Andy Greene of Rolling Stone reports:
It could have been the biggest tour in the history of rock & roll, a stadium juggernaut to dwarf even recent efforts by U2, Roger Waters and the Rolling Stones. Had they agreed to a two-year trek, taken on sponsors and charged exorbitant rates for tickets and merchandise, Led Zeppelin could possibly have been the first act ever to gross $1 billion on a single tour. They spent nearly a year prepping for their reunion show at London’s O2 Arena in December of 2007, but just when his bandmates, concert promoters and fans all over the world were practically salivating over the thought of the group’s first tour since 1980, Robert Plant walked away from the group, and nothing was going to change his mind.
You’re going back to the same old shit,” Robert Plant says. “A tour would have been an absolute menagerie of vested interests and the very essence of everything that’s shitty about about big-time stadium rock. We were surrounded by a circus of people that would have had our souls on the fire. I’m not part of a jukebox!”
Nearly all of Plant’s peers are happy to deal with such a circus considering the insane financial rewards. “Good luck to them,” he sneers. “I hope they’re having a real riveting and wonderful late middle age. Somehow I don’t think they are.”
When Robert Plant walked away from the group after the O2 show, Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham continued to rehearse together in England, even auditioning singers for a possible Plant-free tour. Most names have remained secret, but Steven Tyler and Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy have both admitted to spending a few days playing with the group.
“Singers were being thrown at us from here and there,” says Page. “The material we were coming up with was really, really good. Obviously, other people wanted to just get us out on the road quickly. I wasn’t feeling comfortable. Going out with the three members from the 02 show and another singer might have looked like trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. I wanted to see what we could come up with musically.”
Plant refuses to make a statement forever ruling out the possibility of him fronting Zeppelin again. “I don’t think there’s any reason for me to do that,” he says. “Otherwise we’ve got nothing to be mystic about…Everything will develop as it develops. All doors are open. All phone lines are open. I don’t hear from anybody. Talk is cheap…But I just think everything has to be new. Then you can incorporate history.”
Does that mean he’s open to the idea of recording new songs with Zeppelin? “You can’t be the marriage guidance clinic here,” he says, clearly irritated by this line of questioning.
Strangely, he’s among the few people who felt it was a good idea for Zeppelin to carry in without him. “They kept rehearsing after O2 and they had a singer,” Plant says. “I don’t know what happened. It seemed like a great idea to me.”
Plant stands up to leave, but turns on his heel. “Do you know why the Eagles said they’d reunite when ‘hell freezes over,’ but they did it anyway and keep touring?” he asks. “It’s not because they were paid a fortune. It’s not about the money. It’s because they’re bored. I’m not bored.”
Read more at Rolling Stone.
source: rollingstone.com
35 Responses
So you throw out Live Nation and the usual suspects and get your own. Gee, 6 nights at the Rose Bowl is not too hard. 6 more at Soldier Field the next month. 6 in Jersey the next. Real hard to do? Bozo. Put out another boring solo album. Bonham’s group is ’14, yer a cold cup of Starbucks. We are bored of you.
I have all the respect in the world for Robert Plant. He seems to have no interest in a synthetic re-creation of one of the most creative and powerful musical odysseys of all time. This is what we mean by keeping it real.
I may be in the minority, but I think Plant is right not to do it anymore. The stuff he did with Krauss was good, he obviously enjoyed it. I think he is content to let the work he did with Zeppelin stand on its own. He doesn’t need the money, he is currently working on other projects and he just doesn’t want to go through all the bull shit of a major stadium rock tour.
I’m in the minority, too. Don’t get me wrong: if LZ regrouped for a one-off tour, I would be first in (or on-) line to obtain a ticket. I just observe too many of his contemporaries either making sub-par music, playing the same old “greatest hits” setlists or not being able to pull it off anymore.
I’ve followed Plant’s career fervently and can respect him immensely for doing his own thing without giving a toss what everyone else thinks or does, even if I may not like all of it (the 3rd solo effort comes to mind). At least he is trying to blaze his own trail instead of resting on his legacy.
And why go out there and possibly tarnish that very legacy? Plant may feel he couldn’t wail night after night and doesn’t want to make a fool of himself. Or maybe he simply chooses not to become part of a cabaret act.
Either way its not 1975. The public’s expectations are stuck between there and 2007, and I do not think they could be fulfilled. As the Woodstock festivals have proven, you can’t turn back time or recreate it.
I agree 100% LZ was ground breaking music, a legendary band. Bonham is gone. How do you live up to that majesty? You need new magic, and that’s what Plant is looking for. If he was feeling it with Page, JPJ, and Bonham Jr, he would have pursued it.
On the other hand, I think a handful of shows here or there, with some new material just be fantastic, but as an artist, I can understand where he’s coming from.
He is too old to do that orgasm thing.
What?
No “YOU-HAVE-TO-REUNITE-ONCE-AGAIN-FOR-THE-FANS-DAVE-GROHL-CAN-PLAY-DRUMS” crap?
You´re getting soft!
Sooo….that’s a definite maybe?!!!! Closest to live Zeppelin I experienced was the Page/Plant tour in the 90’s. They sounded great.