HolyGrail
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Led Zeppelin Guitarist Wants World Tour
The Associated Press: Led Zeppelin Guitarist Wants World Tour
By ERIC TALMADGE 6 hours ago
TOKYO (AP) Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page said Monday he was ready to take the iconic band on a world tour after burning up the stage at last month's reunion concert in London. But it probably won't be before September.
"The amount of work we put into O2 was what you would normally put into a world tour anyway," Page, 64, said of the intense rehearsing the band did for the Dec. 10 concert at London's O2 Arena.
The band's three surviving members Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones were joined at the sold-out benefit show by the late John Bonham's son Jason on drums.
Page, who was in Japan to promote the new Zeppelin release, "Mothership," said the two-hour-plus concert was proof that Led Zeppelin can still perform at its best.
He said the band, which formed in 1968, was ready musically to get back together and take it out on a wider run, but it was not clear when it would go on tour as the singer had other plans.
"Robert Plant has a parallel project and he is busy with that until September," Page said.
Plant and bluegrass star Alison Krauss will begin their world tour with a run of shows in the southern U.S. this spring. The two released an album in October called "Raising Sand" that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart in the U.S. The duo will tour Europe in May before returning for North American shows still to be announced for June and July.
Page said the band set their standards very high before agreeing to do the reunion, their first in 20 years. Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980 after the elder Bonham's death.
Page said they rehearsed for weeks, apprehensive that the cohesion they had in the 1970s when they were at their peak might be hard to rediscover.
"We wanted people who might not have even been alive in 1980 when we finished to understand what we were," he said.
Page said all went well until he broke a finger in three places, forcing the band to postpone the show for several weeks.
"But we did the show, and it was great," he said. "It was instant in terms of chemistry."
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The Associated Press: Led Zeppelin Guitarist Wants World Tour
Led Zeppelin have given the strongest hint yet that they are planning a world tour, likely to be the biggest in the history of rock music, following the success of their one-off concert last year.
# In full: The band that redrew the rock and roll rule book
Lead guitarist Jimmy Page has said that the band are ready to reunite and prepare for a series of events as soon as they have tied-up their individual projects.
Led Zeppelin 'considering world tour'
The tour would not take place until next Autumn at the earliest
Since the group performed a hugely successful reunion concert in front of 22,000 fans at Londons O2 centre in December, speculation has been mounting that an announcement of a series of world dates is imminent.
Page, who is now 64, described the event as exhilarating and fantastic and said that it proved that the band are ready to perform more live events.
He did add that it would not be happening until next Autumn at the earliest as singer Robert Plant is touring with the US country and western singer Alison Krauss.
Speaking to promote the bands Mothership Greatest Hits album in Japan, he said: We did the show and it was great.
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It was exhilarating, fantastic, every week was a week to look forward to.
I can assure you the amount of work that we put into the O2, for ourselves rehearsing and the staging of it, was probably what you put into a world tour.
Robert Plant also had a parallel project running and hes really busy with that project, certainly until September, so I cant give you any news.
Chris Goodman, from The Outside Organisation, who look after the bands PR, said: Jimmy has said that the band will be meeting up in August to talk about it.
The band meet all the time.
There is something in it but I cant give you any more news at the moment.
Last week Robert Plant suggested that a tour was on the cards by saying you never know whats round the corner when asked about a possible reunion at a basketball match.
The group, whos original members included Page, Plant, bass guitarist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, formed in 1968 and became arguably the worlds biggest rock groups.
Their fourth album, released in 1971, included their most famous song, Stairway to Heaven, while the band has sold an estimated 300 million albums worldwide.
But when Bonham died suddenly following a drinking binge in September 1980 the remaining members decided the band had died with him and they went their separate ways.
Until last year the trios only other reunions had been a disappointing performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert and their 1995 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
More than 22,000 fans watched their performance at the O2 concert on December 10 in which the three remaining band members unite within Bonhams son Jason on the drums.
Since the O2 concert on December 10, sales of the groups best of album Mothership have soared and it is now on course to become one of the biggest albums of all time.
you're on the wrong forum mate!
