Official Led Zeppelin O2 Concert gearing up for release

An official DVD/Blu-Ray release of Led Zeppelin's performance at the O2 Arena in London, England on December 10, 2007 may actually happen here soon.

Backstage at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on January 30, 2011, Robert Plant had mentioned that he had spoken with Jimmy Page on Friday and that a commercial release of the concert is being finalized.

Up until now, the performance of Black Dog (which can be viewed below), has been released, which was given to the press. The entire performance's audio was multitracked as well as being captured on video with 17 cameras, for possible future release, according to director Dick Carruthers.

At the Mojo Magazine Awards on June 16, 2008, Jimmy Page was asked if the reunion concert was going to be released. "I hope so one day, yeah," Page told BBC 6Music. Although John Paul Jones echoed Page's sentiment, he said that at the moment "there is no hurry" to release it. "It was a special occasion you know and we really wanted that just to be it really," he added.

It was even thought that Page, Plant and Jones may review the footage and not allow it to be released. In August 2004, as Bob Geldof was preparing a DVD release of 1985's Live Aid, Page, Plant and Jones quickly released a statement, saying that the sound and general reproduction of their performance at Live Aid was sub-standard and they nixed inclusion on the DVD. Page & Plant offered proceeds from their October 26, 2004 re-release of No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded and John Paul Jones offered proceeds from his US Tour with the Mutual Admiration Society to Live Aid Trust.

In November 2007, Page once again blasted the Live Aid performance, calling it "shambolic".

Any specific release date is currently unknown, but a Fall/Christmas 2011 timeframe would be ideal. Led Zeppelin's performance may be part of a larger Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert release.

Thanks to Frederic Traube, Terry Stephenson and Steve A. Jones