12 March

 

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Dusseldorf ,Germany at Dusseldorf Rheinhalle
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Long Beach, CA at Long Beach Arena
• 1985 The Firm - Tempe, AZ at Arizona State University Activities Center

♪  Night Comes Down (Mickey Finn, feat Jimmy Page 1963)
♪  Led Zeppelin (Dusseldorf at Dusseldorf Rheinhalle, 12 March 1970)
♪  Led Zeppelin (Long Beach CA at Long Beach Arena, 12 March 1975)

1985

More about 1963 & 1970 

On this day 11 February

 UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG. I'm working on another (time consuming) project that takes precedence. Note that info on this page has not been fully updated yet and links may not work properly. Thank you for your patience.

A firm step back to music

1985 11 February On This Day The Firm released
AUDIO: Closer rehearsal track (Soundcloud)

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Paris at La Locomotive
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Aulney-sous-Bois, Paris at Le Tube
• 1985 The Firm album released 

1985:

Jimmy Page seemed to have lost his musical way after John Bonham's death, but his work with The Firm was a step back to his creative life. The members of what was referred to as a supergroup were seasoned musicians that Jimmy Page could count on, but unlike with Led Zeppelin the combination wasn't an alchemical mix of talent that created a new and separate entity greater than the sum of its parts. 

I have no doubt that Jimmy Page was aware of what he had. He has said that the short lifespan of the band was planned, and for that I am grateful. The music is good but for Jimmy Page The Firm was a way to jump-start his career rather than a venue for musical magic.

Jimmy Page - The Firm years

1985 Jimmy Page

2020

♪

♪  Make or Break (The Firm, 1985) 

♪ Midnight Moonlight (The Firm, 1985)

On this day 03 February

UNDER CONSTRUCTION - working on another (time consuming) project that takes precedence. Note that info on this page has not been updated yet and links may not work. Thank you for your patience.

I wonder if Joe Walsh ever inquires about the health and happiness of Jimmy Page's #1?

2001 03 February On This Day Jimmy Page went to Joe Walsh show in Miami FL

• 1975 Led Zeppelin - New York City at Madison Square Garden
• 1986 The Firm - Mean Business released 

1969:

Four shows in New York City were cancelled when John Bonham flew back to England because Bonham's three year old son, Jason, was ill.  The shows weren't rescheduled.  Jason, as we all know, recovered quite nicely.

1975:

Jimmy Page's smashed finger (he slammed his ring finger in a train door in England prior to leaving for the US Tour, breaking the tip) was well enough for the band to return Dazed and Confused to the set list, dropping How Many More Times.  

Madison Square Garden had the fastest sellout in their history with this show. People magazine declared: "Led Zeppelin are bigger than the Beatles".

Well yes. Yes, they were. And are.

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

1975 Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

1986:

The Firm's Mean Business didn't shake the music world, but it's a solid album. Paul Rodgers is a great singer, but if you've been reading this blog all along, you know I've never felt he was right for Jimmy Page's music. According to Jimmy Page, The Firm had never been meant to stay together forever and that was just fine with me.

2001:

There are all kinds of stories out there about how the Gibson Les Paul guitar went from Joe Walsh's possession to Jimmy Page's. I'll say this, if the two men have been friends this long, whatever the details of the exchange it is fine with both of them today.  

"I like to give people equipment and stuff,” Walsh said in a 2012 Guitar World interview. “For me, it’s a kind of payback. Anyone who is an influence or hero for me, I’m always concerned with how I can balance the karma.”

♪

♪ Led Zeppelin (New York City at Madison Square Garden, 03 Feb 1975)

♪  Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh 1973) 
♪  Tear Down The Walls (The Firm, Mean Business 1986) 

On this day 09 December

 Here comes the brilliance!

1964 09 December On This Day Jimmy Page at Brill Building
AUDIO: Here Comes the Night (Lulu)  Soundcloud

• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Coventry, England at Coventry Locarno Ballroom
• 1983 Jimmy Page ARMS Charity Concert Tour - New York at Madison Square Garden (day 2)
• 1984 Jimmy Page The Firm - London, England at Hammersmith Odeon  (day 2) 

1964
The Brill Building is famous for its music industry tenants.

Text from Jimmy Page's website:

I visited the Brill Building in New York.

I arrived in New York today in 1964, in transit to Los Angeles as a guest of Bert Berns and his wife Ilene. It was my first time in the US. Bert was a legendary R&B producer and songwriter for Atlantic Records who was responsible for countless hits including The Isley Brothers' Twist & Shout, Irma Franklin's Piece of My Heart and Solomon Burke’s Everybody Needs Somebody. During my stay Bert took me to the legendary Brill Building and Atlantic Records where I met Jerry Wexler, Nesuhi Ertegun and Tom Dowd. When people visit America, the very first port of entry always has a lasting effect on them. It certainly did for me, feeling the energy of New York and being introduced to these musical icons.

I had first met Bert when he came over to England. Atlantic Records were being distributed by Decca in the UK at the time. It was a pretty unique situation to have a producer come over from the States to work with in-house artists. One of the sessions that Bert did in London was Here Comes the Night with Lulu, which he was also to produce with them. Lulu’s version was recorded in Decca Studios in Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead. She sings a really credible version, which is worth hearing. I played guitar on this and also did some guitar overdubs on it.

1971

The show is interrupted after the first three songs by an IRA bomb scare.  Although authorities attempted to clear the building, many in the audience just took it as an opportunity to score closer positions to the stage.

Later, during Dazed and Confused, Jimmy Page lost his grip on his bow and it flew out into the crowd.

1983

"On the ARMS tour I realized the fans wanted me back."

~ Jimmy Page, as quoted by Dave Lewis

How could he have ever thought otherwise?  

1983 Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, ARMS MSG

1983 Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, ARMS MSG

1984
Full Circle, written by Gene Clark in 1972, refers to a wheel of fortune and the unpredictable nature of fame and fortune. It was released initially by Clark exclusively in The Netherlands, but is probably more known for its inclusion on the Byrds' 1973 reunion album, and has been covered by a number of musicians.

1984 Jimmy Page / The Firm Hammersmith Odeon London

2007
What exquisite torture it was waiting for this concert. What frustration it was if you were one of the many millions who couldn't be there (that would include me).

2007 09 December - getting ready for the concert of the century

♪

♪ Jimmy Page/ARMS (New York City at Madison Square Garden day 2 - JP starts at 1:08:40, 09 December 1983)

♪  Jimmy Page/The Firm (London at Hammersmith Odeon, 09 December 1984) 
♫  Pre-show, interviews, concert footage (Jimmy Page/The Firm, Hammersmith Odeon London 1984)

On this day 05 December

 

1984 05 December On This Day Jimmy Page with The Firm at Hamburg

• 1983 Jimmy Page ARMS Charity Concert - Inglewood, CA at The Forum 
• 1984 Jimmy Page The Firm - Hamburg, Germany at Audiomax
• 2007 Led Zeppelin + Jason Bonham, Shepperton rehearsal

2007

Ross Halfin photos of Shepperton rehearsal 

♪

♪  Jimmy Page ARMS Charity Concert (Inglewood, CA at The Forum, 05 December 1983) 
♪  Jimmy Page The Firm (Hamburg, Germany at Audiomax, 05 December 1984)
♪  Led Zeppelin + Jason Bonham, Shepperton rehearsal, 05 December 2007)

On this day 04 December

 Led Zeppelin.  The end of an era of greatness but never the end of the Magick.

1980 04 December On This Day Led Zeppelin disbanded 

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Lima, OH at Springbrook Gardens Teen Club
• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Glasgow Scotland at Green's Playhouse (day 2)
• 1980 Led Zeppelin disbanded
• 1984 Jimmy Page The Firm - Ludwigshafen, Germany at Pfalzbau

1980

To "disband" is to break up an organized group; to cause the break up and end the functioning of an organized group. The word is even more apt when applied to a musical group - a band.

Disbanding is not the same as saying the members of the group can't keep going on individually.  They can "reband", they can soar on their own, they just can never go back to what they were.

The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not "get over" the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to.

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving

1984

“The main aim is to play some rock ‘n’ roll and have some fun.”

~ Jimmy Page

1984 Jimmy Page The Firm - Ludwigshafen, Germany at Pfalzbau

1984 Jimmy Page The Firm - Ludwigshafen, Germany at Pfalzbau

♪

♪   Led Zeppelin, Glasgow Scotland at Green's Playhouse - day 2, 04 December1972) 

♪  Jimmy Page The Firm (Ludwigshafen Germany at Pfalzbau, 04 December 1984)

♪  All the King's Horses (The Firm, 1986) YouTube
Note that Paul Rodgers was married to Machiko Shimizu when this song was written

On this day 03 December

 Remembering Michael Lee.

1972 03 December On This Day Led Zeppelin at Green's Playhouse, Glasgow

• 1972 Led Zeppelin - Glasgow, Scotland at Green's Playhouse
• 1973 Jimmy Page with Roy Harper - London, England at Royal Albert Hall  
• 1983 Jimmy Page ARMS Charity Concert Tour - Daly City, CA at  Cow Palace
• 1984 Jimmy Page The Firm - Frankfurt, Germany at Kongresshalle
• 1998 Page & Plant - Frankfurt, Germany at Festhalle Frankfurt 

1972 Led Zeppelin at Greens Playhouse, souvenir book

1972 Led Zeppelin at Greens Playhouse, souvenir book

1972 Led Zeppelin at Greens Playhouse, souvenir book

1972 Led Zeppelin at Greens Playhouse, souvenir book

1972 Led Zeppelin at Greens Playhouse, souvenir book

1973
Jimmy Page joined Roy Harper on stage at Royal Albert Hall for a guest appearance, playing Male Chauvinist Pig Blues.  According to Dave Lewis, the concert was professionally taped but never released. If anyone has this performance of the song with Jimmy Page playing, please share!

1983
Last date of ARMS gig at Cow Palace

1983 Jimmy Page ARMS at Cow Palace (Larry Hulst/Getty Images)

1983 Jimmy Page ARMS at Cow Palace (Philip Anderson photo)

1984 Jimmy Page with The Firm, Frankfurt

2008
Jimmy Page attended the Darlington, England funeral of drummer Michael Lee, who had died from an epileptic seizure at 39 years old.

2008 Jimmy Page at drummer Michael Lee's funeral

2012
Read Dave Lewis' text of a Steve Sauer report on the Late Show with Dave Letterman appearance of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones and Robert Plant.

2012  Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Dave Letterman 

2015

JP signed a guitar for a charity auction but I've lost the details of the event. Anyone know?

♪

♪ Led Zeppelin (Glasgow Scotland at Green's Playhouse, 03 December 1972)

♪ Jimmy Page ARMS Charity Concert Tour (Daly City CA at Cow Palace - day 3, 03 December 1983)

♫

On this day 17 September

 "This is my invitation, I want to change your destination..."

~ Cadillac, from The Firm's Mean Business album

1984 17 September On This Day 

• 1968 Led Zeppelin - Malmo, Sweden at Folkets Park 
• 1971 Led Zeppelin - Honolulu, HI at Honolulu Civic Auditorium
• 1984 Jimmy Page with The Firm – finished recording Long Black Cadillac at The Sol
• 1988 Jimmy Page Outrider Tour - Mesa, AZ at Mesa Amphitheatre
• 2013 Jimmy Page attends Queens of the Stone Age concert

1971

Hard to imagine this show isn't available to hear today. Somebody's got to be hoarding a tape!

1971 Led Zeppelin - Honolulu, HI at Honolulu Civic Auditorium (day 2)

1971

1975

Melody Maker Awards

1984
Given the experience of all the members of Jimmy Page's band, The Firm, it's no wonder they were able to record songs in one take. Recorded and mixed at Jimmy Page's Sol Studios in Berkshire, England, Cadillac appeared on The Firm's second album released in 1986, Mean Business.  There, it is just plain Cadillac, not to be confused with various versions of The Long Black Cadillac performed by other artists, light-years different from The Firm's song. Jimmy Page's Cadillac is dark and dirty. Magick oozes from his guitar.

As far as that version of "Cadillac" goes, we were lucky to get it. Because it was a live number and you can't do that in a room with a couple of takes because it has to be alive...
~ Jimmy Page, Guitar World July 1986, page 87

The Firm and Mean Business never did take off, though they were decently high on the charts. People still were expecting the Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, when in fact there was - and is - much more to Jimmy Page than that. 

Sad so many are so blind to that lovely musical Magick.

1988

2013 Jimmy Page backstage at Queens of the Stone Age (Ross Halfin photo)

2013 Jimmy Page with Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen backstage at
Queens of the Stone Age concert (Ross Halfin photo)

2013 Jimmy Page and Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age

♪

♪  Cadillac (Jimmy Page The Firm, Mean Business 1986) 
♪  Cadillac (Jimmy Page The Firm, Birmingham England 1985) 
♪  Jimmy Page Outrider Tour (Mesa AZ at Mesa Amphitheatre, 17 September 1988) 

On this day 23 July

 Things don't always go the way you think they should.

1985 23 July On This Day - but these events didn't actually happen on this day

• 1966 The Yardbirds - Buxton, England at Buxton Pavilion Gardens Ballroom 
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Civic Centre
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Oakland, CA at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
• 1979 Led Zeppelin - Copenhagen, Denmark at Falkoner Theatre
• 1985 Robert Plant with Jimmy Page encore appearance - East Rutherford, NJ 
• 1995 Page & Plant - Unledded Tour - Birmingham, England at NEC Arena (day 2)

1973:

The famous scene in The Song Remains The Same, with Peter Grant venting his rage at the venue's promoter, was taken at the Baltimore Civic Center concert on this date. 

1977:

Led Zeppelin's huge Stonehenge backdrop for the Oakland 23-24 concerts was the basis for some funny stuff later on. Black Sabbath had commissioned a Stonehenge stage set for their 1983 Born Again tour (Stonehenge is the second track on the Born  Again album).  That band couldn't use the stage set because it had been mistakenly constructed too big to haul around.  Coincidentally, at the same time the writers of This Is Spinal Tap created a scene with a Stonehenge set that turns out to be way too small to use. The two didn't copy each other (a 20-minute cut of the movie with that scene dates from before the Black Sabbath tour).  Thus, we might conclude that both were inspired by Led Zeppelin at Oakland.

 

1977 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin at Oakland

1977 Led Zeppelin's Stonehenge backdrop at Oakland

1979:

This was Led Zeppelin's first concert in almost two years.  It was kept low-key -- tickets were actually available to purchase at the door -- because it was a warm-up for Knebworth.  

1985:

The On This Day post for 23 July 1985 is almost certainly incorrect - let's blame it on the webmaster and not Jimmy Page (why not!).  The band was on hiatus from 22 May 1985 until 14 March 1986, leaving Page free to do sets with The Beach Boys (04 July) and with Robert Plant and John Paul Jones (Live Aid, 13 July).

However, on 04 April 1986 The Firm was at Meadowlands (Brendan Byrne Arena) in East Rutherford, NJ., where Les Paul was introduced onstage. 

Robert Plant was at Meadowlands on 23 July 1985, and Jimmy Page joined him for the encores, Mean Woman Blues and Treat Her Right.  Les Paul wasn't onstage for that one.

1985 Jimmy Page & Les Paul at Meadowlands

1985 Jimmy Page, from The Firm Tourbook

♪  Led Zeppelin (Baltimore MD at Baltimore Civic Center, 23 July 1973) 

♪  Led Zeppelin (Oakland CA at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, 23 July 1977)

♪  Led Zeppelin (Copenhagen Denmark at Falkoner Theatre, 23 July 1979)

♪ Jimmy Page & Robert Plant (encore, East Rutherford NJ at The Meadowlands, 23 July 1985)

♪  Page & Plant Unledded Tour (Birmingham England at NEC Arena day 2, 23 July 1995)