Led Zepp guitarist Jimmy Page has told the BBC how the band had a secret rehearsal before announcing their much hyped reunion concert, just to check they could still play. The band were keen to ensure that this reunion went better than their famously lacklustre reunion set at the original Live Aid.
Page: "We wanted to see how well we'd be playing together and once we played it was without doubt we wanted to do it. The hardest thing of having anything to do with Led Zeppelin is getting together and rehearsing without anybody finding out about it".
Page also spoke about that Live Aid performance which, as previously reported, the band were so disappointed with they refused to allow it to appear on the Live Aid 20th anniversary DVD back in 2005. On that he told the Beeb: "Live Aid was pretty shambolic. We came together and rehearsed with a drummer we'd never met before and then we were joined by Phil Collins who we'd never played with before on this great Live Aid stage. We went there with the spirit of it but actually was pretty shambolic".
As much previously reported, Led Zepp will play at a tribute concert to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun at London's The O2. The event will now take place on 10 Dec after being postponed because Page hurt his finger.