An Interview with Plant / Page / Jones.
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I'm humbled. There are a billion people who'd like a hit at what they'd mo st like to do in life;Something For The Weekend;Music;Interview; Robert Plant
Simon Cosyns
7 December 2007
The Sun
66
ROBERT PLANT has just noticed one of the headlines, "Stairway To Purgatory".
It refers, of course, to Monday's mother of all comeback concerts by Led "Hammer Of The Gods" Zeppelin, but the singer remains in philosophical mood.
"You've got to have the soul to know it doesn't matter what people say -so long as it's good for you to do it," he tells SFTW.
He describes the reunion as a "cathartic experience" and a "one-night stand", which suggests he's planning to lay his Led Zep demons to rest.
You can be sure Stairway To Heaven, their signature song, will get an airing, and don't bet against them roaring into the show with Rock And Roll and its perfect opening lines:
It's been a long time since I rock and rolled, It's been a long time since I did the stroll.
Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back.
The big question is: Will they get it back?
While Plant is aware of a potential critical backlash, he's amazed at the overwhelming public response to the event.
He says: "I'm humbled by the way the people have responded because there's a billion people who'd like a hit at what they'd most like to do in life."
Glory
Since Led Zep split in 1980 after drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham's death, there have been two previous, less than auspicious public returns to the fray.
The first, at Live Aid in 1985, was once described by Plant as a "f***ing atrocity." The second, for Atlantic Records' 40th birthday in 1988, is remembered by him as "foul".
Nineteen years on, they're planning to get it just right at London's O2 Arena with a meticulously rehearsed set that will reflect rather than compete with the band's glory days of the Seventies.
This time, they're paying tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, the visionary Turkish American founder of Atlantic Records who died a year ago aged 83. Plant once referred to him as "a friend and a sidekick, another member of the Zeppelin entourage".
Ahmet heard Led Zeppelin's demo in 1968 and knew the band would be a smash. He promptly gave them a 200,000-dollar deal, the biggest of its kind for a new band.
Plant is now 59, guitarist Jimmy Page, 63, and bassist John Paul Jones, 61 and their hellraising days are long gone.
Fittingly, they will be joined on Monday by Bonham's drummer son Jason, who plays with Foreigner.
In many ways, Plant has least reason to join the tribute. He's just released a stunning collaborative album with bluegrass queen Alison Krauss, Raising Sand, and he's set to begin a world tour with her in the spring.
He admits he'd rather "be in the desert, learning the baritone ukelele" than practically anything.
But two great friends -Ahmet and Jason -prompted his decision. He says: "I got very close to Ahmet in the last few years, even though I was no longer connected with what Atlantic Records had turned into.
"I was aware when he passed that it would be unthinkable for me not to do something. To talk about him in Rolling Stone is one thing, but to do something extraordinary at the risk of everything is better.
"It doesn't matter if it (the show) is good or bad. The most important thing is that you feel good in your heart about doing something that's extraordinary, even though it's incredibly challenging."
Plant also explains the importance of having Jason involved. "I've known the Bonham family since I was 15 and I know Pat, John's widow. I've known Jason since he was born."
He talks of the "yawning chasm that's been there for such a long time" since John died after a booze binge and Led Zep split.
But he adds: "I've spent so much time talking to Jason over the years. He's such a good guy and I've got very, very close."
Plant also believes another reason the new gig is possible is because "Jason's such a great drummer and he's now in his reformation character!"
Led Zeppelin are often credited as the forefathers of heavy metal, the inspiration behind thousands of pale imitators, but Plant claims there's a "generalisation" about the band and that they were not simply a "one-trick pony".
If the overall impression is of heavy, distorted, psychedelic blues, there are also elements of rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, soul, Eastern rhythms and, perhaps most importantly, folk music.
He says: "The band was a myriad of different themes and structures, even down to the humorous take on American country music that is Hot Dog (from their last studio album In Through The Out Door).
"There's nothing worse than being stereotyped. I have fought tooth and nail through all the days of my singing and playing not to be. We have always tried to mix it up."
This is how he sums up feelings towards Led Zeppelin: "I'd like to maintain the dignity of the group, that whatever it was that people loved is not going to be spoilt. Led Zeppelin were bold and brave and chaotic and honest in a very loose framework. We took risks that are no longer possible."
If Plant is the voice of the band, Jimmy Page is the chief architect, the incredibly versatile guitarist who created the most towering riffs in rock history, the most mesmerising solos but who could equally play the most delicate, complex acoustic folk.
Page is enthused by the prospect of the comeback concert. "What we need to do is just do the gig. Listen, if we hadn't wanted to play, we wouldn't have got in that room for the first time."
He says the hardest part was getting four members of the band actually playing something with it being kept under wraps.
"We wanted to see if it really gels. I think all of us knew it was going to be brilliant. No doubt about that."
For Page, strapping on a guitar in that company for the initial rehearsal proved a tense moment.
"It was a bit nervy. I really wanted it to work. I didn't want to be the one who couldn't do it. Jason came in and had such infectious enthusiasm. It was just terrific. We agreed that if we took it on, it would have to be with serious commitment," he says, adding that he has found the response to the concert "overwhelming".
He won't be drawn on the set list but says they have an "ultra-violet blueprint".
It will be an amazing return for bassist John Paul Jones, left out of the loop during the Page/Plant collaborations of the Nineties.
To play alongside Jason Bonham will be particularly significant as his dad and Jones formed the original powerhouse rhythm section.
When Zep split after John died, this was the band's statement: "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."
Unique
Today, Jones says of John: "He had such a feel, such a soul. We just worked really well together, plus he was always funny. A very humorous, generous man. He used to go crazy but so did we all."
And he adds that Jason is most certainly "Bonzo's son, a great drummer, and there are definite similarities in the way they play".
Whether Monday's concert proves to be a final "one-night stand" or whether this extraordinary, unique band's story will continue with more concerts and new recordings is anyone's guess.
For sure, it's THE music event of the year, of the decade even. Let's hope Led Zeppelin are still climbing that Stairway To Heaven.
After all, it's been a long lonely, lonely time without them.
Out now: Mothership -The Very Best Of Led Zeppelin and The Song Remains The Same (Remastered and Expanded).
I'm humbled. There are a billion people who'd like a hit at what they'd mo st like to do in life;Something For The Weekend;Music;Interview; Robert Plant
Simon Cosyns
7 December 2007
The Sun
66
ROBERT PLANT has just noticed one of the headlines, "Stairway To Purgatory".
It refers, of course, to Monday's mother of all comeback concerts by Led "Hammer Of The Gods" Zeppelin, but the singer remains in philosophical mood.
"You've got to have the soul to know it doesn't matter what people say -so long as it's good for you to do it," he tells SFTW.
He describes the reunion as a "cathartic experience" and a "one-night stand", which suggests he's planning to lay his Led Zep demons to rest.
You can be sure Stairway To Heaven, their signature song, will get an airing, and don't bet against them roaring into the show with Rock And Roll and its perfect opening lines:
It's been a long time since I rock and rolled, It's been a long time since I did the stroll.
Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back.
The big question is: Will they get it back?
While Plant is aware of a potential critical backlash, he's amazed at the overwhelming public response to the event.
He says: "I'm humbled by the way the people have responded because there's a billion people who'd like a hit at what they'd most like to do in life."
Glory
Since Led Zep split in 1980 after drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham's death, there have been two previous, less than auspicious public returns to the fray.
The first, at Live Aid in 1985, was once described by Plant as a "f***ing atrocity." The second, for Atlantic Records' 40th birthday in 1988, is remembered by him as "foul".
Nineteen years on, they're planning to get it just right at London's O2 Arena with a meticulously rehearsed set that will reflect rather than compete with the band's glory days of the Seventies.
This time, they're paying tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, the visionary Turkish American founder of Atlantic Records who died a year ago aged 83. Plant once referred to him as "a friend and a sidekick, another member of the Zeppelin entourage".
Ahmet heard Led Zeppelin's demo in 1968 and knew the band would be a smash. He promptly gave them a 200,000-dollar deal, the biggest of its kind for a new band.
Plant is now 59, guitarist Jimmy Page, 63, and bassist John Paul Jones, 61 and their hellraising days are long gone.
Fittingly, they will be joined on Monday by Bonham's drummer son Jason, who plays with Foreigner.
In many ways, Plant has least reason to join the tribute. He's just released a stunning collaborative album with bluegrass queen Alison Krauss, Raising Sand, and he's set to begin a world tour with her in the spring.
He admits he'd rather "be in the desert, learning the baritone ukelele" than practically anything.
But two great friends -Ahmet and Jason -prompted his decision. He says: "I got very close to Ahmet in the last few years, even though I was no longer connected with what Atlantic Records had turned into.
"I was aware when he passed that it would be unthinkable for me not to do something. To talk about him in Rolling Stone is one thing, but to do something extraordinary at the risk of everything is better.
"It doesn't matter if it (the show) is good or bad. The most important thing is that you feel good in your heart about doing something that's extraordinary, even though it's incredibly challenging."
Plant also explains the importance of having Jason involved. "I've known the Bonham family since I was 15 and I know Pat, John's widow. I've known Jason since he was born."
He talks of the "yawning chasm that's been there for such a long time" since John died after a booze binge and Led Zep split.
But he adds: "I've spent so much time talking to Jason over the years. He's such a good guy and I've got very, very close."
Plant also believes another reason the new gig is possible is because "Jason's such a great drummer and he's now in his reformation character!"
Led Zeppelin are often credited as the forefathers of heavy metal, the inspiration behind thousands of pale imitators, but Plant claims there's a "generalisation" about the band and that they were not simply a "one-trick pony".
If the overall impression is of heavy, distorted, psychedelic blues, there are also elements of rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, soul, Eastern rhythms and, perhaps most importantly, folk music.
He says: "The band was a myriad of different themes and structures, even down to the humorous take on American country music that is Hot Dog (from their last studio album In Through The Out Door).
"There's nothing worse than being stereotyped. I have fought tooth and nail through all the days of my singing and playing not to be. We have always tried to mix it up."
This is how he sums up feelings towards Led Zeppelin: "I'd like to maintain the dignity of the group, that whatever it was that people loved is not going to be spoilt. Led Zeppelin were bold and brave and chaotic and honest in a very loose framework. We took risks that are no longer possible."
If Plant is the voice of the band, Jimmy Page is the chief architect, the incredibly versatile guitarist who created the most towering riffs in rock history, the most mesmerising solos but who could equally play the most delicate, complex acoustic folk.
Page is enthused by the prospect of the comeback concert. "What we need to do is just do the gig. Listen, if we hadn't wanted to play, we wouldn't have got in that room for the first time."
He says the hardest part was getting four members of the band actually playing something with it being kept under wraps.
"We wanted to see if it really gels. I think all of us knew it was going to be brilliant. No doubt about that."
For Page, strapping on a guitar in that company for the initial rehearsal proved a tense moment.
"It was a bit nervy. I really wanted it to work. I didn't want to be the one who couldn't do it. Jason came in and had such infectious enthusiasm. It was just terrific. We agreed that if we took it on, it would have to be with serious commitment," he says, adding that he has found the response to the concert "overwhelming".
He won't be drawn on the set list but says they have an "ultra-violet blueprint".
It will be an amazing return for bassist John Paul Jones, left out of the loop during the Page/Plant collaborations of the Nineties.
To play alongside Jason Bonham will be particularly significant as his dad and Jones formed the original powerhouse rhythm section.
When Zep split after John died, this was the band's statement: "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."
Unique
Today, Jones says of John: "He had such a feel, such a soul. We just worked really well together, plus he was always funny. A very humorous, generous man. He used to go crazy but so did we all."
And he adds that Jason is most certainly "Bonzo's son, a great drummer, and there are definite similarities in the way they play".
Whether Monday's concert proves to be a final "one-night stand" or whether this extraordinary, unique band's story will continue with more concerts and new recordings is anyone's guess.
For sure, it's THE music event of the year, of the decade even. Let's hope Led Zeppelin are still climbing that Stairway To Heaven.
After all, it's been a long lonely, lonely time without them.
Out now: Mothership -The Very Best Of Led Zeppelin and The Song Remains The Same (Remastered and Expanded).
Up here so high I start to shake, Up here so high the sky I scrape, I've no fear but for falling down, So look out below I am falling now, Falling down,...not staying down, Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down, Drown in the river
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Comments
the anxiousness of the even remote idea that there may be more then this 1 off gig is enticing but i would guess unlikely.
i hope they hit MSG if they do any more shows , or any in the USA.
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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Very hopeful of what possibilities could come from this...
Mojo