A bassist who has formerly worked with Jimmy Page has claimed he will be performing with the Led Zeppelin guitarist this Sunday, Aug. 24, during the closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing.
Pratt, who played bass for Pink Floyd in the post-Roger Waters era, wrote in his blog on Aug. 19 that he will be on bass for a version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" performed with Page and sung by U.K. talent show champion Leona Lewis.
His remarks came in a paragraph at the end of a blog posting dated Aug. 19 and were still available early on Aug. 21. However, the paragraph in question was removed at some point on Aug. 21, perhaps because it was intended for the song's identity to have been kept a secret.
Pratt's typed paragraph, including its original typos, read in full:
"You may also be interested to know t.at when Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis perform 'Whole Lotta Love' at the end of the Olpmpics, that's me playing bass on it…"Pratt has performed onstage with Page before, including at Net Aid on Oct. 9, 1999, when they and drummer Michael Lee performed an instrumental version of "Dazed and Confused" and also debuted a new instrumental that turned out to be called "Domino."
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Conversations about Guy Pratt:
ReplyDeleteCR: I have to wonder, was John Paul Jones *asked* to perform? Or did someone in the recording industry who has pull make the decision to use a lesser light when Jimmy plays with Leona Lewis?
CFM: I think it may be more to the closing event coordinators fearing that inviting Jonesy might turn the ceremonies into a Led Zeppelin gig. That would be a very real possibility. Any combination of these guys, in any situation, can hijack the focus of the event. I think that is why Jimmy has never played Eric Clapton's Guitar Festival. It would become about Jimmy playing and not about the event.
Steve Sauer: I see how your "multiple members of Led Zeppelin" argument bears some weight. I mean, Jones and Page show up at a Foo Fighters show, and look how the media called it a Led Zeppelin reunion. It would be the same in the media if Jones and Page played "Whole Lotta Love" in Beijing: "Led Zeppelin reunited for the Olympics." So the Olympics wanted to avoid that, or maybe when Page was asked, he knew to recruit a less headline-grabbing bass player.
Now the speculation for me is why Guy Pratt removed the part in his blog mentioning Jimmy, Leona and "Whole Lotta Love." I think even one comment disappeared, but I'm not sure.
CR: I agree with both of you about the reasons for the selections of performers. As for the Pratt blog, yes, SEVERAL of the comments were edited to remove references to anything pertaining to Jimmy! It's a "whitewash," for sure!