New Summer Tour Rumors...

So, by now many of my friends know of my excitement about the Ministry tour set for next year. The Final Tour. And, THE FINAL SHOW in Chicago. Well, another tour I will have to TRY and see MIGHT be coming to the US next summer. I'm guessing many of my friends will not even glance at this twice (ya punks!) but it is a big one for me. Hell even the rumored opener (who has helped spread the rumors of the tour themselves) is someone I'd really like to see. Anyway, the rumors are spreading far and wide that Led Zeppelin are going to tour the US in the summer. And evidently it's the chosen openers, The Cult, that are spreading the rumors, see the article i've linked. As a long time fan of both, I would love to see them on a stage together.


I've never actually seen either live and in person. With Zeppelin, since the age of about 12, I watched "The Song Remains the Same" so many times my parents had to buy me a new copy one Christmas while I was in High School, the tape had stretched and I couldn't view it any longer. Granted, by then I had been introduced to V-89 and the underground sounds of "alternative" music and "punk," and was not all that into watching it anymore. Eventually my only "real" Zeppelin connection for a while was picking up an album here and there that J.P. Jones had produced. The closest I came to seeing Zeppelin in person was my senior year of high school, I got to see Robert Plant in concert (first road trip concert actually). It was in Jacksonville and the best part, CHEAP TRICK opened (THEY know how to put on a show). Anyway, it was a "wishful" road trip as I was not a huge Plant solo fan, liked a a few songs (I had been one of the many bit by the "Big Log" bug and Now & Zen definitely filled a little of the Zeppelin hole in me, it had Zeppelin samples in it for Pete's sake!), I just hoped to see one or two actual Zeppelin songs in person. It happened, but it just didn't seem to really do the job.

THEN there's the Cult. I was introduced to them with Electric but quickly got into their earlier work, especially the Southern Death Cult stuff (none of this was a huge jump for me at the time, my two favorite bands up until then were Zeppelin and THE DOORS). Granted the SDC stuff is long gone, but with the new album Born Into This...it seems as though they've hearkened back to some of the older Love and even some Electric type of work. They definitely stripped things down and got away from the "overly produced" sounds of late. I've had two chances to see "The Cult" live (well, once as The Cult and then once it was Ian's project, The Holy Barbarians, after the break-up) but both times it was during that not so good early to mid-90s phase when I was NOT all that interested in seeing any Ian Astbury...and both times it was at a local club that I was not a big fan of either. So now they're back creating some good tunes and maybe I'll have another chance at seeing them as well.

Suppose that was a long way to go just to let you know there are some major rumors going around that Led Zeppelin with The Cult is a possible summer tour for '08, but you have an idea of where I am on the whole thing. I also found it interesting that the website I linked above, with the story about the rumors, wrote things up quite differently from another on line magazine. N.M.E. basically took the rantings of a possibly drunk*, fanboy, on stage, during a show as "confirmation." No need to double check with any P.R. people, or booking agents, or label managers or reps, we'll just take what we heard was said at this one concert as the "truth," the tour is confirmed. Heh.

Now if only they would book that show in Chicago on the Friday or Saturday after Ministry's final show...guess that would be too much to ask.




* I have no idea if Ian drinks or not, but it adds to the idea of there not being any real reason to print it as a "confirmed tour."