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The O2 In Retrospect...


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6 minutes ago, Mook said:

I don't see how the O2 gig was a 'balls up', it was meant as a tribute to Ahmet Ertegun & it was a great one which we all now have a visual & audio record of for posterity.

No I though the O2 was spectacular! I was referring to what went off post O2 . 

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The re-release project was ok. Not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

The lack of live releases is starting to grate though. The "I'll be seen playing..." thing is a bit sad, but I don't really care either way.

Come on man, live releases already. None of us is getting any younger you know.

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On November 27, 2018 at 4:38 AM, JTM said:

Absolutely not, DAC is one of LZ's most  iconic numbers whereas ALS is not (imho), it's alright but nowhere near as great as Dazed. 

I liked hearing that 2007 version of dazed and confused alot. Just from reflecting on this show being all electric, we know all zep electric songs are all heavy...so for a show for ahmet ertegun, why not another epic which is heavy and yet bright, just as in the evening would have been and a triumpth kind of feeling to see page, plant and john paul jones. But ultimately i think achilles last stand would have had that bright light effect, like it did in 77 and 80...so thats why it could have been sooo cool. Also could have been switched out for sibly for my 2cents. 

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Well O2 was very good, but the video-audio boot I got way before the Celebration Day release, they are different things. Plants

voice got auto-tune in spots on Celebration Day, and the video and sonic engineering done to enhance the show isn't really 

what was experienced if you were at the show.. But then for quite a time many thought Practically every amazing Page solo

on the TSRTS soundtrack was off the cuff, live without a net. Well, THE GARDEN TAPES will re-educate you.

And considering Post O2, Robert had very good reasons not to launch a Zep tour. But at the same time, I have felt except for a guitarist or two(Steve A. mentioned Buddy Miller, maybe Justin Adams as well) 75% of the time since FON Robert has employed guitarists way below his talent level. Well, Rod Stewar did the same, as did many other vocalists once untethered

of their prime band. And post O2, is it really true that Steven Tyler asked Page if he could bring in his" house" hitmaking team since Tyler heard no hooks in Page's material ? Page probably felt as if the carpet was pulledfrom under his feet,  but I wouldn't

be surprised if just a little later Page was rolling around laughing his head off at this hysterical and preposterous motion by

Tyler. Jimmy is human too,a misstep here or there, but he is a artist with a capital A.

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1 hour ago, Mithril46 said:

 And post O2, is it really true that Steven Tyler asked Page if he could bring in his" house" hitmaking team since Tyler heard no hooks in Page's material ? 

That's a new one on me.I've not read or heard that before.

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8 hours ago, kirchzep27 said:

I liked hearing that 2007 version of dazed and confused alot. Just from reflecting on this show being all electric, we know all zep electric songs are all heavy...so for a show for ahmet ertegun, why not another epic which is heavy and yet bright, just as in the evening would have been and a triumpth kind of feeling to see page, plant and john paul jones. But ultimately i think achilles last stand would have had that bright light effect, like it did in 77 and 80...so thats why it could have been sooo cool. Also could have been switched out for sibly for my 2cents. 

Nope.. Dazed wins hands down. In even think including FYL was a stretch too far. For me LZ were past there best after PG. Presence and ITTOD have their moments but neither go anywhere near earlier stuff imo. Even with PG they are on the slide, PG being my sixth favourite album.

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It is.my opinion and belief that they.multi tracked a rehearsal from the O2 arena on December 9th. We have not seen or heard the 'soundcheck', but some were.able to describe it, as it was open to some ticket holders. I'm up for a third version of this gig. They did a great job of being trippy and bluesy at the same time.

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14 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

And post O2, is it really true that Steven Tyler asked Page if he could bring in his" house" hitmaking team since Tyler heard no hooks in Page's material ? Page probably felt as if the carpet was pulledfrom under his feet,  but I wouldn't

be surprised if just a little later Page was rolling around laughing his head off at this hysterical and preposterous motion by

Tyler. Jimmy is human too,a misstep here or there, but he is a artist with a capital A.

I wonder if Tyler suggesting bringing in Marti Frederiksen brought back Mickie Most / Little Games style flashbacks for Page?! "outside songwriter? bugger off!"

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1 hour ago, 76229 said:

I wonder if Tyler suggesting bringing in Marti Frederiksen brought back Mickie Most / Little Games style flashbacks for Page?! "outside songwriter? bugger off!"

I would guess Desmond Child. If true, dumb move on Steven's part. no offense to Desmond Child either.

You have Jimmy and John Paul Jones there .... and you want to bring in outside writers?  

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Actually the Tyler situation was in the Zep biography books by Barney Hoskins and Mick Wall. Don't think any of them hold a 

candle to previous Zep writers for falsehoods, the Tyler story is likely true. Remember, Aerosmith was cracking at the seams by then, forget even now.

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On December 5, 2018 at 11:52 AM, the chase said:

I would guess Desmond Child. If true, dumb move on Steven's part. no offense to Desmond Child either.

You have Jimmy and John Paul Jones there .... and you want to bring in outside writers?  

Steven Tyler has been relying on "outside writers" for the past 30 years. 

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Personally I'd have to guess that if Steven Tyler tells you there are no hits and you feel confident or passionate in your material, then you're probably on to something really good. Especially if you're John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page.

 

Steven Tyler has transferred his drug addictions to "hit single" addiction and essentially the addiction to constant attention . The last thing you should do as a songwriter is try to make hit singles. That's the complete opposite of what Led Zeppelin did (and many others). You're not going to manifest music that is creative, unique, genuine or soulful by pandering to the mainstream audience or worrying about what others want to hear.

Edited by nemophilist
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I thought the O2 was a solid performance and a good note to end on, if they have to end. These guys are in their 70s now. It's okay to not tour anymore. The show was compact without the long solos, so the mistakes were at a minimum. The feel was good and it made up for their many disastrous mini reunions like Live Aid and Atlantic Records 40th. I think For Your Life was a standout track and I'm happy they decided to play that one. I can't believe it's been 11 years already. I still think of this as their "recent" show.

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You should all seek out the recent King Crimson lineup everybody is either in their 70's or damn close but they play like young men. The performances are incredible and need to be seen and heard to believe. This is the only band with multiple drummers ( 3 ) I have ever heard that uses them to great effect.

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On December 5, 2018 at 4:33 AM, JTM said:

Nope.. Dazed wins hands down. In even think including FYL was a stretch too far. For me LZ were past there best after PG. Presence and ITTOD have their moments but neither go anywhere near earlier stuff imo. Even with PG they are on the slide, PG being my sixth favourite album.

Thats good for you, but i think, achilles last stand and in the evening would have been better than dazed  and sibly

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5 hours ago, kirchzep27 said:

Thats good for you, but i think, achilles last stand and in the evening would have been better than dazed  and sibly

Well I'm happy that we have what we have,  DAC and SIBLY were a must play. 

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On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 1:22 PM, blindwillie127 said:

Steven Tyler has been relying on "outside writers" for the past 30 years. 

I know. It's a shame because there are more than capable writers in Aerosmith.. Besides Steven and Joe.. Brad, Tom and Joey are all under utilized.

If he needs help with Lyrics, that's a different thing.

Edited by the chase
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On 10/4/2018 at 9:05 AM, jsj said:

Page was at his most consistent high quality playing on the 98 tour than any tour since 75. he was good at the O2, certainly good enough to make up for the mishaps of live aid and Atlantic shows, but he was nowhere near as on form as he was in 98

just my opinion obviously

This is not just your opinion. It is fact. Jimmy in 1998 is in no way even comparable to Jimmy at the o2. 

The o2 was very much calculated and planned. His soloing was just good enough to get by (well, for the most part). 

1998 Jimmy was getting back to what he was all about in Zeppelin - those bursts of supreme virtuoso greatness, spontaneously mixed in while he completely holds down the fort. Totally loose and focused. 

The o2 was Jimmy doing what needed to be done to get the point across. But technically on more solo breaks than not, he simply wasn't hitting on what he was trying to do when he wasn't playing it safe. 

And here alone lies the reason I cringe when people today say "they should have one more go at it" or a one-off reunion performance "for the 50th." The o2 was 11 years ago and Page just barely got by. How do you think it would go today?? We would likely be displeased. 

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I think the setlist was well chosen as it included all the essential songs and I wouldn't want to see any of those left out, even the ones that were never played before were picked well and if they would be replaced I would only want them to be replaced by other never before played songs maybe. All the other songs could only be added to the setlist that was played and that would probably make the concert too long atleast for Robert and others would want to do it probably, but maybe wouldn't have the stamina.

As far as the Aerosmith comment goes, it's a bit of an insult to Page. I know a lot of fans don't want to hear that, but Led Zeppelin did have a lot of pop elements to their music, otherwise they wouldn't be that successful, but they were also experimental, artsy and very creative and exoticaly original, while Aerosmith overall are very pop, but especially in the vocal melody and Tyler was probably referring to that. Now either he doesn't understand Zeppelin's magic comes from many angles or he was just being a bit of an asshole towards Plant's melodies.

Edited by SamoKodela
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I read that post again and I realised Tyler was talking about the new material Page had. Now that is a bit different, but it's still strange Tyler would complain if you think Aerosmith doesn't have much going on instrumentally in their hits.

Oh well I guess my first comment isn't that off as there might be a lack of hooks in the old Zep material when compared to Aerosmith, but Zeppelin just did it differently many times.

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On 12/8/2018 at 8:07 PM, Mithril46 said:

Actually the Tyler situation was in the Zep biography books by Barney Hoskins and Mick Wall. Don't think any of them hold a 

candle to previous Zep writers for falsehoods, the Tyler story is likely true. Remember, Aerosmith was cracking at the seams by then, forget even now.

Fair enough.I found this quote;

Quote
Freshly blabbed onto the public record earlier in the month was a story, courtesy of Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, that Page, Jones and Bonham were considering going out with a singer other than Robert Plant, if they had to. Snider named Myles Kennedy, the lead singer of Alter Bridge, saying he was a "kid [who] can sing the s--- out of Zeppelin."
 
Bearing these factors in mind, it was probably acceptable that Steven Tyler thought he was being considered as a Plant replacement in a revamped Led Zeppelin touring lineup. And, if recently disclosed behind-the-scenes tidbits are to be believed, that's what Tyler thought.
 
He expected to be singing more of the same, "Rock and Roll" and "Bring It On Home" and the like. And, for a little while, he apparently got to do that. As reported only this month, Tyler told VH1 Radio Networks:
"I got to sing every song from 'Black Dog' up and down, and I'll never forget it as long as I live."
 
Led Zeppelin biographer Mick Wall reveals, in the 2009 update of "When Giants Walked the Earth," that Tyler was sick and his voice was hoarse on the two days of his rehearsals. Add in Joe Perry's secondhand account that his Aerosmith bandmate apparently couldn't remember many of the words to the Led Zeppelin songs they tried to play, and you get a picture of why Page apparently used the word "shambolic" to describe Tyler's audition.
 
The vibe of the audition only worsened when the idea of new music was proposed, Wall reports. His book, the latest in a long list of Led Zeppelin biographies Page has denounced, says that when Page, Jones and Bonham played some of their new material to him, Tyler announced he wasn't into it. Playing the part of the pessimistic A&R man in Tom Petty's "Into the Great Wide Open," Tyler said he didn't hear a single.
 
Further, he suggested that Page and company would be better off commercially if he could introduce some material he'd been working on with his co-collaborator, Marti Frederiksen. Wall writes:
A well-known gun-for-hire musician, producer and songwriter whose prowess as a hitmaker for rock artists like Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and others has made him a 21st-century music industry star, Frederiksen was not the kind of behind-the-scenes worker-bee likely to appeal to Jimmy Page. As a result, according to one insider who does not wish to be named here, "Jimmy never said a word when Tyler came out with this stuff, just told his staff to get him a plane ticket home. And that was the end of that."
 
Despite the allegedly abrupt ending of their interactions, Tyler's presence in the rehearsal room was quickly blurted to the U.K. Daily Mail tabloid. In an exclusive report, Katie Nicholl characterized the musicians' interactions as "secret rehearsals" and also quoted an unnamed source as informing her:
"Steve was jamming with Zep. That had a great time but Steve kept fluffing his lines. He got quite flustered about it."
 
Only a few days later, Aerosmith's Brad Whitford commented on the news, saying that Page and Tyler primarily "did it for fun." However, Whitford also said there was probably an ulterior motive: Their publicly disclosing Tyler's audition might have been a way to coax Robert Plant back into the fold, Whitford said. His theory certainly jibed with the comments from Dee Snider that Myles Kennedy's presence was a ploy to convince Plant they were serious about touring with or without him.

 

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6 hours ago, zep41 said:

This is not just your opinion. It is fact. Jimmy in 1998 is in no way even comparable to Jimmy at the o2. 

The o2 was very much calculated and planned. His soloing was just good enough to get by (well, for the most part). 

1998 Jimmy was getting back to what he was all about in Zeppelin - those bursts of supreme virtuoso greatness, spontaneously mixed in while he completely holds down the fort. Totally loose and focused. 

The o2 was Jimmy doing what needed to be done to get the point across. But technically on more solo breaks than not, he simply wasn't hitting on what he was trying to do when he wasn't playing it safe. 

And here alone lies the reason I cringe when people today say "they should have one more go at it" or a one-off reunion performance "for the 50th." The o2 was 11 years ago and Page just barely got by. How do you think it would go today?? We would likely be displeased. 

100% agree with this. I didn't see the concert live and I know being there is a whole different thing than watching it in the movie theatre or a DVD but I wasn't blown away. I think you said it well that Page did what needed to, but it was very calculated and didn't let loose. 

It'll never be what we think of Zep because Bonzo isn't there and that band was the success of all four parts. That and the fact that time has moved them on. Jonesy seems happy doing his opera and working with very eclectic bands. Robert is doing his thing and Page is focused on reissues. 

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The thing is if they did reconvene for “One” last gig or even a “Farewell “ tour a few years down the line there would still be people clamoring for more, more, more. This forum would still have notices posted of how it’s not fair ,they owe us one last show and if the Stones can still do it in their ‘90’s why can’t Led Zeppelin.

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