Robert Plant: Fans Should Move On

It's not like the man never got back with Page ... I love the Page/Plant stuff and tours from the 90's. Good for you Robert, stay the course.

 

Actually, I really love it when he shares the stage with a female vocalist.

 

I don't envy Plant having to deal with reunion questions in probably every 2nd or 3rd interview literally for decades.

If he doesn't want to reform the band, more power to him. I only have about 1/3rd of his total solo output, but honestly (and for about the last 15-20 years), I listen to Plant's solo stuff more than I do most of my Zeppelin.

I understand the perpetual interest, but it must get terribly old.

 

Your comment about the setlist falls apart because when he tours he's more then likely promoting a new album. I've attended all his solo tours, so I reckon I have some insight on this.

Half a show of LZ songs on recent shows? I don't think so.

They sound nothing like the old arrangements. I saw RP at his show in Wolverhampton two weeks ago. The arrangements were nothing like the previous arrangements, IIRC. Robert is enjoying his music, his fans are and if he is in a position to promote new music good for him. FFS I'm an old fella but my ears are open to new music, always have been, the old stuff? I bloody love that too!

 

I was never much a fan of Zeppelin, even less so of the shrieking 70s Robert Plant voice. His solo recordings, OTOH, caught my ear and interest.

I like an artist who has the freedom to do things that move him or her musically. When Plant and Band of Joy opened a show 6 years ago in S.F. with "She Has Funny Cars" (and a very good rendition at that, not a Rolling Stones-like amateurish toss-off of some old song), I was delighted.

 

So I guess you'd be absolutely against cashing any Social Security or pension checks which might come your way ?

 

I'm happy Robert is still doing what he does, even though I'll probably never go to one of his shows again.

Raising Sand was really something else, as an album and tour. That's the last time I saw him. He and Alison Krauss had a great blend, a fantastic band, and the live sound was about as good as I've ever heard.

But he's been his own boss for a long time, aside from the five year period at the end of the '90s with Jimmy, and I imagine he wasn't calling all the shots when he was working with Alison. It could be he just likes running the show after the craziness of the Zeppelin years.

As far as him knowing what he does now isn't as good as Zeppelin was, who knows? He's done really well as the ex-frontman for such a huge, iconic band.

Robert didn't do Zep live until 1988, if memory serves. Back then he stayed pretty close to the familiar arrangements. These days I think it would be rude not to sing any Zeppelin, but you just can't please everybody all the time anyway.

The fact is, he arrived at a sound and approach that has worked for him for a while now. This is the way he likes to do things. It would be nice if Jimmy had done something similar, and just kept at it.

 

He's tired of hearing "Dang Bo, when y'all gunna play Stairway to Heaven?!"

 

Plant is a troll, and the worst kind of hypocrite.

 

Playing Zeppelin songs and going out as Led Zeppelin are two very different things. I'm not sure why people don't get that. Seems pretty obvious.

 

I’ll send you my demo.

 

Come on Jimmy, we know it's you

 

Why shouldn't he play songs from his entire career live, including Led Zeppelin ones? He co-wrote them. I get the impression he sings the Zep songs that he is still comfortable with lyrically and that his voice suits or he can adapt well for this stage of his career.

If he reunites with Zep he will have to sing like and be compared to who he was 45 years ago. I can't see why he would want to do that. It's great to see somebody who cares more about his music than the massive amount of money he would get by becoming a nostalgia act. I'm not a fan of his solo work but I'm happy to see him being successful on his own terms.

 

He obviously gets tired of hearing about Led Zep reunions...I was going to say "oh I don't see the point of reforming Led Zep, it's never going to be the same again" but then I did go to one of the Page/Plant gigs in the 90s and it was great to hear all those LZ songs live (I was too young to have seen them the first time around).

 

pot, kettle and all...

 

'It’s like there is nothing new and exciting out there any more.' Thats right, and your music proves it Robbie.

 

If that's really your outlook on music, I feel terribly sorry for you. Imagine how boring it must be to live in a world where everything has already been done and there's nothing left to discover. Terrible.

 

He’s talking about the media, not everyone else. The media is fixated on a Led Zep reunion too and he’s over it. There are other great new artists worth covering. They deserve the space, not an old band. That’s all he’s saying.

Ed

 

Does this mean I can't as him about "Heaven Knows"? I love that tune.

 

I saw them in 1998. Phenomenal.

 

Worst kind of hypocrite?

I can think of many politicians and people who fit the bill a bit more, all Robert Plant is doing is playing Whole Lotta Love live

 

Last Plant show I "saw" (on livecast) from 2015 at Bonnarroo, 7 of 11 songs (or portions of medleys) Zep material. Well more than half.
Robert Plant Setlist at Bonnaroo 2015

 

I have to say I've found something to like in almost everything he's done, but couldn't get into Band of Joy at all. I thought it was the low point of his solo career.

I think if he had done a 2008 Zep tour that followed the blueprint of the O2 gig and did 20-30 gigs, no more and that's that -- he might have shut the media up, at least for a while.

 

That's true. They would have still all sold out in seconds! But perhaps he didn't enjoy that reunion.

 

But, he's talking to Classic Rock magazine. You see the irony, right?

There may very well be some decent new music being made, but it's not really in the rock genre anymore. Like jazz, rock has had it's run, and most of what's new is just re-hashing.

I think Plant has a lot of integrity when it comes to his solo music, and as a big fan of Led Zeppelin for the last 40 + years (yikes!) I love that he doesn't go out on the road with Zeppelin and tarnish the legacy of a great band that knew when to call it quits. Unlike the Rolling Stones. Yet, as you can see by my avatar and screename I'm a fan of the Stones, but I wish they would have called it quits after Tattoo You.

I was basically commenting on Plant not just saying "If I can't do it like I could in the 70s, why do it?" and not pretending to Classic Rock magazine that the music world is as exciting now as it was in the 70s and 60s.

Sometimes you have to embrace your old fartness, or you come off an old wannabe hipster, which is more pathetic, IMO.