Monday, August 01, 2005

robert plant and that strange euphoric sensation I've been having

I can't believe it's one a.m. on Sunday night and I'm only just posting this.... finally!!!!

It's been something like 10 days since the concert but I'm still grooving from the lovely strange sensation of the whole amazing experience!

A pair of recent reviews Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation Live in Oakland and Been a long time since this rock'n'roll.

As for some brief impressions about our enchanted evening: what can I say except that it exceeded my own very high expectations and that is not an easy thing to do when you've been anticipating a monumental first like this! It was a beautiful walk along the ocean on a very hot and sultry evening and by the time the band began playing, the sun had set and the moon was full and so was my rapidly beating heart!

The stage was set outside just off the pier and the temperature dropped to a comfortable balmy degree: no longer wickedly hot and not too breezy and chilly either: absolutely perfect weather!

Robert was charming (his wickedly dry humour always seems to come across for me so much better when you can actually hear his voice and see his face when he's making his delivery) and in fine voice that night. The band was very capable and I thought they did a wonderful job. It was a really great mix of some of the wonderful new stuff off the Mighty Rearranger and lots and lots of reworked Zep gems like When the Levee Breaks (RP actually whipped out his harmonica and gave me an extra big thrill on that one!), Going to California, Traveling Riverside Blues, Black Dog, a chilling No Quarter, Hey, Hey What Can I Do (never one of my favourites and the inspiration for my constant nickname for LZ in the 70s: the Talented Misogynists ~ lol: please note, this never stopped me from loving and appreciating them then as well as now ~ in my eyes they are the greatest rock and roll band of all time!) and of course, WLL.

Two delightful surprises: a lovely performance of That's the Way and a completely unexpected and fresh-sounding reworking of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit.

RP was in fine form as were his very talented Strange Sensations. But, of course, raving Pageygirl that I am, and admittedly probably not even remotely objective about this, I couldn't help missing Jimmy Page's charismatic presence all night, especially in light of the fact that Robert treated us all to so many great Zep numbers.

As far as that goes, I was missing John Paul Jones as well; there was absolutely nothing done that night that JPJ and JP couldn't have done every bit as well, and let's face it, I know that they would have absolutely rocked the place.

The arrangements were original and inventive and gave a brand new feel to alot of the great zep songs that we all know and love, (No Quarter was just awesome as was Going to California) but there's absolutely no reason why JPJ and JP couldn't have been a part of that very inventive reworking... except that for whatever reason RP doesn't want them there. And it makes me sad, but....

OK, I'll stop whining now. He's got his reasons I know, and he's also got a talented and capable band behind him that really showcases his voice to the maximum! The fact is that it was a beautiful performance and the thrill of a lifetime. Robert sounds as strong and dramatic as he ever has and has really matured with a versatile and generous vocal range. To put it simply, he ROCKED and it was 2 1/2 hours of sheer bliss that I'm just never, ever gonna forget!!!!

I'm going to be blissing out on the memories of that amazing night for years to come!!!



Robert Plant, John Baggott, Clive Deamer, Justin Adams, Skin Tyson, Billy Fuller
image courtesy of IGN.com
Posted by etherealfire :: 1:04 AM :: 1 Comments:

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