Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Originally published in Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Review of September 25, 2005 show at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery

By GENE STOUT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER POP MUSIC CRITIC

Fans greeted Robert Plant with a whole lotta love Sunday night.

A capacity crowd at Chateau Ste. Michelle roared its approval when the former Led Zeppelin frontman took the stage with his current band, The Strange Sensation, for an hourlong set of new and old songs. ||Continue reading||

Originally appeared on jam.canoe.ca
Review of September 20 show in Calgary, Canada

By MIKE BELL — Calgary Sun

CALGARY - Sometimes we cling to things to comfort ourselves when faced with uncomfortable truths.

For example, last night, it was easy to dismiss the embarrassing turnout for legendary rocker Robert Plant’s Saddledome show — 6,500 fans is an incredibly kind estimate — not as the result of the lameness of our city, which on any other night is a classic rock town, but rather the result of too many great shows this summer.

Or maybe it was the traffic. Or possibly, it was the collective bender the entire province went on at news of King Ralph’s granting us each a $400 windfall. It certainly wasn’t because Plant, founding member of seminal rock act Led Zeppelin, doesn’t have the pedigree. Nor could it be because he no longer has it.

At 57, the artist just released Mighty Rearranger, an album most consider his finest and most consistent post-Zep work. And last night, both of those things — his history and his retention of all faculties and skills were on display. ||Continue reading||

Originally published in Edmonton Sun
Review of September 19, 2005 show at Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB, Canada

By FISH GRIWKOWSKY, EDMONTON SUN FREELANCE

Yup, there was the old Led Zep stuff but remakes made show spectacular

The big question, academic. Was Robert Plant going to shake the hair off our heads like he did in the heavy rock days of Now & Zen (not to mention, uh, Led Zeppelin), or was he going to sit perched with watery eyes on his “misty mountain?”

The proto-banger or the flowery hippy?

Well, enough of both, it turns out. You had faith, didn’t you? ||Continue reading||

Show Review–John Labatt Centre, London - September 14, 2005
By JAMES REANEY — London Free Press

LONDON, Ont. - There weren’t a whole lotta people at the JLC, with only the lower bowl open, but the former Led Zeppelin frontman made sure there was a whole lotta love. ||Continue reading||

Originally appeared on ottawasun.com–Review of September 10, 2005 show
By ANN MARIE McQUEEN, Ottawa Sun
Photo by David Lucas, Toronto SUN

ROBERT PLANT managed to be both zen and straightforward last night during a 90-minute show at the Corel Centre that delighted Led Zeppelin fans old and new. ||Continue reading||

Originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen
by Lynn Saxberg

Robert Plant — a rock icon inspired by Timbuktu, gin and poetry — arrives in Ottawa to showcase his new creative effort: ‘desert’ music, writes Lynn Saxberg.

Robert Plant was sitting on a gear case in a secret warehouse location in Ottawa yesterday trying to explain the creative breakthrough that led to Mighty Rearranger, his first full album of original material in 12 years. ||Continue reading||

Originally appeared online in Jam! Canoe.ca
By DENIS ARMSTRONG - Ottawa Sun

I live on former glory, so long ago and gone
I’m turning down the talk shows, the humour and the couch
I’m moving up to higher ground, I’ve found a new way out.
– Robert Plant, Tin Pan Valley

If Robert Plant thinks his new album Mighty Rearranger is as good as anything he did with Led Zeppelin, it’s because it made him love music again.

Surrounded by his Strange Sensation bandmates Justin Adams, Billy Fuller and former Portishead members Clive Deamer and John Baggott, Plant looks toned, tanned and in good spirits. While he gives no indication we shouldn’t be talking about Led Zeppelin at a press conference yesterday, it’s obvious the 57-year-old is happy to be making music again. ||Continue reading||

Originally appeared on mixonline.com

By Craig Dalton

THE CRAFT OF MUSIC AND LIVE SOUND

A name synonymous with rock ‘n’ roll for more than 35 years, you would expect a Robert Plant show to sound technically good. After all, who’s had more resources and access to the best skilled audio professionals in the world? As in the past, Plant’s performances were put in the hands of sound reinforcement masters with years of experience. ||Continue reading||