Yes, thanks for the info. I don't remember that particular quote, but I do know that Pete T. has said some very critical things about Zeppelin, and so it's not a surprise.

On the '98 gig, I think the tune was HMMT, but I don't think he named the bar.

I'm pretty sure he actually said that at the very end of the night. The crowd went nuts as thousands of people said "Whoo! I'll be there!" Tucson is a hundred miles south of Phoenix, which amounts to a 90-minute drive, and so it's not really unusual for people from Phoenix to see a show in Tucson or the other way around. I also remember that earlier in the show, he rattled off a bunch of AZ city names, along the lines of "Welcome Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix.....anyone from Flagstaff?" And Flagstaff is 140 miles north. So he has some awareness of AZ geography. FWIW, Mesa Amphitheater is in Mesa AZ, several miles east of Tempe. All part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, a big sprawl. On the '98 show (with Page), I remember that he dedicated a tune to a little bar in Carefree, which is at the very north edge of town and probably close to an hour from the concert venue by car.

Here's a shot of me at soundcheck at Glendale Arena, Arizona earlier this year. And then later, I took this shot of my view during the gig:

Just a couple of misc questions about Robert: 1. When The Who did their '89 reunion tour, they did a special televised performance of Tommy with a bunch of other artists sitting in--Billy Idol, Phil Collins, etc. Advertising for the event had also mentioned Robert Plant, but he didn't appear, much to my disappointment. Anyone know why not? 2. When I saw Robert at the Mesa Amphitheater in October 93, at the end of the night, his closing comment was, "I'll see you Tucson in February." But there was no such date. Was there another leg of the tour planned, but then canceled?

Going through my pile of Zep-related interviews going back 20 years, I found an interview with JPJ about the Tempe '77 show. This was in the Phoenix Gazette on December 1, 1994 in support of the Diamanda Galas show. I didn't go to the show--I have no idea why--but I saved several clippings related to it. "I seem to be playing more intensely than I used to play, and faster as well," Jones says over the phone from his motel room in Austin, Texas. He is in the middle of a 16-city tour in support of "Sporting Life," his recorded collaboration with Galas. "I seem to be having a second wind." The last time Jones was in Phoenix, in the late 70s, Led Zeppelin appeared to be out of wind. The concert at Arizona State University Activity Center, one of the last in America for the band, was an event that started late and turned ugly, with the band sounding out of sync and drug-addled guitarist Jimmy page looking worse. When asked about the show, Jones could only groan. "Was it dreadful? Yeah, I remember that," Jones says. "It was a horrible night. Jimmy wasn't, uh . . . well. We started off in half time. I apologize," Jones says. The concert with Galas on Friday night at Gammage Auditorium "won't be like that," he adds. "Everything will be much, much better. "