Of my 16 year stint in full time politics as an elected member of the London Assembly, holding first Ken Livingstone then Boris Johnson to account, most of it was never particularly glamorous. But occasionally I did get to meet the odd rock star or two in my line of work: Bob Geldof, Brian May, Dexy’s Kevin Rowlands and, yes, Jimmy Page.
It was the evening before the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics and there was a reception at the Mansion House in the City of London. I arrived at exactly the same time as Jimmy Page (who had performed at the Closing ceremony of the Bejing Olympics you will recall but didn’t have any formal role in the London Games). Of course, I recognised him, introduced myself to him, got him to autograph the back of my invitation and got chatting to him. As I’d been to loads of these things before as we walked up the stairs I helpfully explained the set-up and all the archaic rituals you went through. I didn’t want to monopolise his company all evening and assumed that he’d have plenty of people he wanted to chat to, so once we’d got past all the flunkies and the formal introductions and the rituals I shook his hand and let him get on with the rest of his evening.
Two minutes later, he’s back: “Well Darren,” Jimmy whispered, “I don’t really know anyone here, do you mind if I hang out with you for the rest of the evening?”
What a lovely, unassuming man and what a relaxed, fun, brilliant evening we had. I said I’d introduce him to some of the other people there but first we had a long chat about the making of Led Zep IV, about the state of the modern music industry, about his old cottage by Loch Ness, about bands and musicians we both admired and about many, many other things. I asked him what he was currently working on: “Don’t say anything to anyone yet but we’re putting out a DVD and CD of the reunion concert we did at the O2. It’s coming out in a couple of months. That’s been my main project at the moment but keep it to yourself.”
Other people joined up with us at various points during the evening (including Boris Johnson’s Environment Deputy, Matthew, another big Zep fan). But I kept my promise about the Celebration Day release and never said a word to anyone until the official announcement. We stayed until the end and as one of the waiters was clearing up after us, he quickly pulled a Led Zep CD out of his pocket and asked Jimmy to sign it, which of course he did.
I will always have fond memories of the night I let Jimmy Page hang out with me. And the surreal nature of that memorable request will probably stay with me for a good while yet.
Darren's music blog 
I once went out with the cousin of the lead singer of Deep Purple but that does not quite match your story. At university I knew a student who could play guitar rather well. He was called John Wilkinson but he changed his name later… Happy days. Sandy
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Great to know Wilko at uni!
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Now we must publicise this: http://www.ecowatch.com/neil-young-daryl-hannah-dakota-pipeline-2117752414.html. Neil Young was great when he played at the Newcastle Arena in 2013 (though he is not always the best at knowing when to end a number.
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Yes certainly – I posted that on facebook when he first turned up at Standing Rock
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What a great story! Always good to get an occasional perk with the job 😊
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Absolutely Clive!
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I met up with Brian May for a meeting in parliament and he was friendly and charming but absolutely 100% the charismatic rock star. What was interesting about Jimmy was just how laid-back and unassuming he was. Wonderful evening.
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Holy shit! What an amazing story and experience. I did serve JPJ in a shop once, that’s my only brush with Zep. But I didn’t really get to chat much other than tell him I was a fan. Seemed like a very down to earth guy though.
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Cheers. You’ve got to have some perks! And nice to read your brief brush with JPJ too.
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What a great night that must have been. Thank you for sharing this gives a more human side to a rock legend.
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Was very, very human. Really nice evening
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You’re an elected member of the London Assembly??? How cool is that. Cool to meet Pagey. I wish he would occasionally do something new rather than keep revisiting re-releases and remasters of Zep stuff. You might argue he has nothing left to prove and that’s true. But look at Plant. He keeps moving forward, Page seems stuck in the past.
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I was! 2000-2016. I stepped down this May to give chance to pursue other things. I agree it would be nice to see Pagey explore new pastures and I love the stuff Robert does these days. But at the same time it’s also always nice to have one member of a classic band who cherishes the legacy and makes that their baby.
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Agreed. BTW, up until we elected Trump, I confess we thought Boris Johnson was the West’s biggest nutter. 😀
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You are certainly right there. Donald Trump has finally made Boris appear slightly less insane…
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Great story! Cool that with all that success you can still roll with folk! Awesome!
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Real good story.
Do you still work in government?
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No I stepped down in May this year. I’d served 16 years and years of political campaigning before then, too, so I wanted time to try a few other things in life.
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That’s a wonderful tale Darren, really enjoyed that.
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Ha – thanks for that. I was really struck by how down to earth, humble and likeable he was, not doing the big iconic rock star routine at all, just being very warm and human.
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What happened when you met Kevin Rowland, then? There must surely be a story attached to that…
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Not a massive story. It was at one of the big anti -war demos at Trafalgar Square when we were both waiting backstage to go on. He went on and did a song, then I went on and did a speech.
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Given how popular this has been I must write up my encounter with Steve Marriott back in 85!
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WOW — that is a great story!
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a memorable night – cheers!
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