Led Zeppelin News

Rocker Jeff Beck has slammed Led Zeppelin’s comeback plans - insisting it will be pointless without former lead singer Robert Plant.

The 64-year-old legend - who played in cult act The Yardbirds with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page - praised the band’s huge one-off concert at London’s O2 Arena last December (07).

But Beck argues plans for a full-blown tour should be shelved without Plant, who has repeatedly refused to join his old band mates full-time.

He says, “I really don’t think it’s a good idea, not if Robert doesn’t want to. I was there at the one-off show at the O2 Arena and it was fantastic. But I think they should just leave it there.

“They will have been offered loads of money and it’ll be tempting but that’s not a good enough reason to me.

“It would be different if they all wanted to do it and record new material but that’s not the case.”

Plant finally killed speculation he would rejoin the band in September (08) by stating he has, “no intention whatsoever of touring with anyone for at least the next two years.”

His recent single with Alison Krauss, Please Read The Letter, has been nominated for Record of the Year at this year’s (08) Grammy Awards.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/celebrity/news/2008/12/06/beck-led-zeppelin-should-stop-now.html&template=/celebrity/feeds/story-template-wenn.html

They used to laugh at us when we talked about an imaginary gig where Led Zeppelin’s bassist jammed with Sonic Youth in a work composed by Takehisa Kosugi for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Oh how they laughed at our ludicrous dream. But now our far-fetched fantasy has been realised.

Yes, it’s true. Led Zeppelin’s bassist, John Paul Jones, is to perform with experimental rockers Sonic Youth. In a work composed by mixed-media sound composer Takehisa Kosugi. For New York’s Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

The event will honour the 90th birthday of choreographer Merce Cunningham, “whose radical approaches to space, time, and technology continue to redefine the way we experience dance,” the press release boasts. A long-running collaborator of John Cage’s, Cunningham was also the composer’s life partner until his death in 1992.

Merce Cunningham At 90 will be the international premiere of a new evening-long dance work and a musical team-up between Sonic Youth, John Paul Jones and Takehisa Kosugi. This is not the first time Cunningham has inspired musical collaboration – his company performed with Radiohead and Sigur Rós in 2003.

The performance’s multi-tiered set will be designed by architect Benedetta Tagliabue – notorious in Scotland for the controversy over her work with husband Enric Miralles on Edinburgh’s Scottish Parliament Building.

Merce Cunningham At 90 takes place April 16-19 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Tickets start at $25 (£17).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/04/john-paul-jones-sonic-youth

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss earned five Grammy nominations on Wednesday night (Dec. 3), including record of the year (”Please Read the Letter”) and album of the year (Raising Sand) in the all-genre categories. The unlikely duo also secured nominations for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals (”Rich Woman”), best country collaboration with vocals (”Killing the Blues”) and best contemporary folk/Americana album. Some of the nominations were announced during a prime-time Grammy concert on CBS.

Last year, Plant and Krauss won a Grammy for best pop collaboration with vocals for “Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On).” Krauss has won more Grammy Awards than any woman in history, with 21. Plant’s only other Grammy win was in 1998 for best hard rock performance with Jimmy Page.

http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1600679/robert-plant-and-alison-krauss-george-strait-among-leading-grammy-nominees.jhtml