Why Jimmy Page Abandoned Tour With Black Crowes in 2000
Jimmy Page abandoned his tour with the Black Crowes after being “insulted” by guitarist Rich Robinson, drummer Steve Gorman claimed.
The Led Zeppelin icon teamed up with the Southern rock group in 1999 and released the acclaimed album Live at the Greek the following year. However, Page called off a tour with the band after 11 of their 55 shows were performed, citing back problems at the time.
“The pairing of Page with the Crowes gave the dysfunctional band a shot in the arm in 2000 and set them up for a successful year of touring,” Rolling Stone reported, quoting from Gorman’s new memoir, Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of The Black Crowes. “But following an appearance on The Tonight Show, Page, who was battling back problems, mysteriously disappeared, and the tour was canceled.
“Gorman learned the real reason why Page left from the man himself a year and a half later. According to the drummer’s recollection, Page told him that he offered to write songs with the Robinson brothers for their next record, but Rich blew him off with a ‘No thanks! … We don’t need more songs.’ ‘I was insulted," Page said to Gorman, who furiously called the Crowes’ manager and told him, ‘I’m driving to Connecticut, and I’m going to kill Rich in his home.’”
Among recollections of disputes and violent episodes, Gorman described Rich’s brother, singer Chris Robinson as “the angriest person I’ve ever known.” He recalled an incident when Howard Stern asked the Crowes to play his 60th birthday party in 2014, and the band proposed to perform for free to thank Stern for his support during its early years. “‘'Fuck Howard Stern. I don’t owe that motherfucker anything,’ he said, according to Gorman, who claims the singer wanted $150,000 personally to do the gig. He didn’t get it, and he forbade his bandmates from playing it without him.”
The report also noted that Gorman had “dreamed” of leaving the band before it finally broke up in 2015. “Chris wanted 75 percent of all the band’s income. That was quite an upgrade from the 33 1/3 percent share he had been receiving,” the drummer wrote, adding that he refused the suggestion of becoming a salaried employee of the band he helped form. “And that was the end of the Black Crowes.”