Led Zeppelin: Unsure about band future

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones are featured in the new issue of Uncut reflecting on Led Zeppelin's long history and what lies ahead for them as a band.

Robert Plant, who is widely viewed as the lone hold out on agreeing to a full scale Zeppelin tour, was asked if he felt the success of the band's performance last December at London's O2 Arena was enough of a victory to permanently ice any future work with the band. Plant said, "Not at all. I really enjoyed it. And hopefully, one day we could do it again for another really, really good reason... For people who came from Australia or Japan, to Jason (Bonham's) family, John's family, all the families -- anticipation and expectation was huge. The potential for failure was also great because nobody knew what it was going to be like."

Plant went on to reflect on the O2 show saying, "We did what we set out to do and more, in every respect. We showed people that Led Zeppelin did go on a bit... The interplay between us all was excellent."

John Paul Jones, who has said that he, like Page and Bonham, would like the band to hit the road, reflected on the reunion gig, saying, "It felt like the first night of a tour. You think, 'Oh, I could do that bit better, or change something in that song.' And we didn't get a chance to do any more."

When pressed about the prospects of a Zeppelin reunion album, Jones said, "I'm not too certain about anything at the moment. I've got no idea what's going to happen, but I'd certainly like to play with Jimmy again."

Jimmy Page says that there are currently no plans to release a CD or DVD from the O2 show: "It was recorded, but we didn't go in with the express purpose of making a DVD to come out at Christmas, or whatever. We haven't seen the images or investigated the multitracks. It's feasible that it might come out at some distant point, but it'll be a massive job to embark on."

When asked point blank what the current status of Zeppelin is now and if a tour could happen, Page said, "The focus was on the O2 show. That's what I had my focus on. As for Robert, he had a parallel project (with Alison Krauss) and it's been successful, which I suppose means he doesn't have time for Zeppelin at this moment. What I do know -- is at the rehearsals, and the O2 gig, we were really inspiring. Okay? That's all I'll say."

Peter Frampton has been close friends with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones since the mid-1960s. Although he missed Zeppelin's Wembley reunion gig, he frequently watched the band record in the early '70s at London's Olympic Studios, while taking breaks from his own recordings and was consistently impressed with Jimmy Page's guitar technique: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "He's a very well-rounded player. His technique on acoustic is phenomenal. And he uses various different open tunings. He tunes his guitar down and there's a special 'Jimmy Page' tuning (laughs) that he uses on a lot of the stuff."

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss kick off their U.S. tour on Saturday and Sunday (April 19th and 20th) in Louisville, Kentucky at the Louisville Palace Theatre.
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