Originally appeared on Sunday Mail online (UK)
Billy Sloan

ROCK legend Robert Plant has vowed never to reform supergroup Led Zeppelin for a stadium tour. He says he’d rather sing their classic hits with his new band Strange Sensation at tiny venues to just 1500 fans.

Plant, 57, who plays Edinburgh Corn Exchange next Thursday and Barrowland in Glasgow on October 29, said: “I’ve not been offered vast sums to reform Led Zeppelin. I would never do it anyway. We were a boy band and I’m not a boy any more. I prefer my career to have a bit of dignity now.”

Plant cut his teeth as a singer with Band Of Joy - which also featured the late Zep drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham - playing Scotland’s tough club circuit.

He said: “I remember amazing gigs at Ayr Ice Rink and Kirkcaldy YMCA in 1967. We’d play songs like White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane to a bunch of guys in Kirkconnel Miners’ Welfare who basically wanted to kick the shit out of us.

“The Walker Brothers and The Zombies had vans covered in lipstick messages from girls, so Bonzo and I would set about our van with lipstick we’d bought ourselves. “I’d write things like: ‘I love you John - I’m pregnant’ just to wind him up.”

Robert holds his loyal Scots fans in high regard. He told me: “I think they’ve got that Pictish spirit. There’s a level of exuberance which is a pleasure to behold. I had some great nights with Zep at the Glasgow Apollo.

“We hired a new sound engineer who ended up in a fracas with a member of the audience. He had his nose broken and resigned halfway through the show.

“Those audiences were tough - but the response was incredible.”

Robert’s latest solo album Mighty Rearranger is his best to date.

During his 90-minute set to promote it, Robert dusts off Zep classics Black Dog and Stairway To Heaven. {Note from HiBob–no he doesn’t do Stairway–just another reporter not doing their homework.}

He said: “My show is sometimes a bit of a hard ticket to sell because it’s not about nostalgia. I don’t want to do a greatest hitsstyle tour”I want to be thought of alongside people like Tom Waits, Willie Nelson or Alex Chilton - guys who turn their music around on themselves.”

Robert also keeps tabs on new music. Current favourites include Kasabian, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Black Keys.

How does he rate the new breed of Zeppelin-influenced acts - led by The Darkness?

“What can I say?” said Robert, laughing. “There’s a style of rock pantomime which moved through Meatloaf and Queen and I think The Darkness have nailed that.

“I don’t think they ever pretended there was anything hugely serious about what they were doing.”

But Robert has harsh words for another modern band.

He said: “Imagine when Coldplay go solo - it’ll save getting out the Valium