Journeyman
filed on February 17th, 2007 by Press OfficerOriginally appeared on timeoutdubai.com
By Jeremy Lawrence
There’s a memorable scene in the film Almost Famous where the guitarist of a mythical band stands on a balcony and cries out to the party raging below and the Hollywood hills in the distance, ‘I am a golden god.’ The story, which captured the madness, mayhem, decadence and brilliance of 1970s rock ’n’ roll, was partly based on the tales of Led Zeppelin, a group who exploded out of late 60s England to become the biggest band on the planet. The Zep were a monolithic rock machine touring the world in their own private jet, blazing a trail of electrifying music and raising the stakes in the sheer scale of everything they did along the way. The band were the complete package: the musicianship of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, the thundering rhythms from drummer, John Bonham, and an entrancing singer with a mane of blonde curly hair, snake hips and an other-worldly primal yell. In just 12 years they released eight albums that redefined music forever, and endured tumultuous highs and lows, culminating in the tragic death of John Bonham in 1980 and the end of Led Zeppelin.
Fast forward 27 years to a drizzling winter afternoon in central London where the singer of that group, Robert Plant, has just walked into a small meeting room, genially introducing himself. It’s a polite, if unnecessary, gesture. Though clad in workman-like jeans, faded T-shirt and a plain winter coat, he is still every inch the rock god. The voluptuous hair still defies age and gravity, and his craggy features have acquired the look of a man who has seen the devil and the deep blue sea and come back smiling. Oh, and he’s wearing a pair of cowboy boots that only a 59-year-old who has sold 300 million albums could wear in all seriousness. ||Continue reading||
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