As for Plant never leaving Bonham behind in Zeppelin, I'm not buying it. If Bonham hadn't died, my gut feeling is that the band would have staggered on for a bit in the 1980s before imploding. Most likely scenario would be Plant leaving, or taking a long hiatus and doing some other stuff. Not necessarily because he really wanted a solo career, but because he was sick of the drug addictions and all the baggage and bad memories that came with Zep, i.e. his son. Sometimes you have to move on.

First night at Knebworth was pretty damn good. Not Zeppelin's style, but I imagine there must be rehearsal footage filmed at Bray Studios and at the site which could be released as well. I doubt the TV International company just rocked up on the day and filmed without a lot of planning, as the footage was originally planned to be released in a TV special. Whether that footage still exists or not is another matter. Just another potential pro-shot video to add to the list of Zeppelin folklore...

Yeah, I get all that - it's his beef with Grant and Page I don't fully understand.

Am I missing something? I thought each member was taxed on their individual earnings, so Plant ultimately had the choice to stay or leave the UK. Was he under pressure from Page and Grant to join the band in Malibu and work on new material? And if he was away from home anyway, would it not be better to keep busy with an album rather than have more spare time to mope around and miss his family? I get why Plant is frustrated with his injury and the exile bit, but not why he was fuming at Page and Grant.

Here's hoping Page has one last hurrah up his sleeve for the 50th anniversary. A bumper archive live release would be sweet.

I have to agree with you there. The 50th anniversary of their formation is coming up next year, so hopefully we might get some surprise releases then.

Not to be depressing, but are we in the Zeppelin end-game? Page is virtually retired and has released the vast bulk of the archive material (well, what he deems useable anyway). Plant is coming up for 70. JPJs is in his 70s. Another reunion is highly unlikely. What's the best we can hope for now ? I think most of the excitement will now come from soundboard releases. For me, the holy grail would be some pro video footage we have not seen before or a soundboard of a great performance (77 LA run for instance).

Because they couldn't agree on a format for the new project without Plant.

A lot of people on this thread surmising that Jimmy is creatively dead because he hasn't released anything new. The bottom line is we don't know the quality of the demos he's done or what the new material "Zep" come up with after the O2 was like. There's a difference between not being able to find the right vehicle to express himself and being creatively dead. As for JPJ and Plant, they are enjoying an Indian summer of creativity. Plant's stock has never been higher and JPJ, as always, is doing a diverse range of projects.

It amounted to nothing in the sense that they could't decide on a way forward without Plant, but artistically it could have been sensational. We don't know, unless you have heard tapes of the the new material they were working on? All I know is that Tyler complained there was no "hits" in the songs they were working on, suggesting the material wasn't verse-chorus fodder, which to me is actually a good thing.

Page had a dig at Jones in his "On this day" section on his website, when he talked about their Wembley cameo at the Foos' gig. Next thing I heard Jones had formed the Crooked Vultures with Grohl. I'm paraphrasing but that was more or less the quote. So according to Page, he was bypassed. Maybe it was a bit of revenge from Jones after they forgot his phone number for the P/P reunion.

Have to agree with a lot of this. Love Closer and Cadillac live, but a love of the other stuff is just stodgy and quite dull. YLTLF had to be a Rodgers choice. The arrangement is a dirge and playing this in the mid 80s was just pointless. One thing that struck me from listening to the Firm live soundboards - there's not much variation and it's the same sound for the whole concert. I do love Page's innovative new style on the b string bender and his Boss Chorus, but it needed a bit of mixing up. In short, Rodgers was the wrong musical partner in crime.

Nice wee soundboard from Edinburger:

Why would you read something 100 times if you think it's so bad?

I think Page could have played Miles fusion stuff no bother. Davis fusion tended to be a modal vamp where he would play a chord and they would jam on that for like ten minutes; then he would hit a sus chord and they would go off again. It's not like bebop or Coltrane's Giant Steps where there hurtling through chords every two seconds. Ironically, the white Bill Evans (piano) was probably one of the best musicians Davis ever played with and influenced him greatly with his classical approach to jazz and his use of fourths.

I would have loved to seen a collaboration between Page and Miles Davis in the early 80s. Imagine a dark soundtrack with Page on the synth guitar, a la DW2, and Davis playing muted atmospheric phrases in the background. Davis had lost his lung power by the early 80s, but I think it could have been really interesting, with both channelling their dark side. Does anyone know if Miles Davis and members of Zeppelin ever crossed paths? Or what he thought of them? I'm a big fan of Davis and love his mid-70s fusion stuff, like Dark Magus and Agharta.

I agree that Coverdale is an absolute tosser. He's a caricature of a rock star; whereas Plant was an archetype. But you can't deny that Coverdale got the best playing out of Page in years, and in the early '90s Coverdale's voice was a lot stronger than Plant's.

Interesting. Cheers for that. Hopefully they will see the light of day. I thought the band was really good and would like to hear some rehearsal stuff stripped of all the Wagner production. Demand for a reissue must be quite low though, and we've just passed the 25 anniversary of its release... I imagine Page, not EMI/Geffen, would own the stuff recorded at the Miami session?

The name of the track refers to when Bonham was in a spa with a rack of BBQ ribs, a bunch of "carrots" and some LA groupies in 1973. Only jesting, don't have a Scooby Doo. Someone could have asked Jimmy at the Q&A for this album, but he would have probably just completely avoided the question and gave a vague rambling answer revealing nothing. Frustrating, because it's the most interesting track on the whole bonus disc malarky.

When you get to the level of the Who and Zeppelin, and other classic rock bands like Floyd and The Doors, you are talking about personal taste. They are all top notch bands and it comes down to what type of style of music you like. Each has their own strengths and foibles. Depending on what mood I'm in, I'll listen to one or the other. I think the same rule of thumb can be applied to live performances as well. Although, you can argue some bands are more consistent on-stage than others.

Page really found his muse again on this one. The guitar army was well and truly back. In terms of just guitar playing, CP and DW 2 are my post-Zep faves.

lol. Especially if he piles on the weight when he gets older!

I'll bring the mud shark and will be wearing Jonesy's jacket with the Spanish onions on it. Then I'll photocopy my butt and file a law suit against the Nakatomi Corporation. yippee ki yay mother...

LOL. Say what you like about Jimmy, but he's never bowed to the commercial trends of the time and has just played what he thought was good music. I read one report that Steven Tyler, at the post-O2 rehearsals, said there were no "hits" with verse/choruses. In some regards, Coverdale/Page was the nearest he came to being commercial.

Page should have just bought a Freddie Kruger top, ripped holes in his jeans, and bought a Fender Jaguar