My buddy Brad and I are traveling through Atlantic City on our way to see what Robert Plant's been up to since we saw him last in Tennessee at the end of April.
And we can't help but think of what happened in London last night. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones showed up, as rumored, at Wembley Stadium and jammed on two Zep songs with the Foo Fighters.
It's great that half of Led Zeppelin is playing together and seems raring to go, to jump at any occasion to don the stage clothes and rock out in front of an audience again. They haven't done that together regularly since I was learning to walk for the first time!
So we started speculating about what kind of bands could form to lure John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page back into the touring circuit. And we came up with some obvious, and some not-so-obvious solutions.
5. The Kinks featuring Jimmy Page
Know that animosity over claims that Page played in the studio for the Kinks' "You Really Got Me"? Put that to shreds. Let the guys go out on tour together. Jimmy can prove his worth in covering Kinks tunes, sitting in with them and offering a nice lead. Why even do more than two or three Zeppelin songs? Just play Kinks material all night! Oh, Jimmy! Go on tour with the Davies brothers the same way you went on tour with the Robinson brothers. Jonesy, you're not to be forgotten. Grab some acoustic instruments and work your way into the arrangement. You could modify "Lola" to "Stephanie" and "Soho" to "the French Quarter."
4. Page/Jones: The Guitar and Bass of Led Zeppelin
Want Page to prove he can have the success of Page and Plant without needing Plant? Want him to do what he and Coverdale missed out on doing? Just go out as "Page and Jones" and market it "The Guitar and Bass of Led Zeppelin." The same way Page and Plant's T-shirts and concert posters and TV spots proclaimed "The Guitar and Voice of Led Zeppelin." As for a singer and drummer, just have various people sit in and switch spots, like Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins did last night. Make it a long summer tour where different acts all live out their wildest dreams and sit in with half of Led Zeppelin!
3. The Chili Peppers broke up; Page and Jones should hook up with Anthony Kiedis
What kind of stuff would they come up with if the Red Hot Chili Peppers front man joined forces with Pagey and Jonesy? Forget regashing tunes from the past; give us a new album of originals and make it a double-album, Stadium Arcadium-style. We want to hear new stuff. And then go out and tour that. Kiedis in a band with Jones and Page: now that would be something like Blood Sugar Sexx Magick!
2. Jack Black supergroup: Tenacious Zeppelin
We all know Jimmy matches up with Jack White. But what about the opposite of White? Black! Jack Black and Jimmy Page. Toss in Dave Grohl on drums and John Paul Jones on bass, and you've got yourself a very solid lineup. Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass is also in the band of rock royalty, even if that royalty is facetiously self-proclaimed. Hell call the combination of guitarists "Page and Rage Cage."
And the No. 1 concert lineup we'd like to see Jimmy Page in:
1. Led Zeppelin
Of course! Back to basics! Jason Bonham, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page! That's what we would like to hear, by far, more than anything else!
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