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Jimmy Page talks to Rollingstone about Post-O2 Plans


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Posted

Baffles me how Robert could chose anything over playing with Page again. Unless he just thought it was going to be percieved as what the Rolling Stones have done? The Stones still selll out. And always would. But we know the quality is not anything like it was. I think Led Zeppelin would be far better now as they were far better then. I know its comparing apples to oranges. I really wish Robert had done things differently. I was all for another tour, and I was lucky enough to have seen them in their prime.

Posted

I have always been dumbfounded about their "post O2 plans" and their lack of communication with each other. Why didn't any of them mention playing more shows after the O2 gig during the rehearsals? Or did they? They spent a lot of time together getting ready. Why didn't anyone ask what Robert was doing after the concert? Did he not ever talk about his project with Allison Krauss? Or were they running on an assumption that everyone in the band, including Robert, was available after the tribute? As far as I know they were rehearsing for ONE show, a tribute for a beloved friend, and nothing else. Whatever assumptions that were made regarding plans outside of that show were made by the other three and is not the fault of Plant. Am I correct?

Posted

I have always been dumbfounded about their "post O2 plans" and their lack of communication with each other. Why didn't any of them mention playing more shows after the O2 gig during the rehearsals? Or did they? They spent a lot of time together getting ready. Why didn't anyone ask what Robert was doing after the concert? Did he not ever talk about his project with Allison Krauss? Or were they running on an assumption that everyone in the band, including Robert, was available after the tribute? As far as I know they were rehearsing for ONE show, a tribute for a beloved friend, and nothing else. Whatever assumptions that were made regarding plans outside of that show were made by the other three and is not the fault of Plant. Am I correct?

Here's the logic I think page was operating on: OK we got Robert to agree to one show, don't talk about the future just keep focused on making this show as good as is humanly possible, give Robert as good of an experience as possible and get him excited about maybe taking this out for a spin even though Robert's always been clear that it's one show and one show only. I think Page honestly thought that after the show was such a success and they were so good, that Robert would be amped up and excited enough to bring it out on the road, maybe not for a 30 show world tour, but at least for a few performances in major cities worldwide. After the Plant/Krauss collabo started garnering huge praise, Plant likely encourage to explore this new avenue instead of going back with Led Zeppelin.

The sad thing is that the other three couldn't carry on with another lead singer. Go out, don't call it Led Zeppelin, before you do it have a heart to heart with Robert and say hey we all love playing together, if you don't want to do it, the door is still always working to collaborate, but we want to go out there, record a new record and tour and play a mix of led zeppelin and new songs and maybe solo songs from our respective careers. It's sad, that just the specter of it being "Led Zeppelin" sort of got in the way, go old school supergroup, call it Page, Jones, Bonham, Kennedy or something or come up with a name that has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin and go out there and have some fun. That would be ideal, and it seems when it didn't work out, Jonesy took his shot to go out on the road in a similar fashion with Them Crooked Vultures, too bad he couldn't get something out with Page and lil bonzo involved.

Posted

its all very surprising from watching the movie how quickly plant became the ol plant again, he seemed to be having as good a time as the rest of the boys, whats your trip man?

Posted

Yes

...and

Two things:

1. When you are in a band, each member is limited to the sound and direction exclusively of the band. Robert has been anti "being boxed in."

2. Expectations are unmanageable past a certain point and take on a life of their own. The weight on being the frontman and the comparatives are unfathomable unless you are Robert Plant.

The weight and prospect of conquering it can squash your joy and be a bain.

From what I see, Robert was more ready for the O2 than he thought he was, Robert is more capable than he thinks he is. He has yet to realize that what/where he was in a "Prime" is no different that where he is now in this "Prime." Dude is badass and can bring it. It's not so much that he is #1 its the fact of such a distance between he and whomever is #2. He has stage moxy like no one before or after.

No one is more clear on what Led Zeppelin is than the three. They are missing their drummer and out of respect choose to not continue as though their drummer is replaceable.

Now this being said- if the timing and cause is right, no question they will perform as Led Zeppelin. I have always thought that the next Led Zeppelin studio release will be a LZIII type. Plant's heart is here and the emphasis is on the joy rather than the hype and the show.

Most rock stars get off on the hype and the show- not the substance, hand it to Plant for being honorable. The O2 was joy for them on many levels. To gin that up over a set of tour dates unless the entire tour is a Tribute to Ahmet tour.... I don't think anyone could get there.

Demand unprecedented...

Posted (edited)

Personally, I'm glad Page let sleeping dogs lie - so to speak.

Not having Robert there - even if they did manage to get another singer and rename it as something else - would have been unfulfilling deep down inside.

When he keeps talking about the chemistry that was conjured up during the O2 performance, anything else after that would fall short (and I'm probably betting Page will get tired of it pretty quick and want to move on or hang it up eventually)

I mean, is anyone else not thinking that Plant himself was having a hard time with his decisions??? The guy must have been under so much pressure from both sides; torn between going back with the guys and dealing with Alison and his new future? If you were in his shoes, what decision would you have made?

This RS article does nothing more than bring up the old feelings of 'bitterness' with some fans about Robert selling out or being a party pooper, and I don't think it's fair. The O2 was what it was. A night of great music and celebration and a fitting way for them to sign off.

Edited by Percys_Plant
Posted

No one is more clear on what Led Zeppelin is than the three. They are missing their drummer and out of respect choose to not continue as though their drummer is replaceable.

True, but that was all agreed the week or so after Johns passing, i think that's all due to the 5th element within the group and that's based on the improv jams and writing, yeah no one could do it apart from those four, but after 30 years and basically a greatest hits show, you could easily rely on Jason to do the business

Posted

I for one am glad Myles Kennedy won't be signing beside Page/Jones/Jason... Ever. Thank God that dog wouldn't hunt! (I can't stand the sounds that come out of his gaping pie hole.)

Posted

I don't think anyone's suggesting a big long worldwide tour, at least I hope that Page never entertained that thought because there's no way you could have ever gotten Plant to agree to it, but it would not have been unreasonable if him and the boys had positioned it properly to Robert to do say 1 show in London, one in mainland Europe, 1 in the US, 1 in Asia, 1 in Australia, sort of doing 1 show per continent and making each one its own event. Clearly, even the O2 wasn't meant to be a strictly "greatest hits" show because, look at it, they still played some very obscure stuff like For Your Life for the first time ever, not to mention all the other deep cuts like IMTOD and Misty Mountain Hop.

As for new music, that was never possible with Plant and this group. I think the only reason he did the Page/Plant new material in the 90s was because it was only him and page and if jonesy had been there, then it would start to feel like "Led Zeppelin" and take on this big life of its own which it did anyways as they basically toured playing zeppelin songs old school zeppelin style with a few new numbers sprinkled in.

All I'm saying is this version of the band had an opportunity to move forward and do something vital and different from what they had in the past. Sure the songs are 30-40 years old, but they didn't try to play them like they did when they were young, they played them like they do at their current age, which is just a different flavor from what we've seen before.

Posted

This article serves no purpose other than to get people angry at Plant all over again. He did a great job at the 02, better than most expected I think, but his heart was not in doing a tour at Led Zeppelin again. Regardless of how magical that night was, if he didn't want to do a tour, it wasn't going to happen or was going to be an extremely sub-par situation. I'm sorry that the others were disappointed but this is a conversation for them to have together, not something that needs to be dredged up again and again and again. Robert already had other things going on in his career at the time of the 02 concert and if the other guys weren't aware of those plans, there obviously was already a problem in communication going on. I'm glad we got the concert and I'm glad that Celebration Day has come out for everyone to enjoy, but I hate that we are going to be entering back into "Robert screwed everything up" land

Posted

What is always forgotten was the original reason for the O2 concert: a tribute to Ahmet Ertegun( I am sorry if I misspelled) and not strictly a Zeppelin reunion. To bitch about it not going forward into further shows lays at the feet of Page, not Plant. Plant fulfilled his commitment and moved on to his other career. It is like a divorced couple who get back together for their child's wedding and one is disappointed that the other one didn't want to get back into a romantic relationship, based on getting along so well for their child on their wedding day.

Posted

A massive world tour was always very unlikely. BUT I will say this. Plant himself stated that, and I quote "Hopefully, one day, we could do it again. Our profit is - it's metaphysical." (May 2008). He also stated and I'm paraphrasing, "It would be a good idea to do a FEW more one offs". Again thats paraphrased but you get the point.

These are the kind of statements that piss fans off and make Plant an easy target for their ire. I dont know if its a tease, a game, or he really felt that way at the time but then abruptly changed his mind? Very fickle. Best not to say anything about it. Either do something or dont, get off the maybe. People dont like maybe's.

Either way we have a fantastic visual/audio recording of that amazing preformance at the O2 to replay over and over again! And It seems 2013 we'll be getting new solo material from both Page and Plant and maybe Jones and Jason as well. Not to shabby IMO.

Posted

Baffles me how Robert could chose anything over playing with Page again. Unless he just thought it was going to be percieved as what the Rolling Stones have done? The Stones still selll out. And always would. But we know the quality is not anything like it was. I think Led Zeppelin would be far better now as they were far better then. I know its comparing apples to oranges. I really wish Robert had done things differently. I was all for another tour, and I was lucky enough to have seen them in their prime.

RP made it clear months before the gig that as far as he was concerned it was a one-off. Presumably the rest of the band were aware of his stance too...

Posted

I think the thing that rankles (me anyway) is that for some reason it's ok for Robert to play and sing Led Zeppelin songs with Alison Krauss, Buddy Miller, etc. in re-arranged versions; but when it comes to doing it with his original band mates, that's off. It makes no sense. I agree with “kenticus” above that a world tour should never have been in the cards, as that would have been going too far. The mystique of the band is in no small part due to its practical non-existence over the past 30 years. But it would have been very nice for the band to have played a few shows in some of the cities that obviously have historical clout for the band: Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo....or maybe do one-off shows every now and then. In either case, Robert could have gotten the monkey off his back - he could go out and do his thing with Alison or Band of Joy (all great stuff) or whomever and leave the Led Zeppelin stuff to....Led Zeppelin.

I understand the band had a contentious relationship with the press when they ruled the world; but I think the press was right to push this issue at the press conferences. If you're putting yourself out there to the media, then you're fair game for whatever they want to ask...and for what their readers want to hear. I have found Robert's replies to questions about whether the band would re-unite really irritating. Why not just come out and say “This was my youth, it was wonderful to re-visit it, but I'm done”.

I don't know that we'll ever get the whole story, but the one I always felt badly for was JPJ. You think he was happy when Page/Plant were out doing their thing in the mid-90's? Of course he wanted to play with them...and in the end he was able to do it properly just once...in 2007.

Posted (edited)

Surely RP has every right to play his songs however and with whoever he wants...?

Absolutely! He doesn't owe us anything! But at least stand up and tell us that Zeppelin is no more, that was it, I've moved on to other things.

He has never done that...and has left all of us hoping that maybe the band would re-unite once more...

Tired of checking "Robert Plant" in google news every other day for the past five years to see if he has changed his mind! Either s@&t of get off the pot!

Edited by MoscowBill
Posted

I don't think I've ever really read anything by RP other than related to specific events like the O2 in which he indicates any willingness or desire to reunite Zeppelin. That doesn't mean he's not proud of his past work, and there's no reason not to include it in his own shows. The same argument applies to any musician that plays material from their previous bands. To suggest he should reunite Zeppelin or not play the songs is extraordinarily petty.

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