Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes

[John M]

Oct 16, 1999 Worcester, MA.  I was there.  Joe Perry came on stage for "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac.  Fantastic show.  What a set list (from Jimmy's website today).  Video below set list.

Celebration Day
Custard Pie
Sick Again
No Speak No Slave
What Is and What Should Never Be
Hard to Handle
Mellow Down Easy
Ten Years Gone
In My Time of Dying
Your Time Is Gonna Come
Remedy
The Lemon Song
Shake Your Money Maker
Shapes of Things
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Heartbreaker

Encore

Hey Hey What Can I Do
Out on the Tiles > Whole Lotta Love
You Shook Me
Oh Well

   

 

[Darth Hoek]

I was at the Worcester show as well John M. what an amazing show! The Centrum is a bit smaller of a venue so the view was pretty great from the balcony where I was seated. 

Favorite songs for me at this show were ten years gone and shapes of things. I remember I thought it funny that the first run of these shows were in LA, New York, and Worcester of all places before they announced the larger tour...I was glad they came here but why not Boston? 

I also was at the Great Woods show later that following summer; the one where the who was playing back to back nights...was very good, but not as good as the Worcester show.

[John M]

1 hour ago, Darth Hoek said:

I also was at the Great Woods show later that following summer; the one where the who was playing back to back nights...was very good, but not as good as the Worcester show.

I was at the Great Woods show too.   I don't remember which show was better - they were both great shows.

[kirchzep27]

I was at 2 of the 3 shows at roseland, same setlist i think, a well rehearsed setlist for a fans dream....as far as led zeppelin setlists went. Never thought those would be the last Page shows. 

Crazy

[Walter]

Was watching the Jones Beach show last night. So good! 

[Darth Hoek]

I think I thought Worcester seemed better since I was seated on the lawn at the great woods show and the sound usually is pretty piss poor there; even now that it is the Comcast Xfinity Center.  I remember seeing Phish there two years ago or three years ago and the sound cut out for most of the show on the lawn and it was really bad overall.  Additionally, I also really like some of the dive bars in Worcester, so maybe I was a bit biased. 

For the Crowes and Page, the performance prob was better at Great Woods given the amount of time they had been playing together at that point.  I'm a bit fuzzy on it I suppose from having too much fun tailgating before the show.  I need to look up the Great Woods Show Setlist now....

Edited October 20, 2018 by Darth Hoek

[John M]

The other show I saw on that tour was Camden, NJ July 8, 2000.  Another fantastic show.   Horsehead and No Speak No Slave were killer !!  Too bad they never did My Morning Song together.  One of the Crowes best tracks and it would have suited Jimmy well. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by John M

[luvlz2]

Listened to this for the first time last night and I'm really happy I did as I love these rehearsal recordings.

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by luvlz2

[jmorton]

Steve Gorman has his book about the Crowes coming out in September. One of the things he always drops hints about in interviews is the "whole story" about the Page and Crowes 2000 tour. I know Gorman holds Page in extremely high regard and you can argue that (considering the short amount of time they played together) Gorman clicked with Page better than most drummers post Bonzo. I'd be interested to hear what happened from Gorman's perspective.

Jimmy injured his back in Albuquerque or Phoenix or something, I believe, but it always perplexed me why they didn't just reschedule. I'm sure the tour was a moneymaker considering how they were touring with The Who and saved money on equipment/stage set up and whatnot. It will be interesting to read. I'm going to assume it would be "Page drinking and Robinson brothers fighting" or something like that. lol. Who knows.

Also check out The Magpie Salute (featuring Rich Robinson and Marc Ford) and Trigger hippy (Steve Gorman's band). Both are releasing great music.

https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Handle-Death-Crowes-Memoir-ebook/dp/B07MLRFLBC

Edited July 30, 2019 by jmorton

[reids]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:40 PM, jmorton said:

Jimmy injured his back in Albuquerque or Phoenix or something, I believe, but it always perplexed me why they didn't just reschedule

Yes. This was frustrating, as I bought front row tickets at a Publix (grocery store / Ticketmaster ) in Atlanta 2000 only for them to not reschedule (cancelled date) due to JP’s injury. 😞

R😎

Edited August 3, 2019 by reids

[SteveAJones]

On ‎7‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 5:40 AM, jmorton said:

Jimmy injured his back in Albuquerque or Phoenix or something, I believe, but it always perplexed me why they didn't just reschedule. I'm sure the tour was a moneymaker considering how they were touring with The Who and saved money on equipment/stage set up and whatnot. It will be interesting to read. I'm going to assume it would be "Page drinking and Robinson brothers fighting" or something like that. lol. Who knows.

I know I have addressed this privately from time to time, but if I haven't posted it here...

Jimmy injured his back on the day off in Los Angeles after Albuquerque. He pressed on with their television performance in Burbank the following afternoon and then the decision was made to postpone and ultimately cancel all remaining dates. The reason why they didn't "just reschedule" is two fold. First, they would no longer have had the touring arrangement they had in place with The Who. Secondly, one of the conditions of the insurance underwriter's settlement of the claim was that Jimmy Page could not perform in public for at least six months. In point of fact, when he and his wife went to Fort Lauderdale at the end of the year he was still receiving physical therapy for his injured back. Consequently, all of the European dates for Nov/Dec were also cancelled.

That's the long and short of it. They had just come out of a mid-tour break of several weeks. If there was any fighting or what not the break would have been the time to pull the plug, not after traveling all the way from England to the west coast.

 

[jmorton]

On 8/4/2019 at 7:21 AM, SteveAJones said:

I know I have addressed this privately from time to time, but if I haven't posted it here...

Jimmy injured his back on the day off in Los Angeles after Albuquerque. He pressed on with their television performance in Burbank the following afternoon and then the decision was made to postpone and ultimately cancel all remaining dates. The reason why they didn't "just reschedule" is two fold. First, they would no longer have had the touring arrangement they had in place with The Who. Secondly, one of the conditions of the insurance underwriter's settlement of the claim was that Jimmy Page could not perform in public for at least six months. In point of fact, when he and his wife went to Fort Lauderdale at the end of the year he was still receiving physical therapy for his injured back. Consequently, all of the European dates for Nov/Dec were also cancelled.

That's the long and short of it. They had just come out of a mid-tour break of several weeks. If there was any fighting or what not the break would have been the time to pull the plug, not after traveling all the way from England to the west coast.

 

Will be interesting to see what Gorman says in his book. He said on Dean Delray's podcast a few years ago that Page offered to produce the next Crowes album but Rich Robinson declined. Then they ended up with Don Was. It's intriguing considering how Page-influenced their album "Lions" is. Particularly Cypress Tree which you can hear Rich playing in the soundcheck video on youtube.

You could tell Gorman loved playing with Page. He definitely is a Page-type drummer.

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by jmorton
Wrong podcast.

[SteveAJones]

12 hours ago, jmorton said:

Will be interesting to see what Gorman says in his book. He said on Dean Delray's podcast a few years ago that Page offered to produce the next Crowes album but Rich Robinson declined. Then they ended up with Don Was. It's intriguing considering how Page-influenced their album "Lions" is. Particularly Cypress Tree which you can hear Rich playing in the soundcheck video on youtube.

You could tell Gorman loved playing with Page. He definitely is a Page-type drummer.

I can see why Rich Robinson would decline, and that is because the ZoCrowes collaboration was a marriage of convenience. TBC had been dropped by their label and needed a showcase to get signed by another. Teaming with Jimmy accomplished that. However, to remain directly associated with him they'd run the risk of being perceived as Jimmy's hobby band. Bringing in Don Was to produce the next record affirms they and their new label were seeking nothing less than mainstream commercial success again and they wanted it as quickly as possible. 

[bluecongo]

Well Rich Robinson is an idiot because that would’ve been the first and only time Page used his Production abilities on any act he wasn’t a part of.  

 

[SteveZ98]

I've been on a Page \ Crowes kick since I came across this thread a couple of weeks ago. I saw them three times (Worcester, Mansfield, and Camden.) I didn't realize until recently there is a soundboard of the Worcester show. I remastered it and then used it to replace the soundtrack of the audience video. Here's a brief sample. If anyone wants the full show, send me a message:

 

[Xolo1974]

5 hours ago, SteveZ98 said:

I've been on a Page \ Crowes kick since I came across this thread a couple of weeks ago. I saw them three times (Worcester, Mansfield, and Camden.) I didn't realize until recently there is a soundboard of the Worcester show. I remastered it and then used it to replace the soundtrack of the audience video. Here's a brief sample. If anyone wants the full show, send me a message:

 

Hi mate, if I could have separate links to both the video and audio files that would be terrific. Cheers bud 

[EaglesOfOneNest]

I like the Page / Crows stuff musically - all the guitars available on stage (versus just Jimmy having to record the different guitar parts himself in the studio) creates a fantastic sound! However, while I like Chris Robinson's lyrics on Black Crows songs, he doesn't do the Zep stuff justice. You can't just stick any singer in there. Example, I think Ann Wilson is able to cover Zep fantastically, but I've heard her cover Who songs and it's terrible. Eddie Vedder can cover Who songs brilliantly though. I'm not a singer myself, but there must be something with pitch / timber / face shape, etc. 

[Xolo1974]

9 hours ago, EaglesOfOneNest said:

However, while I like Chris Robinson's lyrics on Black Crows songs, he doesn't do the Zep stuff justice.

Yep, completely agree. Musically, the versions of TYG and In the Light were absolute perfection. But his voice just doesn’t work. 

[EaglesOfOneNest]

On 9/10/2019 at 8:47 PM, Xolo1974 said:

Yep, completely agree. Musically, the versions of TYG and In the Light were absolute perfection. But his voice just doesn’t work. 

A million times yes! TYG is my absolute favorite Zep song and it's not one they did live very often (or very well - see above, re: all of the guitars). I was SO EXCITED to hear the Crows with Page play it and then Chris Robinson opened his mouth! 

[Xolo1974]

6 hours ago, EaglesOfOneNest said:

A million times yes! TYG is my absolute favorite Zep song and it's not one they did live very often (or very well - see above, re: all of the guitars). I was SO EXCITED to hear the Crows with Page play it and then Chris Robinson opened his mouth! 

TYG is Zep’s masterpiece in my opinion.  My favourite song ever. Period. The missus knows that when I cark it, it’s getting played at my funeral 😀

[EaglesOfOneNest]

16 hours ago, Xolo1974 said:

TYG is Zep’s masterpiece in my opinion.  My favourite song ever. Period. The missus knows that when I cark it, it’s getting played at my funeral 😀

HAHAH, me too!! 

[jmorton]

Not sure if anyone has got a chance to read Steve Gorman's book that just came out but the chapter on Jimmy Page is pretty amazing. Aside from Gorman describing Page as a great guy who he even took a nap next to there is a fairly explosive revelation that Rich Robinson told Page "We have enough songs" when he offered to work with them during the 2000 tour. Gorman alleges that Jimmy treated his back enough to continue with the tour, even though he was in pain, but "lost heart" after that conversation with Rich Robinson and Gorman seems to think that was a big reason Page abandoned the 2000 tour.

It's a fascinating passage that I don't want to spoil for everyone. Gives insight into what was going on during 99-00 aka: the last time Jimmy Page toured.

[bluecongo]

Yep it’s a bombshell folks need to check it out 

[jmorton]

2 hours ago, bluecongo said:

Yep it’s a bombshell folks need to check it out 

I suspected there was more to Page leaving the Page/Crowes tour in 2000 but if what Gorman says is true I suppose Jimmy really wanted to make music with the Crowes and when Rich Robinson rejected the idea of making an album he decided that he wouldn't fight through the back pain to finish the tour.

Also it didn't take long for Chris Robinson to start griping about the tour in 2000. (the book REALLY levels Chris Robinson in a way that few biographies have done to other artists. It's a sight to behold)

Gorman also flew into a rage when he found out (from Jimmy) what Rich had said and the next few pages are filled with more swear words than I've ever read in one place. Like I said the whole chapter is a sight to behold. Actually Jimmy comes across REALLY well. Genuinely excited and happy to be with the Crowes and even made jackets for everyone. He said that when he saw Jimmy again in 2002, by then, Jimmy had stopped drinking and "looked younger" than he did when he was touring with the Crowes two years before.

[SteveAJones]

On 9/29/2019 at 1:50 AM, jmorton said:

I suspected there was more to Page leaving the Page/Crowes tour in 2000 but if what Gorman says is true I suppose Jimmy really wanted to make music with the Crowes and when Rich Robinson rejected the idea of making an album he decided that he wouldn't fight through the back pain to finish the tour.

Also it didn't take long for Chris Robinson to start griping about the tour in 2000. (the book REALLY levels Chris Robinson in a way that few biographies have done to other artists. It's a sight to behold)

Gorman also flew into a rage when he found out (from Jimmy) what Rich had said and the next few pages are filled with more swear words than I've ever read in one place. Like I said the whole chapter is a sight to behold. Actually Jimmy comes across REALLY well. Genuinely excited and happy to be with the Crowes and even made jackets for everyone. He said that when he saw Jimmy again in 2002, by then, Jimmy had stopped drinking and "looked younger" than he did when he was touring with the Crowes two years before.

I take the alleged conversation with Chris Robinson with a grain of salt. If true, Page would NOT come across really well for me at all, rather a man who acted like a petulant child. 

 

Edited September 29, 2019 by SteveAJones