Sigh, I saw him and his Shape Shifters on Wednesday in a medium-sized (sold out) hall. Of course he could be selling out arenas if he toured with his old buddies and a new drummer, yet he doesn't.
The evening featured loads of obvious and not so obvious Zep tracks, hardly anything from Herr Plant's solo career back catalog (no Big Log or 29 Palms), obscure and not so obscure blues tracks (Son House, Leadbelly, Bukka White) and Arabian-tinged exploits plus modern day electronica.
The Zep numbers were rearranged to an extent that most of the audience only realized them via signature riffs (often rhythmically disassembled) or Plant singing a chorus. He consciously defies audience expectations (singing the Whole Lot of Love lyric over Who do you love anyone?), yet the result is aurally pleasing and not washed out at all.
And to give credit to the former rock god (who talked at great lenghts about the contribution of the old bluesers to contemporary music - making amends for those missing credits on the early Zep albums, huh, Robert?), he is utterly in control of his voice, there wasn't one note that evening he was in danger of missing simply because he doesn't sing anything anymore his voice can't reach. So all these banshee wail adornments that graced Zep albums are gone. And what you hear of his voice sounds credible and dare I say masterful, never mind the rubbish lyrics.
Oh, and the remastered late Zep albums Presence, In through the outdoor and Coda arrived from Amazon today. Haven't heard them yet, but the fact that the In thru ... and Coda sleeves are now reinstated to their (miniature) original browwn cardboard glory drew a smile to my face. By the way, Zep's penultimate album and only foray into the Abba studios is among my favourite albums from them. It has some timeless tunes. Haven't heard Presence otoh in ages, let's see how Pagey's "guitar album" holds up to renewed scrutiny. And I have never heard anything from Coda. The remastering on the previous releases was commendable to say the least and the extra tracks on the Deluxe versions more than just barrel scrapings.
