What a cool experience.

Check out my Bill Wyman story for details on the trip that led to this encounter.

The day before the Led Zeppelin show, we went to the Royal something or other hotel in London... I remember it was west of where we were staying near Soho, and we went over on the tube.

It was a pre-arranged interview with Paul Rodgers, and was to be at his hotel the day before he opened for the Zep reunion and then played at their aftershow party.

Waiting in the lobby, it was such a nice hotel. The lighting was warm and soft, the couch plush, and I remember being very excited. Brad and/or Chris came and fetched us, and we were brought to the room where Paul and Cynthia his wife were.

I gave them tons of gifts, and they gave me tons of gifts. I had chocolates, t-shirts, and other Hawaii stuff; they gave me CDs, DVDs and t-shirts...

It was very nice. What a good vibe. You'll see how casually he was dressed, and she hung out while we did the interview. Speaking of everything from Queen to Bad Company, The Firm, solo stuff, songs like Seagull... it was a thick, 25 minute conversation.

When it was over, we were out of there after some IDs... All of his staff were super cool, he was more than cool, and they gave me passes for the aftershow. When picking up the aftershow passes at will-call before the show at the O2, they gave me A PAIR of Zeppelin tickets too.

We already had a pair, so Liz took the General Admissions and went to the floor, and I took the reserved seats Paul gave me, and headed to the section, which had Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Styx's JY, Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher, and other stars. SICK.

Great show, great night with Paul. A true gentleman.

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