Kevin Shirley recently shared a surprising story about secretly recording Jimmy Page’s performances with The Black Crowes. In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, the well-known producer explained how he managed to capture these live shows—without Page knowing.
When Page and The Black Crowes came to the U.S. to perform, Shirley asked the band’s manager, Pete Angelus, about recording the concerts. However, Page wasn’t interested. “Jimmy’s not interested at all,” Shirley said. But Shirley still wanted to find a way to save these performances. “Maybe we can do something, but it has to be under the radar.”
To keep it a secret, Shirley rented the Le Mobile recording truck and hid it under some trees, covering it up so no one would notice. He then connected to the concert’s sound system and started recording.
Since technology wasn’t as advanced as today, recording live music was tricky. Shirley had to mix the sound on the spot inside the truck and save it straight to a CD. After the first night, he went backstage and told the band what he had done. “I recorded the show, by the way. Here are the tapes if you want to do anything with them. If not, we’ll scrap them entirely.” He left the CDs with them and walked away.
Page’s manager, Bill Curbishley, later decided to release the recordings through Musicmaker, an early online music company. The deal brought in a good amount of money, and in 2000, Live at the Greek was officially released. The album was a hit with fans, featuring Page playing Led Zeppelin classics with The Black Crowes’ energetic blues-rock sound.
Now, more than 20 years later, the album has been re-released with 16 additional songs that were never heard before. AXS TV reported that the new version includes a rare soundcheck recording of Led Zeppelin’s The Lemon Song.
