Happy Birthday Jimmy Page: 7 Rocking Live Led Zeppelin Covers
By Andy Kahn Jan 9, 2017 • 11:00 am PST
Today is the 73rd birthday of legendary Led Zeppelin founding member Jimmy Page. The former session musician and guitarist for The Yardbirds rose to worldwide fame alongside his Zeppelin mates Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham in the late-1960s as they became one of the most influential rock acts of all time.
Page’s signature Gibson Les Paul guitar tone was integral in establishing the edgy, blues-rooted hard rock style that made Zeppelin one of the most successful and emulated bands to date. His contributions to the group expanded beyond the electric guitar and his iconic red double neck Gibson as Page incorporated acoustic guitar, mandolin and other instruments into the British group’s evolving sound. For Jimmy’s 73rd birthday today, below is a collection of seven instances bands have covered Led Zeppelin live in concert.
The collection of clips starts with Phish performing “Good Times, Bad Times” on October 30, 2010 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The show featured a number of Led Zeppelin teases and covers ahead of this second set closing rendition of the often played cover. Watch guitarist Trey Anastasio leading the quartet in footage captured by HarpuaFSB here:
Shortly after his tragic death last year, this video of Prince performing “Whole Lotta Love” surfaced. The officially filmed footage of the cover performance likely occurred in Las Vegas in 2003 when Prince regularly worked the track into his setlists. Watch The Purple One in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKr8SdW3ysGuitarist Warren Haynes does his best Page impression in this video from Gathering Of The Vibes in 2013. The officially shared footage features Gov’t Mule performing the Led Zeppelin III cut “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” Watch Mule get the Led out below:
Guitarist Jimmy Herring gets to show off his Page licks in this video from Halloween 2014. Herring and his fellow costumed Widespread Panic band mates covered “D’yer Mak’er” for the first time that night at 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. They’ve played it just a few more times since, watch pro-shot footage of the debut here:
Instrumental Led Zeppelin tribute band Bustle In Your Hedgerow features drummer Joe Russo, keyboardist Marco Benevento, bassist Dave Dreiwitz and guitarist Scott Metzger (JRAD minus Tom Hamilton). Though performances by the quartet have been scarce of late, their approach to interpreting Zeppelin’s songbook can be seen in this clip from Brooklyn Bowl on January 27, 2012. Metzger and Benevento go head-to-head on “Kashmir” captured by mk devo, watch:
Jam rockers Umphrey’s McGee have covered several Led Zeppelin originals, including “Fool In The Rain,” “The Song Remains The Same,” “The Ocean” and more. The band swapped out drummer Kris Myers for crew member (and birthday boy) Bobby Haight for a rendition of “Immigrant Song.” Watch guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss ripping in this pro-shot video from February 20, 2015 in Syracuse, New York:
The String Cheese Incident started covering “Ramble On” early in their career. Though the Led Zeppelin II track has become a rarity of SCI setlists of late, they can be seen performing it at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles in this video. Captured by Live Archives watch the footage from July 13, 2012 below:
