POP MUSIC REVIEW : Jimmy Page Still Tied to Zep Songbook

Jimmy Page stepped forth from a billow of smoky haze, genially greeted the crowd and strapped on a guitar to the accompaniment of wild cheers.

As he took his familiar stance Friday at the Forum--a slit-eyed grin, legs splayed, back arched, sweat dripping from his hair--the smoke cleared. But for the next two hours Page performed shrouded in an entirely different haze: The ghostly fog that still emanates from the memory of his legendary band Led Zeppelin.

If he had been willing and/or able to shake that haze, Page--making his first tour under his own name--very well could have reclaimed the Zeppelin legacy from the countless second-rate imitators doing it such disservice these days.

As it was, he just joined their ranks.

It doesn’t matter that Page originated the cliches. They’re still cliches:

The stagger ‘n’ swagger rhythms . . . the brontosaurus beats (courtesy of drummer Jason Bonham, son of the late Zep skins-basher John) . . . the chunky, fuzzy guitar chords . . . and, of course, that trademark stance. . . .

OK, so Page still does ‘em better than most. But only three times during the show did Page really transcend those ties that bind him to the past: First on a beautiful, fluid instrumental that was the show’s second number, later on a full-chorded Persian blues solo guitar showcase and finally on the primal, slide guitar-driven Zeppelin blues “In My Time of Dying.”

But even with those, not once was there any evidence that Page has had a new musical idea in about a decade--something already evident from his recent abysmal solo debut album “Outrider.”

The group he’s traveling with (Bonham, singer John Miles and bassist Durban Laverde) is basically a Zep clone. The only new songs that aren’t Zeppish knock-offs are generic heavy rockers. And the several real Zep songs in the set are offered as slavish re-creations, down to Miles’ blatant Robert Plant imitations--even though Miles normally doesn’t really sound much like Plant at all.

Saddest of all, though there were flashes of Page’s vaunted guitar prowess and invention (he is undeniably one of the most influential axemen in rock), most of the time he opted for fast solos that at times were embarrassingly sloppy. The old playing-with-a-violin-bow trick--held over from as far back as his Yardbirds days 20 years ago--was just a gimmick Friday, with absolutely zero musical value.

Still, all that didn’t diminish the sense of electricity that shot through the crowd when Page first reached into the Zeppelin song bag and played the brittle opening notes of “Over the Hills and Far Away.” Nor did it detract from the impression of Page as a truly warm, gracious performer who seemed sincerely glad to be before this audience.

And it certainly didn’t stop the worshipful, predominantly male crowd from according the encore instrumental version of “Stairway to Heaven” anything less than reverence.

But it also didn’t do a thing to alter the notion that Page is just as hung up on his past as his fans are.