Jimmy Page first achieved fame as the guitarist of The Yardbirds and then became one of the most influential guitar players of all time with Led Zeppelin. Before being a member of those bands, Page was one of the most famous session guitarists from England and used all that knowledge to be the producer from all Zeppelin albums.
However, when he performed those songs live he was called “sloppy” by many fans, since he didn’t always followed exactly every note as it was played on the albums. In an interview with Guitar World, the Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson, who had the chance to tour with Jimmy when he performed with the American band, said he doesn’t agree with people who calls the British guitarist sloppy.
Rich Robinson doesn’t agree with who calls Jimmy Page sloppy
“Jimmy meant as much to me as anyone, and maybe even more because I got to play with him on tour with the Crowes. I mean… to sit there and play with Jimmy Page was an experience I’ll take with me forever. His compositional approach, acoustic playing, and rhythm playing were all on a plane he only existed in. And his solos are so tasteful and filled with these moments where he ebbs back and forth with these beautiful melodies. What can I say? He’s fucking unbelievable. Jimmy is straight-up amazing.”
He continued:
“Anyone who calls him sloppy or whatever, fuck that. He’s a God of guitar, which should be obvious. So, to get up there and play those Zeppelin songs with him and then to have him play my songs during those two summers that we toured with him, those are some of the best moments of my life.”
“He’s just one of those guys who can take apart those songs and inject this tone and feeling that you can’t duplicate, no matter how hard you try. Having listened to and loved his music my whole life and then having played with him, I have absolute respect and reverence for Jimmy. When I look back on the entire thing, taking the stage with him was nothing short of a gift for me.”
In 1999 the band was joined by Jimmy Page for two pairs of concerts in New York, Los Angeles and Worcester. The result of those shows was “Live At The Greek” album, that did not featured the songs of the band performed with Page due to contractual reasons. So all the tracks of the album are Led Zeppelin, Yardbirds and Blues classics covers.
In the summer of 2000 the collaboration had a new chapter with Page and the Black Crowes touring alongside The Who.