There was a lot of fanfare and excitement when Led Zeppelin reunited in 2007 with drummer Jason Bonham filling in for his late father behind the kit. The band's one-off show generated the Celebration Day live album and DVD, but no additional dates. Though there have been some overtures to do more, it looks like we may have seen the last of Led Zeppelin playing live.
Guitarist Jimmy Page has expressed his desire to play some more Zeppelin shows in the past, but it appears as though he too has decided the opportunity has passed. Speaking with the Daily Beast, Page stated, "We tried it a few times. It always seemed to be done in a hurry and it never worked. That's why the O2 show was done with such intent. We rehearsed loads so that Jason - John's son - felt like he was part of the band and not just some novelty. We all needed it to be that way. But I can't foresee doing it again, because we all have to agree and agree for the right reasons."
Page says in the aftermath of Bonham's death, part of the reason the band didn't continue was knowing that the magic of what the four musicians created together would be hard to replicate with someone new added to the mix. He adds, "It was a blend of these four master musicians, and each of us were important to the sum total of what the band was. I like to think that if it had been me that wasn't there, the others would have made the same decision not to carry on. Besides, we couldn't just get somebody in there and say, 'Do this, this way?' That wouldn't have been honest or of the same creative nature that we had always striven for. And it's why we still have only done it properly once."
Even though there haven't been shows, a wealth of Led Zeppelin remastered releases have arrived over the past couple of years. The guitarist, who has taken an active role in the remastered offerings, stated, "When the last batch of remasters comes out, I'll be able to exhale and think about doing something new. I'll be able to think about the guitar, and recording new music - because I've already gotten music written - and I'm really looking forward to that and really focusing on it."
Jimmy Page, the guitarist of the legendary British rock band Led Zeppelin, on Thursday visited Hiroshima and laid flowers for the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city 70 years ago.
He placed the flowers at the cenotaph in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and bowed his head.
“The whole world has been under the shadow of the bomb. I know that all of us pray for peace,” Page told reporters.
He later visited the Atomic Bomb Dome, which survived the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II.
He met with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui at City Hall.
Matsui asked Page to spread the message inscribed on the cenotaph all over the world, and that this is the wish of the hibakusha. The message reads, “Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil.”
Page replied that people who live now should make efforts to maintain peace while taking into account the feelings of the atomic bomb victims and survivors.
It was Page’s second visit to Hiroshima. His first visit was in 1971, during which he and other Led Zeppelin members visited City Hall and donated ¥7 million in revenue from their concert in Hiroshima to support hibakusha.
Last night, at the Paléo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland, Robert Plant had a guest dancer during Little Maggie. During the keyboard outro, singer Joan Baez came up on on stage and joined Plant for a few spins around stage. Baez had completed a set on the same stage earlier in the evening.
Plant's next performance is on July 27 in Lyon, France, at Theatre Romains de Fourviere. Baez's next performance is also July 27 at the Castle Amphitheatre in Wiltz, Luzembourg.
Some Led Zeppelin fans might say that there is no bad Led Zeppelin songs, making this list void, however for the sake of argument, New York magazine writer Bill Wyman has compiled a list of all 74 of Led Zeppelin's songs, from worst to best.
Whether you list Wyman's reasoning or not for his rankings is subjective. What Zeppelin means to you is most important.
Although Led Zeppelin already released an alternate, darker-hued mix of "When the Levee Breaks" when they reissued their monumental fourth album last year, they've been holding onto a different rough mix. "If It Keeps On Raining" will appear on one of the companion discs to the upcoming remastered deluxe reissue of Coda, due out July 31st.
Three minutes shorter than the official version, the rough mix begins with a surprisingly upbeat R&B-style bass line and finds Robert Plant singing a slightly different vocal line. Also, Jimmy Page's guitar line lacks the monumental heft of the more familiar version and, similarly, this version does not play up John Bonham's earth-shaking bass drums the way it eventually would (the Coda companion disc makes up for that, though, by putting a different mix of "Bonzo's Montreux" immediately after). As an alternate version, it makes for a bluesier, more pensive interpretation of the track that the band developed from Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie's 1929 country-blues Mississippi flood tune.
"The fourth album was a commitment," Page recalled in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, about the record that eventually called "Levee" home. "We were living in a house with a recording truck, eating and sleeping music together. We could push everything we were doing, to the point of total extremes like 'When the Levee Breaks.' It's so dense and dark – there isn't a color to describe it. It's not black. It's darker than that." He laughed.
The track is one of many outtakes from the group's career that appear on the upcoming deluxe edition of Coda's two companion discs. Another notable tune that will appear as a bonus track is "Sugar Mama," a bluesy rave-up the group wrote and recorded for inclusion on its 1969 debut Led Zeppelin.
Along with Coda, Led Zeppelin are reissuing their last two studio records: 1976's Presence and 1979's In Through the Out Door. The companion disc to Presence includes reference mixes of several songs on the LP, including "Hots On for Nowhere" and a previously unreleased, oddly named instrumental "10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod)." In Through the Out Door's companion disc contains rough mixes of every song on the record, including a raw-sounding version of "In the Evening."
As with the previous reissues, Page personally supervised remastering each of the records. Additionally, all three will be available in a variety of formats, from basic versions without the companion discs, to a super deluxe edition containing CDs, vinyl and digital versions of everything, along with a hardbound book and print of the album art.
Novel gifts for the consummate Led Zeppelin fan, as well as the best selection of quality gifts and accessories for musicians.
This Month in
Led Zeppelin History
December 16, 1968 - Zep plays Bath Pavilion for a mere £75.
December 26, 1968 - First American concert at the Coliseum in Denver, CO
December xx, 1969 - Led Zeppelin are reported to have sold 5 million dollars worth of albums in the US
December 11, 1969 - Led Zeppelin are presented gold and platinum discs for their first two albums
December xx, 1970 - The band enters Island Studios to begin work on the fourth album
December xx, 1971 - The band plays a few low-key shows back in England
December 23, 1972 - The band break for Christmas holiday after a London gig
December xx, 1973 - John Paul Jones works on studio productions for Madeline Bell
December xx, 1973 - Joe Massot films Jimmy Page’s fantasy sequence at Loch Ness
December 19, 1974 - John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page jam with Bad Company at the Rainbow Theater
December 10, 1975 - Led Zeppelin play a 45-minute show with Norman Hale at Behan’s in Jersey
December xx, 1976 - Led Zeppelin rehearses for the 1977 tour
December 25, 1976 - It’s announced that Plant and Bonham will reunite with the Band of Joy for three shows in the new year
December xx, 1977 - The band minus Robert gather to discuss Led Zeppelin’s future plans
December xx, 1978 - The new album is completed quickly at Polar Studios and mixed at Jimmy’s Plumpton Studio
December xx, 1979 - John Bonham considers joining Paul McCartney’s Wings
December 29, 1979 - The band minus Jimmy Page attend the Paul McCartney And Wings Kampuchea befefit show
December 04, 1980 - Led Zeppelin issue the following statement not to carry on as a band: "We wish it to be known, that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the deep sense of harmony felt by ourselves and our manager have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."
