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Did John Paul Jones ever have an 'off' night?


Guest WD52

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There are a number of boots where Page, Plant or Bonham (or sometimes combinations thereof!) have an indifferent night. I can't think of JPJ ever having an off night on any of the live stuff I have. Are there any gigs where he had an 'off' night?

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Good question. Someone else can answer this better than I could, but I want to say
there's a Kashmir from one of the L A forum shows in '77 where Jones muddles up 
something on the keys. Plant has to adlib with some extra  "Ooohs and Ahhs,  hip
shakes and hair flips, while the band sounds like their doing some kind of weird 80's
keyboard dance beat :lol:  for a minute or so, before they get back on track. I'm sure
there could be other times, but it's hard to pick 'em with Jones as he in my opinion
didn't often put himself in a position to fudge up live like say our dear Jimmy.

 

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Hard pushed I 'm inclined to point out some segments of live on Blueberry Hill 1970 show. I think his Farifisa organ solo prior to Thank you sucks big time and his impromtu bass solo during the Communication Breakdown medley is also rather shakey. Somehow  his otherwise unsurpassed solid groove was a tad less spot on during that night. But I'm splitting hairs here...Jonesy was solid During 99,9% of Zep's lifespan.

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Exactly, Kelly Girl.  Yes, listen to some of the No Quarter piano solos.  There are fudged notes, just like Jimmy would on guitar.  JPJ is human after all.  His part just isn't always as obvious as Jimmy or Bonzo.  There are a number of Kashmir's where the band gets lost, whose mix up was it?  Different times, different person....

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I think JPJ's part isn't as obvious as the other two because he stays on it nearly every gig. It would soon become obvious if the bass playing fell away, keyboards went wrong, or any of his multi necked instruments were played badly. He is the heart of the live performances and holds everything together.

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This is pretty interesting because although I don't own 50% of all live shows I do have probably have like 30% and overall

I would say there is no very noticeable consistently bad performance like with Jimmy. As others have posted there

were some Kashmir troubles , and certainly many of the piano/organ solos of 77' and even from much earlier Jones

sometimes went on for far too long(pretty stoned, possibly ??) with ideas and themes or classical nuggets that were 

not always well integrated or evenly executed. But so what, playing with the band he was rock steady and never sounded

like he was punching a clock.

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Walter said:

Some would say he had an off (key) night, every night they performed The Battle of Evermore with him singing. ;) 

Haha  :lol: yes,  or the "off" night/s he chose to wear that ridiculous wig in T S R T S film.
And I think it was an off night when he had the stage gear with what looked like onions on 
the shoulders? :huh: Wasn't it Plant who called them onions?
 

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Technical difficulties that were beyond Jonesy's control aside (malfunctioning Mellotrons, amps, etc) he never really did have an 'off night', certainly not ever to the same degree that Page, Bonham or even Plant would. If anything, JPJ would be having an off night at gigs where the whole band was off- usually as a case of being distracted by rowdy audiences, that kinda thing. Louisville '77 comes to mind as an example of that; off the top of my head Jones gets a little sloppy during "In My Time Of Dying" and loses his place during "No Quarter" when, immediately after the band finishes the "Nutrocker" section he immediately jumps back on the Fender Rhodes and starts in with the main theme for the second verse forgetting Page still had his guitar solo to play :lol: But generally speaking John Paul Jones was -and remains- steady as a fucking rock, which was a particular necessity in Zeppelin's later days, especially in 1980 when JPJ was almost completely carrying the band some nights.

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