Page, Beck jam on 'Beck's Bolero' with 'Immigrant Song' section

Jimmy Page joined Jeff Beck onstage at Cleveland's Public Hall Saturday night for the first of two instrumentals following Beck's solo induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Beck and the members of his current touring band opened with "Beck's Bolero," the B-side of his 1967 single, which included Page on guitar.

Halfway through the piece, Beck introduced Page as "a big chunk of Led Zeppelin," and they launched into a jam based on "Immigrant Song." Beck handled the viking call melody on lead electric guitar, with Page concentrating on an ostinato F# line in the background on his electric guitar. Beck soloed for a while on that rhythm.

Upon Beck's signal, the band segued into the middle section of "Beck's Bolero" and finished that instrumental.



Page was no longer on the stage when Beck's group finished off with a version of the "Peter Gunn" theme.

Before the performance, Page said he and Beck knew each other since they were 14 or maybe 13. Beck later said backstage they went to 11.



Also during Page's speech, he namechecked Beck's album Blow by Blow as an example of an album that would keep him on his toes:

"Jeff started making solo records, and I carried on with the Yardbirds for a while, and we both started to continue in our own sort of way. I sort of had Led Zeppelin, and Jeff kept going, and I've gotta tell you -- I've gotta tell you that you'd sort of listen to Jeff along the way, and you go, 'Well, he's getting really, really good, Jeff.' And you'd hear him a few years later, and he'd just keep getting better and better and better, and he still has all the way through, and he leaves us mere mortals, believe me, just wondering. ...

"I have so much respect for him because Jeff's whole guitar style is just totally unorthodox to the point that anyone was taught, and he's just developed a whole style of expanding the electric guitar and making [it] into something which was just sounds and techniques totally unheard of before, and that's just an amazing feat, believe me. But, you know, he's done some amazing sets, some amazing fusion records -- um, Blow by Blow, for a start, was just a solo record that, you know, just established him as the most incredible soloist of our time, you know? And he just doesn't stop! He gets better and better and better.

"I tell you, I'm really honored to be here to induct Jeff into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because he's done so much for rock 'n' roll, and he always will."

Once during the speech, Beck was hiding his blushing face. When Page concluded his speech, he called Beck to the stage ("Come on, Jeff"). Beck rose from his chair, applauding jubilantly with his arms raised in the air at Page. The two embraced for several seconds onstage, and Page walked out of the spotlight to allow Beck to say a few words himself.

Prior to Page's speech, a clip was shown of Beck's prior induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1992, as a member of the Yardbirds. At that time, he remembered he had been kicked out of the group.

(Here's that clip.)


Backstage at the ceremony, Beck commented backstage that it felt better to him this time around, being recognized by the Rock Hall for his solo work.

Beck, in his speech, recognized two of Elvis Presley's sidemen who were present: drummer D.J. Fontana, who had earlier been inducted along with late bassist Bill Black, and guitarist Scotty Moore, a previous Hall of Fame inductee and the first guitarist whose work impressed Page enough to pick up a guitar:

"To stand here in front of Scotty is just more than I ever could believe ... Jimmy, you'll back me up on this. You know, we used to sit and just, you know, dribble over your playing. You're fantastic. Thank you for that."