There are re-formations. And then there is the Led Zeppelin re-formation. The most popular, the loudest and the most innovative act in their day, their reunion show was always going to be the most popular, the loudest and the most innovative of this era, from the moment one million people entered the ballot for the right to purchase the 18,000 tickets for what is officially still just a one-off event to benefit a charity established by their late mentor Ahmet Ertegun.

Gallery: See pictures from the gig here

Two hours and 10 minutes after they began with Good Times Bad Times, the opening track of their 38-year-old debut album, they had assuaged the doubts and delivered a show of breathtaking power and spine-tingling excitement; a four-way musical tug-of-war in which they all won.

A crowd including Sir Paul McCartney, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Jeff Beck, Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and the inevitable Kate Moss (none of whom, one suspects, entered any ballot) could scarcely believe their luck. Not only had they actually secured tickets, but this was rock's holy grail made flesh: a full-length performance featuring all three surviving members, plus Jason Bonham, drumming son of drumming father, John.

Naturally, for a band who always left nothing to chance, the sound, lighting and backdrop were perfect. Weeks of rehearsals had shed ring-rustiness and reconciled everyone to playing Stairway To Heaven, the favourite of nobody inside the band. They delivered it straight and slow with Jimmy Page on double-necked guitar and 18,000 hearts melted. Even mine, despite that preposterous lyric which rhymes "May Queen" with "spring clean".

If Jason Bonham was his father's equally hard-hitting son, the others have sauntered to their bus pass years with varying degrees of dignity. Even so, the rock band who taught the rest how to rock still have much to teach. John Paul Jones may have been unassuming, but his feel for bass was almost Jamaican and his pounding keyboards on Misty Mountain Hop showed he could lead as well as follow.

Singer Robert Plant was lined of face but long of hair and lithe of body. More crucially, although he required a teleprompter, his voice - part air-raid siren, part instrument of lust - was as astonishing as it always was.

It needed to be, for Page (less the waxy buddah of recent vintage after losing weight) was wondrous. Initially peeping from behind sunglasses and dressed in trademark frock-coat, once he had ignited Ramble On with some mind-boggling guitar work, the shades and coat were soon dumped and he was sweating and smiling like it was 1975 again.

By Dazed And Confused (all 26 minutes of it), Page was at his most avant-garde, attacking his guitar with a violin bow, but on Kashmir, unleashing the Zeppelin riff of Zeppelin riffs, he was almost inhumanly exciting. It was like watching a man invent electricity. One oft-repeated Seventies myth suggested Page's prowess came as a result of a pact with the devil. Superstitious nonsense of course, but sometimes you wonder ...

This really is as good as popular music gets.

WHAT THE OTHER CRITICS SAID

The Times, Pete Paphides
"Events that have so much resting on them rarely unfold with such an air of assurance. The three original members of the band seemed relieved to be relinquishing the burden of anticipation. Their heaviosity has always been the cornerstone of their reputation but it was astonishing to see how funky they could be for a rock band."

The Guardian, Alexis Petridis
"For all the pre-emptive discussion in the media about his inability to hit the notes he once could, Plant sounds fantastic, and retains an utterly magnetic and startlingly lithe presence on stage, kicking his microphone stand to the ground, dancing with a rather cheering abandon, even setting aside his celebrated distaste for the band's most famous and overblown song and having a stab at Stairway To Heaven."

The Independent, Andy Gill
"The sound early in the show was somewhat murky and billowing, at times an undifferentiated clangour through which Jimmy Page's piercing guitar solos cut like razors. But by Black Dog, things have settled down somewhat, the riff's tricky curlicues coming through more clearly; and Robert Plant's call and response jousting with the crowd on the "uhh-uhh/uhh-uhh" mid-song breakdown is one of the night's more engaging moments."

Daily Mirror, Gavin Martin
"Page may no longer swagger across the stage, his guitar worn low like a gunslinger as he churns out riffs. And Plant can't scram and strut like he did in his rock god heyday. But the awesome power and majesty of the music was undiminished - the slithering slide guitar of In My Time Of Dying, the blistering boogie of Trampled Underfoot, the majestic, heart-breaking blues of Since I've Been Loving You, the ethereal mysticism of No Quarter."

The Sun, Pete Samson
Manufactured pop is ruling the charts and young music fans are an impatient sort. Maybe that's why the bars filled during some of the winding rock epics. But their classics proved music doesn't rock like it used to. Tracks like Whole Lotta Love and Stairway To Heaven had every one of the fans on their feet and shaking their fists."

The Telegraph, David Cheal
"They were fantastic. Better than I expected. It was a joy and a privilege to be there."

Daily Star, James Cabooter
"Led Zep were pure class. Now bring on the full reunion tour."