JIMMY PAGE On LED ZEPPELIN's 2007 Reunion: 'Some Of Us Thought We Would Be Continuing'

LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about the band's just-released concert film, "Celebration Day", recorded and filmed at LED ZEPPELIN's December 10, 2007 reunion show at London's O2 Arena. The package, which is available on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc, commemorates ZEPPELIN's first full-scale, complete concert since July 7, 1980 at the band's final show with the late John Bonham in Berlin, Germany.

"Some of us thought we would be continuing, that there were going to be more concerts in the not-too-distant-future," Page told Rolling Stone Senior Writer David Fricke in the new issue, on stands Friday. "Because there was a lot of work being put into the show."

As it turned out, Robert Plant was unwilling to keep performing with LED ZEPPELIN after their 2007 reunion concert. "He was busy," said Page. "He was doing his Alison Krauss project. I wasn't fully aware it was going to be launched at the same time. So what do you do in a situation like that? I'd been working with the other two guys for the percentage of the rehearsals at the O2. We were connecting well. The weakness was that none of us sang."

Page recently shed some light on the band's rehearsals for the O2 show: "Actually the period that we rehearsed over, it may have run over six weeks, or whatever, but we weren't rehearsing every day. We had a little block here and a little block over there on the run up to it."

Bassist John Paul Jones was asked about how he felt after ZEPPELIN wrapped its first complete concert in over 27 years. "There was an immediate feeling of relief that we actually got through it and did well," he said. "I don't know. That was kind of. . . [laughs] I don't know. I didn't feel much after that, to be honest. It was kind of numbing. It was a really good place we were in, I think."

Jason Bonham, who filled in for his dad, whom he lost when he was only 14 years old, felt as though his whole life had been building up to drumming for ZEPPELIN. "But for me, as I said, it was a huge, huge honor to play," he said. "And all I was concentrating on the night, 'cause I knew there was that many people there — I was just concentrating who was on the stage. I just wanted to impress my mates here, my dad's friends."

Plant said that performing the band's 1976 "Presence" classic "For Your Life" for the first time onstage was a definite highlight of the show for him. "Just like Jason, I was amazed I was there playing with LED ZEPPELIN," he said. "And I was just saying, 'Now, where does the vocal come in?' And I know I made a couple of errors — 'just had to shut up instead of doing too much. But. . . I think that was my favorite part of the show, to be honest. Because we were. . . none of us could bring too much back from ever having ever played it before. It was a great experience and that is flying by the seat of the pants. These guys did such a great job on that. It was very exciting. Great light show, too."