As Led Zeppelin fans are keenly aware, 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the group’s formation. Many have been hoping that the band might celebrate the occasion in some way, shape, or form, and according to the group’s guitarist and latter-day musical curator Jimmy Page, that’s exactly what they plan to do.
In a recent, lengthy interview with the Academy of Achievement, Page let slip some of the band’s plans. “There’ll be Led Zeppelin product coming out, for sure, that people haven’t heard,” he said, “because I’m working on that. Next year will be the fiftieth year so there’s all manner of surprises coming out.” He also added, “I hope to be seen to be playing. So I’d better get on with it.”
Just a few years ago, Page oversaw the complete re-mastering of the band’s nine studio albums, each of which came with full discs of bonus content, so you have to wonder what’s left unheard in the coffers. Of course, there’s every possibility for a whole bevy of live material that has yet to see official release such as a full video of the band’s legendary stand at Earl’s Court in London in 1975, some of which made it onto the Led Zeppelin DVD in 2003. There’s also a pro-shot film of a gig in Seattle from 1977, and any number of soundboard recorded shows that have been famously bootlegged like the concert in Southhampton in 1973.
I guess we’ll all just have to wait a few more months to find out.
