Oscar Wilde once wrote “The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.” With the release of No Quarter and their Unledded MTV performance, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have indeed fulfilled their duty. History has been rewritten.

The latest chapter happens tonight at Hilton Coliseum when Page and Plant take the stage for what is sure to be a truly unforgettable experience.

The Zeppelin motto of “ever onward” reigns true 14 years and numerous solo projects later. But don’t expect to hear the familiar wails from Plant or the Page riffs that every budding guitarist has tried to duplicate.

“I’d been wanting to work with Robert again for a long time,” Page said in a press release, “and it was a long time coming — 14 years really. And now the time was right. But we were both agreed that if we were going to do something, then it had to be new, and that if we were to look at the old material, then we’d have to treat it as an old picture ready for a new frame.”

The “old picture” came together in 1969 with the release of their first self titled album, Led Zeppelin. By the time Zep’s final opus, In Through The Out Door, had been released a decade later, they had taken their place in rock ‘n’ roll history. With drummer John Bonham and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin redefined musical heaviness, drawing inspiration from the sounds of British folk music, Indian and Arab tradition, reggae, funk, blues, rockabilly and country.

When the irreplaceable Bonham died in 1980, Zeppelin disbanded and new pictures were drawn. Page involved himself in a variety of his own projects, contributing occasionally to Plant’s solo records. Although the strictly ad hoc Zep reunions took place at 1985’s Live Aid and the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records in ’88, a formal restoration of the partnership did not happen until 1993.

Work on No Quarter began in 1994 in London. Both Page and Plant found a renewal in their collaboration. “We said, ‘Hey, let’s try this ,'” Plant said in a press release. “And we found that the communion was perhaps a little more fluent now, even then it was way-back-when. We found that we arrived at decisions very quickly, without much pussyfooting around.”

Drawing new inspiration from time spent in Morocco, Page and Plant produced three new songs: “City Don’t Cry,” “Wah Wah Song” and “Yallah.” The classic Zep tunes also took on a Arabic flavor. Plucked string instruments, cymbals and Arab drums add to the rich mystique that Led Zeppelin has come to personify. “It had to be new,” Plant said. “We had to use our imaginations. I mean, what would be the point us producing a middle-aged sigh of relief from ’round the coffee table?”

So with pencils poised, history awaits the continuing saga of this dynamic duo. Imaginations intact, new frame in place, the voice and the guitar march ever onward.

An added bonus for concert-goers, Miller Genuine Draft, who is sponsoring the tour, will host a Led Zeppelin memorabilia showcase. Located outside Hilton’s main entrance, the Miller semi will be open and free to the public at 3 p.m.

Tickets are still available through Ticketmaster or the Hilton box office for $28.

Thirty seats are also still available for audio-taping. These seats are obstructed, but ticket holders for these seats may bring a self-contained, battery operated audio tape machine.

Call the Iowa State Center at 294-3347 for details.