Robert Plant was moved to tears watching Jimmy Page play without him for the first time since Led Zeppelin’s end during a 1985 performance by The Firm, as he disclosed to International Musician & Recording World at the time.
The Firm performed at the NEC Arena in Birmingham on May 18, 1985. The lineup included Paul Rodgers, Page, Tony Franklin, and Chris Slade from Uriah Heep. Among the audience were Plant and his daughter Carmen, observing Page in a post-Led Zeppelin context. The singer expressed his awe at witnessing Page explore new musical dimensions, saying:
“I was sitting way back, in the cheap seats, and I must tell you that I was weeping because I saw Jimmy stretching himself as a guitarist, playing all these strange scales and phrases, but in the context of a conventional rock group. Some of it was off the wall, and I was stunned. I never thought I’d hear him play that well.”
The formation of The Firm was a creative refuge for Page and Rodgers, both reeling from the disbandment of their groups. The band recorded two albums, ‘The Firm’ and ‘Mean Business,’ characterized by a departure from their hard rock roots to a more subdued, funk-tinged sound.
A New Musical Dynamic
Jimmy Page reflected on the difference between collaborating with Rodgers and Plant, highlighting the vocal qualities and stylistic differences between the two in a 1986 chat with Guitar World, noting:
“After you’ve been with someone, Zeppelin and Robert, for that amount of years—I don’t know how many years it was now—you get to know each other in a band very, very well. It can almost be an ESP type of thing. With Paul, his phrasing is totally different [from Robert’s]. I would think that Robert was like a vocal gymnast. And Paul, I’ve never heard him sing a wrong note; he’s such a technical singer.”
Choosing to forge a new path, The Firm made a decision not to perform any Led Zeppelin or Bad Company hits during their tours, presenting audiences with entirely new material.
