Robert Plant at the Greek Theatre - April 23, 2011

From www.ocreloaded.com: Robert Plant at the Greek Theatre Los Angeles last night

Written by Paul Lyons

Sunday, 24 April 2011 19:48

On Thursday, January 2, 1969, 20 year old Robert Plant walked on stage at the legendary Whisky A-Go-Go nightclub to perform his first ever concert in Los Angeles.  At the time, he was playing with a hot new rock and roll band called Led Zeppelin.  The City of Angels soon became the band’s home away from home, and Zeppelin would return to L.A. time and again to set up shop at the Riot House (now known as the The Andaz West Hollywood), drink and dine down the street at the Rainbow Bar & Grill, and play massive concerts at The Forum down in Inglewood. On Saturday, April 23, 2011, 62 year old Robert Plant walked on stage at the legendary 80 year old, 6,162 capacity, Greek Theatre to once again dazzle an enthusiastic L.A. crowd.  Those who were fortunate enough to attend the 90-minute, 18-song set were treated to the diverse musical colors of a man who’s seen it all and done it all...yet is still is capable of delivering a fresh, and inspiring performance. This time ‘round, Plant came armed with another hot new outfit...called Band of Joy.  The band may be new, yet the name of the band is not.  You see Plant first formed a group called Band of Joy in the mid-60s.  Chris Brown was on organ, Kevyn Gammond was on guitar and vocals, Byron House played bass, Robert Plant sang, and the drummer was a powerhouse by the name of John Bonham.  Yet once Led Zeppelin came along, Band of Joy faded away. In 2010, Robert Plant decided to revive the Band of Joy name, rehire original bassist Byron House, and work with a new set of musicians including Grammy-winning folk/country singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, country singer and guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott, and drummer Marco Giovino.  Their self-titled album (Band of Joy) was released last fall, and consists entirely of folk, country, and bluegrass versions of songs written by others.  Keeping with that tone, Saturday night’s concert had a strong country-folk bent to it.  This was by no means a rock and roll show. At 9:15pm, Robert Plant walked nonchalantly to the front of the stage and lead the band into a folk/country version of the Led Zeppelin classic “Black Dog.”  By no means faithful to the 1971 original, the song still sounded great nonetheless.  Sure, Plant could have attempted to rock out the song the way Zeppelin would have done back in the day, yet he knows better.  Instead of trying to recreate the past, Plant choose to celebrate it with who he is now. The Robert Plant of today can no longer hit the high notes he used to sing in his 20’s...so  he wisely relies on other members of the band to sometimes sing with him...and provide vocal harmonies.  Yet if you think this means that Robert Plant can no longer sing, you’d be dead wrong.  His distinctive mid-range is still very strong, and he manages to carry the music effortlessly.   “Down To The Sea” (an oddity from Plant’s 1993 Fate of Nations album) was the second tune of the night.  It was played in a raw style that stripped away the rock and roll edge of the original recording, yet kept the core melody and feel.  This was one of only two Robert Plant solo songs performed in the entire concert.  The other one was 1983’s “In The Mood,” the 2nd track off his 2nd  album: The Principle of Moments.  Again, Plant choose an arrangement that fit within the folk/country feel of the evening. The concert featured six tracks from the Band of Joy album, including excellent renditions of “Angel Dance” by Los Lobos, “House of Cards” by Richard Thompson, “Monkey” by the Minnesota indie-rock group Low, and “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down” by the alt-country band Uncle Tupelo.  Guitarist Buddy Miller sung lead vocals on his own song from the album, “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go.”  Staying in the pure country mode, Darrell Scott came out to sing the 1955 Porter Wagoner classic “A Satisfied Mind,” while Patty Griffin sung lead vocals on “Ocean of Tears” (which I believe is an an old Big Maybelle song from 1955). Yet the highlight for most people at the Greek Theatre was the Led Zeppelin songs featured in the show.  Robert Plant generously played no less than six Zeppelin numbers throughout the night, as well as one Page/Plant song from the 1990’s.  1975’s “Black Country Woman” fit perfectly within the country/folk theme of the evening...as did the 1970 Led Zeppelin III gem “That’s The Way.”  Plant’s vocals were both haunting and beautiful on both of these songs.  “Please Read The Letter” sounded fantastic...in an arrangement closer to the version he cut with Allison Krauss in 2007, yet still with shades of the original 1998 rock and roll track he cut with Jimmy Page.  The main set closed with a country-Zeppelin double-whammy of “Houses of the Holy” from 1975’s Physical Graffiti collection, and a very well received “Ramble On”...a radio-favorite from 1969's Led Zeppelin II. Returning for an encore, Plant and the band played another track off of their self-titled album: a fine version of Townes Van Zandt’s “Harms Swift Way.”  To close the night, Plant choose two songs whose origins date back to the 1930‘s.  First up was a sweet and mellow country version of “Gallows Pole”...an old folk song that Lead Belly popularized, and that Led Zeppelin recorded for their Led Zeppelin III album.  After that song, the band put their instruments down, and sung with Robert Plant an a cappella rendition of “And We Bid You Goodnight”...a song the Grateful Dead used to close their concerts with. Unlike his post-Zeppelin solo career in the 80’s, Robert Plant has taken the pressure off himself to produce new, and groundbreaking material.  The 21st Century Robert Plant just wants to enjoy and celebrate the music that he loves. Some of it are songs he’s written, yet the bulk of it consists of songs written by others.  This is no Rod Stewart, Great American Songbook, with old hits and popular standards.  No, this is Robert Plant swallowing his pride and indulging in his passion, even if his passion consists of mostly obscure, noncommercial material that most people have never even heard of.  Kudos to Plant for being true to himself, and refusing to become an oldies act filled with crowd-pleasing hits.  Just as he was back in 1969 at the Whisky, the Robert Plant I saw Saturday night at the Greek was nothing short of a true artist...performing on his own terms, and letting the audience know exactly who he is, and what he is about...