Led Zeppelin/Phil Collins: Live Aid 1985

I remember that. Amazingly, 20 years later MTV would do the exactly the same thing at Live 8 and decide to TELL you how great it was that Pink Floyd was playing, while you could see them in the background.

 

I don't blame him for having a few drinks or whatever. It must be frightening to get out there in front of 70,000 with another 50 million at home watching, and try and get a groove going. And not having done it in a while on this scale. It had to be really nerve racking. At least they got through the songs.

 

Thats right.
Jimmy was the culprit if there needs to be finger pointing, he was out of his tree. He could barely stand up.

 

Combine Collins' toms and cymbals with Thompson's snare and kick, and you're a third of the way to Bonham, an appropriate percentage for the strength the other Zeppies were firing at for Live Aid.

 

I have a television interview where Robert Plant made the claim that the untuned guitar went right from the case to the stage. He clearly blamed themselves, stating "couldn't we have just got it right?" No blame directed at Phil Collins.

 

Was the other person Dick Clark? Because that's who I remember rambling on and on while about six of us were screaming at him to shut the hell up. Then we turned down the TV and listened to the radio sound for Zep's set. Not only that, in Canada we missed a bunch of the best Wembley stuff because Clark had bought the North American rights. He then showed us short clips of all the stuff we couldn't see because of him and told us how great they were. Grrrrrrrr.

 

I never believed Dick Clark really "liked" rock 'n' roll.

 

I agree with you about Queen. That was, for me, the best performance at Live Aid. But I think Madonna had been around a bit longer than you indicate. Her first videos hadn't been released just 'months' earlier, but the previous year. She already had two albums under her belt by the time of Live Aid.

 

Depending on what network you watched and country you were in is what version of "how good they were and how exciting it was to be there" that you viewed. They really want to spoon feed you bits and pieces.

I hear Dick Clark is not rocking to much lately.

 

What a bunch of baloney. Phil knew and knows the Zeppelin catalogue inside and out...From my memory of being there, Phil and JPJ were the only ones hanging that thing together. Tony was racing, his tempo was all over the place, Jimmy was out of it, and Plant was exhausted. Thompson was an amazing player (RIP) but on that day, Phil held down the fort, but became the whipping boy mostly due to Page's finger pointing. Any listen of Page's playing on 'Rock And Roll' will tell you he was in no position to take shots at anyone. Phil was also amazing with Clapton, but he was playing with Jamie Oldaker who played beautifully with Phil.

 

i'm sorry folks. I was there (Philly) and so far away that I couldn't even see that there were two drummers. I years later found out that it was Phil Collins and that dude from Power Station. I laugh when I hear people say that JFK stadium had the best sound of an outside arena. I didn't hear a thing. It was like not being there at all!

 

I never analyzed this performance before but having 2 drummers is pretty stupid. It's not going to be tight no matter who is up there. The bass sounds out of whack and sounds like a bunch of buffalo farts. Jimmy's guitar is always sounds different live than in the studio and I don't see anything out of the ordinary. JPJ's keyboards were pretty off in the beginning of Stairway. It's an underehearsed band. Plant's vocals sound OK to me. I know he messed up a couple lyrics here and there.

 

The muchmusic interview show has a 2002(2004?) interview where he says a ROADIE handed him an out of tune guitar.

To be a little fair to Page he hadn't done much touring since Zep and also bungled up some ARMS performances. Kicking a smack habit in the early 80's may have been another factor.

 

Who was the bass player on Stairway?

 

JPJs feet?

 

JPJ was on keys, yes, but there was a guy playing a bass guitar in front of Phil Collins. I was wondering who he was?

 

Paul Martinez. Plant's bass player at the time. Collins, Plant and Martinez, of course, toured and recorded together.

 

I recall Collins saying at some point that he felt that T. Thompson really didn't seem all that interested in playing along in the two-drummer setup (maybe taking a cue from Page, for that matter). I'd give Phil the benefit of the doubt on that point since by that time he had loads of experience playing with other drummers of note (especially that other drumming Thompson, Chester).

 

I think the combination of Clark and Bob Graham was a disaster
They obviously fell out over the coverage and Graham was removed forcibly from the Gig.
Makes the UK end look tame between Geldorf and Harvey G, which in itself was poisonous.
Hey Ho
Charidy
Then the BBC accused Live Aid of buying munitions in Ethiopia.....

 

To get back to the OP's original question, here's a fairly clear description of why LZ isn't on the DVD from a new interview Mojo did with Bob Geldof:

 

^^

I was just about to post that Stefan

I was surprised to hear that Page was the one who said no. I thought they all said no.

Eddie

 

I don't remember Collins being awful. All I rememebr was page fumbling on the strings and Plant straining to reach notes. It was terrible all the way around.

 

I remember watching it on TV and IIRC Page's guitars did not show up until just @ showtime and hence they were out of tune.

 

A piss poor performance for a good cause.

 

Page having spent a few years going over all the footage he could find of him and the band it top peak form for the LZ DVD set - was likely very sensitive to seeing himself at his worst. And just could not ok that clip.

From the comments in this thraed (major bashing) on Zeppelin's Live Aid performance, Page made the right choice, right guys!