CONCERT PREVIEW
Selected by Dan
Grunebaum
Jimmy Page and The
Black Crowes
More than 30 years after their demise, two
guitarists from the UK' groundbreaking blues-rock group the Yardbirds Jimmy Page and
Jeff Beck will be touring Japan in the next few months. Page will be playing with
classic rock revivalists The Black Crowes in a combination that brings together two
generations of monster rock.
For Page, a former Led Zeppelin guitarist, the 1999 hook-up with The Black Crowes was a
strategic move that simultaneously brought him to a new generation of fans and gave his
guitar pyrotechnics an appropriate setting. Since disbanding Zep, Page had engaged in a
variety of collaborations with varying degrees of success. In the late '80s he created the
Firm with Paul Rodgers formerly of Bad Company, but the group never enjoyed much success.
In 1993 he engaged in a short-lived but moderately successful partnership, Coverdale/Page,
with the former singer of Whitesnake. His reunion with Robert Plant for the Unledded
project, a new album of original material in 1998, and an unlikely hit collaboration with
rapper Puff Daddy on "Come With Me" for the Godzilla soundtrack, set the stage
for the ongoing Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes project.
The Black Crowes, meanwhile, had debuted in 1990 at a time when their brand of classic
rock was just about to give way to grunge and alternative rock. Led by singer Chris
Robinson and brother Rich, the group stubbornly forged ahead, touring on bills with
Aerosmith and other like-minded bands, and developing a reputation for excellent live
shows.
Last year, Page came together with the Black Crowes for a tour, which resulted in the
album Live At The Greek, recorded at the Greek Theater in LA. With the Black
Crowes giving a lean, mean twist to Zep classics like "Whole Lotta Love," Page,
it seems, had finally found the right context for his muscular guitar playing.
Jimmy Page and
The Black Crowes play the Nihon Budokan on 12/11-12. |
