classic Rock in 2012. "So I got out my suit and went down to the church and blended in.
“After the ceremony, Peter Grant came up to me. I thought I was in real trouble. I was ready for my camera being smashed and my kneecaps going. But he was the perfect gentleman, very polite and friendly.
“So I was a bit encouraged, and went to the hotel where the party was happening, and spent the afternoon by myself in the gardens, drinking and smoking joints. When it got to 9pm, everyone seemed to be getting out of it, so I decided to be a little bold and walked in.
"The Steve Gibbons Band were on stage. But 20 minutes after they finished, someone went up to the mic and said: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Led Zeppelin!’
"Out came Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham. They did five songs. I remember pushing people out of the way, including the official photographer, to get the four in this shot. My photos were published everywhere. A week later, I got a call from Richard Cole, who was Zeppelin’s tour manager. He threatened to break my legs if he saw another photo from the wedding."
On the night, the band played five songs. In addition to their own Custard Pie, Rock And Roll and Sick Again, they played Bring It On Home, the Willie Dixon song they recorded on their debut album, and It'll Be Me, originally written by Jack Clement and released by Jerry Lee Lewis as the B-side of the classic Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On.
According to sources close to the band, the jam was recorded, but the tape hasn't surfaced in the intervening years. Led Zeppelin, meanwhile, wouldn't take to the stage again until London in 2007. It's their only show since the wedding.
Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening are currently on tour in the US.
