Jimmy Page says he was disappointed that Led Zeppelin did not tour following their 2007 reunion concert.
Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Page reunited, along with late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's son Jason, for a 16-song set on December 10, 2007 at London's O2 for a tribute concert for the late Atlantic Records executive Ahmet Ertegun.
The Led Zep guitarist told Rolling Stone that even he initially believed a larger-scale reunion was on the cards.
"Some of us thought we would be continuing, that there were going to be more concerts in the not-too-distant future. There was a lot of work being put into the show," Page said.
He suggested that Plant ultimately backed out of any further concerts to record the album Raising Sand with Alison Krauss.
"[Robert] was busy. He was doing his Alison Krauss project. I wasn't fully aware it was going to be launched at the same time," the guitarist said.
"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."
John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page at the press conference announcing Celebration Day last September
Page, Jones and Bonham held auditions with Myles Kennedy, currently vocalist with Slash's latest solo project, and Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler for a potential new lead singer, but nothing ever came of it.
"The timing wasn't the best," Page said. "We had put so much toward The O2. And the three of us were catching up with stuff. It was very good, seriously promising. But there was this other thing going on. And that's it."
The 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was recently released on DVD under the title Celebration Day, and Page is currently re-mastering Led Zeppelin's albums for a possible 2013 release.
