JIMMY PAGE Performs LED ZEPPELIN Classic “Rock And Roll” With GUNS N’ ROSES, ALICE IN CHAINS, THE FIRM Members And More; Video

For the entire night, the party line was that there was absolutely no way that Jimmy Page was going to perform, reports RollingStone.com. No matter that this event, a benefit show held Thursday at Seattle’s Experience Music Project Museum, was built to honour the guitarist; Page’s people insisted that he wasn’t going to take part in the festivities.

Then, as the night was winding to a close, Page, wearing all black and with his white hair pulled back into a small ponytail, scurried on stage and was handed a shiny Gibson Les Paul. And before anyone could catch their breath, he and the rest of the all-star lineup of musicians on hand launched into a disorganized but exultant version of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock And Roll”.

The vocals by Paul Rodgers (Page’s old bandmate in the Firm), Alice in Chains singer William Duvall and John Hogg were muffled and all over the place, and Page’s soloing was shaggy and tentative. Perfection wasn’t the point. When eight guitarists, including Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, are pounding out that familiar boogie-blues riff at jet-engine levels of volume, no amount of gaffes were going to clean the smile from a spectator’s face.

Check out video below, and read more at RollingStone.com.