Re: Jimmy, JPJ and Robert with Neil Young

["Wyatt Brake" <wyattbrake@xxxxxxxxx>]

January 12, 1995
Waldorf Astoria Hotel
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction

It's a pretty awkward performance (coming after an awkward acceptance
following the induction ceremony - this is when Jonesy sarcastically
thanks his 'friends' Page and Plant for remembering his phone number).

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, who had inducted the band with a pretty
decent speech, joined Page, Plant, Jones, and Jason Bonham for
somewhat ragged renditions of Bring it on Home, Long Distance Call
Blues>Baby Please Don't Go (as well as an un-televised intro of Train
Kept a Rollin'/For Your Love, which unfortunately I've never heard).
After a break, Jason Bonham, Tyler, and Perry are gone.  Michael Lee
and Neil Young join Page, Plant, and Jones for a sort of electric
version of the 'Unledded' rendition of When the Levee Breaks, which
you see in the youtube video you posted.

I always thought Jonesy must have been thinking, "this is *not* how
this song goes, dammit!"  Gotta love Jimmy's not-so-subtle look down
at his guitar that's being strapped onto Robert... "what the hell do
you think you're going to do with *that*??"

Of course, Plant keeps playing the same thing because he can't
actually play that well, especially when he's trying to sing.  ...and
I love Neil Young, but his spastic soloing when there's a guy named
Jimmy Page on the stage isn't necessarily ideal.

In my opinion, the best single moment of the performance is Plant's
exclamation of "...telling ME I've GOT TO BEWARE" lines from Buffalo
Springfield's For What It's Worth (one mentally flashes back to
Plant's use of a couple lines from Neil Young's Down by the River,
twenty-five years before that at the Royal Albert Hall, during How
Many More Times).  To me, that's the most passionate delivery of the
whole performance.

It's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and *that* is their
song selection?  I always thought it was odd.  The most prominent
guitar solos of the whole 'show' are played by Perry and Young, and
Page never really gets a big moment to shine.  Now maybe that was on
purpose, since it's possible that Jimmy had some celebratory drinks -
I have no idea.  If I recall correctly, MTV shows a brief backstage
interaction where Page is kind of blowing off Jones, who is trying to
figure out what the band will actually be playing.  It's a completely
haphazard performance, and it shows how much regard Page and Plant had
for the R&RHoF, which is to say: not much!

Removing Jason Bonham and sticking Michael Lee in also rankles (no
disrespect to the recently departed Lee, whom I think was a good
drummer - but he is not a member of LZ, and they had it right the
first time when they started out with Jason Bonham on the kit).

Anyway... this whole thing has probably been rehashed quite a bit on
FBO... so I'll stop here.

-Wyatt


On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 3:28 AM, Dawn 
<dawn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi everyone
>
> I found this clip which I've never seen before, apologies if I'm the
> only one!  I've never seen Robert playing a Les Paul before - although
> he seems to need some help when he first puts the guitar on.
>
> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_wCvUynhYRY&eurl