Ian Astbury Suggests The Cult Will Tour With Led Zeppelin Next Year

11/21/07 7:00pm

If The Cult's Ian Astbury is to be believed — and how can you doubt the word of a man who masqueraded as a pale imitation of Jim Morrison with two of the surviving Doors members over the past five years — his band will be the opening act for Led Zeppelin on a U.S. tour next year.

"We'll be back next year," Astbury said midway through a show at Bogart's nightclub in Cincinnati on Saturday night. "Because we're opening for a band you may have heard of... the name starts with an 'L' and has a 'Z' in it."

After an audience member wracked his brain trying to figure out who that mystery group might be, he yelled "Led Zeppelin!" Astbury nodded and thrust his hand into the air, according to a report carried on VH1.com's website.

Somewhat surprisingly, no-one apparently shouted "Liz Phair!" when offered the cryptic clue.

Spokespeople for The Cult and Led Zeppelin have remained tight-lipped on whether Zeppelin's reunion will extend beyond a Dec. 10 appearance at a London, England tribute concert to former Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will perform with drummer Jason Bonham (the son of the late Zep drummer, John Bonham) at that show, but they've denied rumours that more concerts could be in the cards.

But Page may have offered a hint of things to come in a recent Guitar World magazine article where he said, "It's a bit selfish to do just one show. If that's it, we probably shouldn't have taken the genie out of the bottle."

Page said in a Reuters interview that the group will likely play a never-before-performed song that's "really intense" during the Ertegun tribute.

The two-CD Mothership: The Very Best Of Led Zeppelin was released last week, while a remastered and expanded CD and DVD of the concert film The Song Remains The Same hit stores on Tuesday. The group's catalogue was made available digitally for the first time earlier this month.