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
Good for Mr. Plant – he is doing his own thing and by his own admission is happy.
Rather that than what all these nostalgia bands are doing.
I don’t think it would be the same Led Zeppelin.
Not for nothing, but as much as I respect Robert Plant and all of his accomplishments, he is simply not the same singer that Fronted Led Zeppelin back in the day. While there’s a novelty to seeing them on stage together, what you’re hearing when they play is several steps removed from passable.
Exactly. His voice has changed and he adapts it for his current tastes and style. I thought he was great at O2…..different, but great with how he still made the material his.
Sometimes Robert Plant makes me want to cry. LOL
“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.”
WTF is he talking about? He misssed his true calling…politician…