At concerts, I've sat next to Cameron Diaz, behind Sammy Hagar and with Jerry Garcia.

In more than 30 years as a music critic, I've sat close enough to the stage to get (intentionally) doused by Prince's "Purple Rain" squirt-gun guitar and far enough from the action that, even with high-power binoculars, I couldn't tell if Jimmy Buffett was barefoot or wearing flip-flops. Only once have I been in the front-row at an arena concert: Led Zeppelin, January 18, 1975, at Met Center in suburban Minneapolis, Minn.

At the end of "Stairway to Heaven," the stage exploded into a blinding burst of white light and LED ZEPPELIN was spelled out in five-foot high, blinking lights at the back of the stage. (Sorry, Gene Simmons, Zep did it first.). Experiencing the power, the brightness and rock radio's most beloved song in the front row was absolutely overwhelming. I'd never felt the volume, intensity and force of rock 'n' roll quite like that  -- not even when I "performed" in costume with Alice Cooper for two nights in 1979 (the lights were startlingly hot onstage, and the energy from the audience positively buoying, but that was choreographed theater, not spontaneous rock 'n' roll.).

Truth be told (critics get paid to be honest), that 1975 Zeppelin concert, despite my once-in-a-lifetime seats, wasn't one for the ages. The first gig on Zeppelin's tenth U.S. tour, the show was marred by opening-night kinks. Robert Plant perceptively pronounced the performance "rusty." His voice was not in mid-tour form, and Jimmy Page was hampered by a broken finger on his fretting hand. Moreover, after promising a three-hour show, the band came up 45 minutes short. Can you imagine a Zeppelin show at which they didn't play "Dazed and Confused"?

The next time Led Zeppelin came to Minneapolis, this critic incurred the wrath of Mr. Plant. Over the years, I've been called out at concerts by stars --- Prince (at least three times, but that's another book), Billy Joel, the Eagles' Glenn Frey, Lyle Lovett and k.d. lang. But the voice of Zeppelin was the first to do it.

In 1977, Led Zeppelin did something that no superstar had done before * or since: Play two consecutive nights in the Twin Cities in different arenas. On April 12 at Met Center in suburban Bloomington, the quartet took the stage 75 minutes late. Back in those days, tardy starts weren't uncommon, but they were usually because Sly Stone was powdering his nose. Zep's excuse on this night was their flight from Chicago, via private jet, of course, was delayed by rain. Between the late arrival and the frequent firecrackers ignited by tired-of-waiting fans, Zeppelin seemed distracted. Page was uninspired and workman-like. Plant was not as frenetic as usual. Being an earnest young critic, I described his performance as "more strikingly macho than sexy" and observed that he "lacked feeling and concentration" on a sloppy version of "Stairway to Heaven."

After the concert, Zeppelin's crew packed up its equipment and then set up across town at the St. Paul Civic Center for the April 13 show. And Plant apparently read my review in the Minneapolis Star, the city's afternoon paper. He didn't mention my name at the second show, as I listened intently half-way back on the main floor, but he had a few choice bleeps that referenced comments in my review. And you know what? He and Zeppelin truly kicked butt that night.

Reviews are supposed to provide perspective for readers, not motivation for artists. More than 30 years later, after a one-shot Zeppelin reunion show in London in December 2007 that has caused millions of fans to pine with off-the-charts anticipation for a reunion tour, it is time to provide some perspective on Led Zeppelin. We've asked some of rock's best-known stars * from Aerosmith and Heart to Linkin Park and Lenny Kravitz -- and critics from the U.S. and the U.K.* some of whom witnessed Zep first-hand, others who were too young -- to revisit and reexamine the wildest, loudest and heaviest rock band of all-time. Welcome to your front-row seat for Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin.

-Jon Bream, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 2008