The Firm (rock band)

The Firm
L-R: Jimmy Page, Chris Slade, Paul Rodgers, and Tony Franklin, 1984.
Background information
Origin	England
Genres	Hard rock, blues rock
Years active	1984–1986
Labels	Atlantic
Associated acts	Led Zeppelin, Free, Bad Company, AC/DC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Past members	Paul Rodgers Jimmy Page Tony Franklin Chris Slade

The Firm were a British rock supergroup composed of singer Paul Rodgers, (Free and Bad Company), guitarist Jimmy Page (The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin,) drummer Chris Slade (Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Uriah Heep) and bass player Tony Franklin.

Both Page and Rodgers refused to play any material from their former bands and instead opted for a selection of Firm songs plus tracks from both their solo albums. The new songs were heavily infused with a soulful and more commercially accessible sound, courtesy of Franklin's fretless bass guitar underpinning an understated song structure. Despite refusing to play old material, the last track from The Firm, "Midnight Moonlight", was originally an unreleased Led Zeppelin song entitled "Swan Song". This caused some critics to believe that Page had begun to run out of ideas. In subsequent press interviews, Page had indicated that the band was never meant to last more than two albums. After the band split, Page and Rodgers returned to solo work while Chris Slade joined AC/DC and Franklin teamed up with guitarist John Sykes in Blue Murder.

The band played only two UK concerts on this tour: one at Middlesbrough Town Hall, and one at the London Hammersmith Odeon. In addition to Firm songs, the band played solo material by Paul and Jimmy. This included Paul Rodgers gliding onto stage seated at a piano to sing "Live in Peace" from his earlier solo album. Jimmy p