Robert Plant - North Mississippi Allstars -- DAR Constitution Hall - Feb 1 2011

North Mississippi Allstars - This veteran band starts the show promptly at 8pm with a good crowd, but with some empty seats which will be filled by set's end. It is just the Dickinson brothers tonight with no accompanying players. Cody mans the drum kit, while Luther (who also plays with the Black Crowes) plays guitar and sings. This is pretty much straight blues music, which can wear me out as I have heard so much of it over my lifetime. It takes a good player to get me excited about it and fortunately Luther is every bit of a good player. He is particularly excellent with the slide guitar parts, especially on the fast-paced solos. All of the faster paced songs were excellent. Some of the slower cuts also worked well with his straight forward vocal style. There were covers of Dylan and R.L. Burnside, who has played with this band (as has Burnside's son as well). The set pulled in the audience and was enjoyable for me, which is no small task when you play straight forward blues.
Robert Plant & Buddy Miller

Robert Plant - Like many people my age, we grew up as big fans of Led Zeppelin. They had the power and the superstar aura about them. They seemed far more mystical and untouchable than many of the other big bands of their day, akin to latter day Beatles perhaps. It has been interesting to follow the individual Zep members since that time, as they have been much more down to earth in accessibility both personal and musical. John Paul Jones worked with Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age rockers, Jimmy Page plays often and is open for interviews as well as a feature role in the documentary "It Might Get Loud". Yet it is Robert Plant who has been most active with album releases. He has a ten disc box set along covering his history and has since added the award winning duet with Alison Krauss. But now he tours his latest album with another solid band called Band of Joy.

The best thing about Robert Plant's solo career is the quality of the bands he puts together. After perusing some recent set lists, I was disappointed that he was not doing anything from "Dreamland" or "Mighty Rearranger" which had great bands and brilliant songs. But this band was not only excellent at the Americana style that I had expected, they also laid down some deep, dark, swampy-psyche blues that almost rocked out as much as the Mighty Rearranger band did. They were not too far off from a more mainstream Gun Club-Dr. John unholy alliance. Ace guitarist Buddy Miller was excellent and key to the style shifts. Byron House was solid and offered a flourish at times on acoustic and electric bass. Patty Griffin offered fine vocal assistance and some acoustic guitar, while Darrell Scott played mandolin, guitar, steel guitar and banjo--sometimes two instruments in the same song. I thought the real key was the tribal thumping of drummer Marco Giovino. His style was sort of a middle eastern Scott Asheton (Stooges) that really set the tone for the others to riff onward. Plant was in fine voice and played a mean harmonica on one song. He stepped back allowing all but the drummer to have a lead vocal, but sang harmony parts throughout.

The interesting thing I found was how much more universal this music is, rather than the "British guy goes Americana" that is often mentioned. First of all, British acts not only grabbed on to American blues, but they have been working with Americana forms since the 60s with bands like Fairport Convention, Pentangle and many of the guitarists operating solo at the time. Plant was clearly a fan of that scene. But like Davy Graham, he is also pulling from the Middle East and combining everything into great bursts of intriguing songs and arrangements. He did no short of seven songs (well 6.3) by Led Zeppelin, which begs the question of why not do that reunion? Of course the arrangements here were quite different and hopefully he'll make some time to work with his former band again. But if this is all you get, it is well worth it. "Down to the Sea" was amazingly mystic, while the bluesy take of "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" was solid. He even did one of the two Low songs from the album, which is also a credit to his ability to find great music from various places.The set was solid and if I had to pick, I would say his "Ramble On" was the best of the Zeppelin arrangements. But don't take my word for it, I counted at least 12 phone cameras recording that one, so I am sure that and much more can be sampled in lo-fi internet postings. Fortunately, the sound tonight was full-out hi-fi and much better than I expected with clarity and space for the instruments to maneuver even with the volume. The crowd enjoyed it for likely a whole lotta reasons.

The set lists seem to vary within a tight group of songs, although the encores remain the same. Set list: Black Dog - Down to the Sea - Angel Dance - Houses of the Holy - Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down - Move Up - Cindy, I'll Marry You Some Day - Gates to the City/Wade in the Water/In My Time of Dying - Satisfied Mind - Tangerine - Harm's Swift Way - House of Cards - Somewhere Trouble Don't Go - Monkey - You Can't Buy my Love - Ramble on - Tall Cool One - Gallow's Pole. Encores: In the Mood - Rock'n'Roll - I Bid You Good Night... 

Oh, and before I go, I must take issue with other websites putting the Grateful Dead's name behind the final song. At about the time the Dead started playing this Bahamian song (done many times before by other artists), a Scottish duo called the Incredible String Band incorporated it into A Very Cellular Song (in early 1968). Plant most likely heard it there first, as he was a fan. In fact, he has earned my undying respect for his attending the Incredible String Band reunion show over a decade back at a moderate sized club in Scotland. As I said, there is much more than Americana at work in this Robert Plant performance.

Quote of the Night: While quite gracious tonight, Plant offered the following intro for House of Cards... "Richard Thompson is one of the key songwriters of British music, not like Black Sabbath".  Ouch, maybe that Zeppelin reunion won't happen after all.