Jimmy Page has been planning how to celebrate Led Zeppelin’s fiftieth anniversary for the last 18 months, he told Planet Rock Magazine.

Page was interviewed for the cover story of the magazine’s sixth issue, and he said that he’s spent over a year planning how to mark the band’s anniversary.

“I can’t give the game away,” Page said in the interview, “but there’s a recording that’s another multi-track that we’ll release. It’s so different to all the other things that are out there. It’s another view compared to How The West Was Won or The Song Remains The Same. I’m looking forward to people hearing that.”

Page also said that he has plans to continue releasing Led Zeppelin material over the next 10 years. “There’s a lot of stuff to come out, a number of releases,” Page said. “I’d like to say that they’ll be coming out over the next 10 years. There’s more to come for sure.”

Page also raised the idea of releasing Led Zeppelin material in 5.1 surround sound. “I started thinking about doing surround-sound mixes around the Led Zeppelin ‘DVD’,” Page said, “but it is about thinking ahead, so things really do link up. There’s more to come, for sure.”

“We did the definitive studio releases with all of those extra portals to hear what was going on, and it was imperative that that stuff got done. That means that now there’s a real point of reference for anyone who is curious about what we did and how we did it in pretty magical ways.”

Page also complained that Led Zeppelin is being “ripped off” by the upcoming books being released for Led Zeppelin’s fiftieth anniversary. Page praised the official Led Zeppelin book, which is scheduled to be released in October.

“I’m really pleased that we’re all doing it collectively because there are so many other people doing books,” Page said. “There’s about 10 that I know of that are coming, which is pretty ridiculous! It will be really good to have an authoritative book, where the band are actually contributing to it rather than being ripped off.”

Led Zeppelin’s fiftieth anniversary officially kicks off in September

Led Zeppelin will begin a series of events and releases to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in September, according to an official description of the upcoming re-release of the band’s live album How The West Was Won.

Retailer Bull Moose published the official description from Led Zeppelin of the upcoming release, and it hinted at upcoming announcements from the band (emphasis ours):

“On September 7, 1968, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant first took the stage together in Gladsaxe, Denmark. Then billed as ‘The New Yardbirds,’ the band would assemble in the studio for the first time later that month to start recording their debut album as Led Zeppelin, and rock ‘n’ roll would never be the same again. Before the band’s 50th Anniversary celebration officially begins in September, Led Zeppelin will continue their reissue campaign with a new edition of their celebrated live album How The West Was Won, originally released in 2003, featuring newly remastered audio, which was done under the supervision of Jimmy Page. Details of additional Led Zeppelin 50th Anniversary releases and events will be announced later this year.“

The description makes it clear that more Led Zeppelin releases are planned for later this year, along with events starting in September.

In September we reported that an executive from Led Zeppelin’s record label Warner Music Group wrote a letter in support of a planned statue of John Bonham in which he said that Warner Music is planning “a series of high-profile events” in 2018. He also said that the label plans to conduct “extensive outreach to media and fans worldwide” in conjunction with the events.

Robert Plant also spoke recently about the upcoming Led Zeppelin releases

Robert Plant was asked about the upcoming releases around Led Zeppelin’s fiftieth anniversary in an interview with The Toronto Sun. “There’s a lot of stuff rolling around,” he said. “It’s a bit like water in the bottom of a paddle boat. But the thing is we didn’t even play together ’til September so we have a couple of months to connect and say, ‘What’s going on?'”

“It should capture the whole impact that we were oblivious to in the beginning where it was like a ground moving, ground shaking thing going on and interestingly we were so close into it that we didn’t even feel the tremors to begin with,” Plant said of plans for Led Zeppelin’s fiftieth anniversary. “And that’s a great thing before bands lock into a public persona or anything like that. So that kick off, 50 years ago, was something great, unexplainable, and so full of power and energy. It was brilliant.”

The full interview with Jimmy Page is available to read in the sixth issue of Planet Rock Magazine, which was released on February 16. The interview with Page is part of a 22-page cover feature on Led Zeppelin.

The sixth issue of Planet Rock Magazine is available to purchase online at Great Magazines for £5 per issue. You can buy all four cover variants together with a 25% discount using the code “PLANET25” at checkout.