Robert Plant Shares Moving Photo Visiting John Bonham Memorial Statue
Robert Plant recently paid a visit to the John Bonham memorial statue located in Redditch, England, where Bonham was born, and shared a very moving photo of the moment.
The photo below includes the caption, “Another birthday around the corner…huge loss…” Bonham’s birthday is May 31. He would’ve turned 71 this year.
The memorial statue was the result of a years-long campaign by Bonham’s sister, Denise, that was unveiled last year in honor of the late drummer’s 70th birthday. The massive memorial shows Bonzo behind a drum kit on one side, while the other side features his Led Zeppelin IV symbol and the following inscription: “The most outstanding and original drummer of his time, John Bonham’s popularity and influence continue to resonate within the world of music and beyond.”
Plant has been adamantly against a Led Zeppelin reunion tour for years, and one of the reasons is due to Bonham’s passing. Jason Bonham said in a December 2018 interview with Billboard that he asked Plant about a possible reunion tour after the band’s 2007 performance at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London. Bonham revealed, “…He said, ‘I loved your dad way too much. It’s no disrespect to you; You know the stuff better than all of us, and no one else who is alive can play it like you. But it’s not the same. I can’t go out there and fake it. I can’t be a jukebox. I can’t go out there and try to do it that way…When your father left us, left the world, that was it for Led Zeppelin. We couldn’t do what The Who did. It was too vital.’“
Erica Banas is rock/classic rock news blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.