As their band name suggests, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening focuses their live show exclusively on the Led Zeppelin catalog. But they made a one-time-only exception Saturday when Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony joined them near the end of their set at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California for “Runnin’ With the Devil.”
“We have never done anything like this in the 16 years of doing this show,” Jason Bonham told the crowd, before Michael Anthony took over the mic. “Jason wanted to do something old,” he said. “Mr. Jimmy said yeah, let’s do it. So let’s do it.”
The “Mr. Jimmy” in question is James Dylan, who has sang lead in the group (formerly known as Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience) since the tribute group was formed in 2010. Dylan took on David Lee Roth’s original lead vocal parts, but he let Anthony sing the hook, just like he did on the original recording in 1978 and countless subsequent live shows.
“I’m ready to get the Led out,” Anthony told the crowd afterwards, before the band kicked into the Zeppelin classic “Rock and Roll.” “Let’s get the Led out!” On this one, Dylan and Anthony took turns singing lead.
This wasn’t the first time Bonham and Anthony shared a stage or played these two particular songs. For many years, they both were members of Sammy Hagar and the Circle alongside guitarist Vic Johnson. And in 2024, they both toured with Hagar and guitarist Joe Satriani on the Best of All Worlds tour, where Hagar played a set centered largely around the Van Halen catalog, including many songs he hadn’t done in the 20 years since the last reunion tour fizzled out.
Midway through the tour, Bonham had to leave to tend to his ailing mother. Veteran drummer Kenny Aronoff saved the tour by learning the entire set with little more than a day’s notice. But when Bonham was ready to return, Hagar stuck with Aronoff. “I was a little shocked, I must say. I’d be lying to you if I wasn’t a little sad, because we were on fire at the end of the tour,” Bonham said in 2024. “And I got a little upset. That was strange, after 10 years of being with him…Listen, I love the guy to bits. I don’t wish him any ill.”
In a 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar acknowledged that Bonham was “a little disappointed,” but explained that it came down to scheduling. “He’s the one as much as me that bit off all these things he’s doing,” he said. “He’s in Europe with the Black Country Communion and stuff. He can’t be here for rehearsals, can’t be there for the residence. He could have got back the day of the residence. No, no, no, no, no. We got to make more time for this band.”
Whatever hard feelings may have existed back in 2024, there was nothing but love onstage between Anthony and Bonham at the Pacific Amphitheater. The drummer will be on the road with Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening through September 6. Just don’t show up expecting any Van Halen songs. That only happens when a member of Van Halen comes onto their stage. Anything short of that, it’s a 100 percent Zeppelin show.
If you want to hear Anthony play Van Halen classics, Sammy Hagar and the Best of All Worlds Band are playing five shows at Park MGM in Las Vegas between September 18 and September 26. Strangely enough, they have yet to break out “Runnin’ With the Devil.” But you will likely hear “Panama,” “Right Now,” “5150,” “Poundcake,” “Jump,” and way too many others to list here. It’s the closest thing possible to a genuine Van Halen experience these days, even if nobody onstage has the last name “Van Halen.”
