PAGE PLANT - Page Plant Live Paris, France 1998.03.30 FM Broadcast FLAC

PAGE PLANT - Page Plant Live Paris, France 1998.03.30 FM Broadcast



Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Live

La Cigale, Paris, France March 30, 1998

Four Madmen And A Friend (Re-Ledded)

Excellent FM Radio Broadcast Recording



Disc One = 65:05

CD01 01 - Intro

CD01 02 - The Wanton Song

CD01 03 - Bring It On Home

CD01 04 - Heartbreaker

CD01 05 - Ramble On

CD01 06 - Walking Into Clarksdale

CD01 07 - No Quarter

CD01 08 - When I Was A Child

CD01 09 - Going To California

CD01 10 - Tangerine

CD01 11 - Gallow's Pole

CD01 12 - Burning Up

CD01 13 - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You



Disc Two = 57:44

CD02 01 - How Many More Times (includes We're Gonna Groove/In The Light)

CD02 02 - Most High

CD02 03 - Whole Lotta Love

CD02 04 - Thank You

CD02 05 - Rock And Roll

Bonus Tracks (from 1998.03.31 broadcast of French Canal+)

CD02 06 - Most High

CD02 07 - When I Was A Child

CD02 08 - Ramble On

CD02 09 - Rock And Roll



Jimmy Page guitar

Robert Plant vocals

Charlie Jones bass

Michael Lee drums

Philip Andrews keyboards



Review of Page Plant Live La Cigalle, Paris, France – March 30th, 1998

The publicity surrounding Walking Into Clarksdale was enormous. The first album with all original music from Page & Plant since 1979 received much advance airplay with the single “Most High” appearing both on radio and MTV.



In the months leading up its release Page & Plant were busy with warm up gigs in eastern Europe (Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic), a much publicized surprise gig in Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and an appearance on Top Of The Pops. The publicity junket also included a trip to France for a gig in La Cigalle in Paris, broadcast on OUÏ FM radio on March 30th and a television appearance on Canal-1 TV the following day.



The start of the show maintains a distinct feel of the Unledded tours from a few years prior. The same opening tape is played before a few measures of “Immigrant Song” lead into “The Wanton Song.” They follow with the Led Zeppelin II medley common from the past tour with an excerpt from “Bring It On Home,” “Heartbreaker” up to through the solo, and “Ramble On.”



Robert Plant speaks a bit of French in his opening comments. He mentions they now have “no Egyptians, no orchestra, no hurdy-gurdy, just four madmen and a friend” (the friend is keyboardist Phillip Andrews). As he’s introducing the title track from the new album, the audience cheer in recognition and prompts Plant to quip “that’s good, you’ve heard it already.”



The new songs in general sound much better played live than on record. “Walking Into Clarksdale” has schizophrenic dallying between various styles, flirting with many but with commitments to none. It’s a brave song which is followed by a stultifyingly orthodox version of “No Quarter.” While the arrangement on the Unledded tours were dark, apocalyptic nightmare visions, this sounds like almost identical to the Houses Of The Holy recording.



“When I Was A Child” is the second new song of the set which Plant says is “the second time we’ve wove our way through that. It takes some concentration. And a chair. A chair!” A three song acoustic set follows with “Going To California” (complete with Plant’s middle eastern vocal embellishments), “Tangerine” (which, like “No Quarter,” is performed almost exactly as the studio recording) and finally “Gallows Pole.”



They follow with “Burning Up,” the third new song. It would be played the opening week in the US but then dropped in favor of “Shining In The Light.”



Before “How Many More Times” Plant promises they’re “gonna break all the boundaries of music…it’s jazz time.” Played as a reference to the recently released Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions on Atlantic, they throw in the riff to “Smokestack Lightening” and short versions of “We’re Gonna Groove” and “In The Light.”



They close the set with the first single from the album “Most High,” which is their “desperate attempt to win friends and influence people under the age of ninety.” It is a brilliant synthesis of western rock and northern African arabic music and deservingly won the Grammy award.



Page & Plant give the French radio audience three encores: “Whole Lotta Love,” “Thank You” and finally “Rock And Roll.”



Walking Into Clarksdale was released on April 25th, a month after this broadcast. The publicity paid off. The LP entered the chart at number five and stayed in the charts for six weeks (it did slightly better in the UK by entering at number three).