Led Zeppelin Semi-Reunion to Touch Down in New York Next Week

By DAVE ITZKOFF

It's been a long time - a long, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time - since Led Zeppelin last appeared on American soil. But now the hammer of the gods (and the spirit of publicity) will drive the surviving members of that seminal British rock band to New York next week to begin promoting its new concert film, “Celebration Day,” its press representatives said on Monday.

On Oct. 9 “Celebration Day” will have its premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan. That event will be preceded by a news conference at the Museum of Modern Art with the founding Led Zeppelin members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. Stepping in for John Bonham, who died in 1980 â€" and who would have probably taken a bite out of Van Gogh's “Starry Night” if he were still with us and allowed in the museum â€" will be that drummer's son, Jason Bonham. The original bandmates will also appear at an Oct. 12 premiere event for t he film at the Hammersmith Apollo in London; Mr. Jones is to attend a Berlin premiere on Oct. 15 and Mr. Page will be at a Tokyo premiere on Oct. 16.

Led Zeppelin played its last North American tour in 1977 and was preparing to return in 1980 when John Bonham died and the band dissolved. The group made a one-time reunion in 2007 (with Jason Bonham on drums) for a performance honoring the Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, which was filmed for “Celebration Day.”

Mr. Plant, Mr. Page and Mr. Jones held a news conference in London last month, where they discussed “Celebration Day” and largely dodged the issue of whether a longer reunion tour was in the works. (None of which means the question won't come up again at MoMA.)