Robert Plant and Alison Krause Bring Mutual Magic to the Greeks: Review

In the annals of popular music, has there ever been a successful confluence of two more existing single brands than Robert Plant and Allison Krause? Pretty much as a rule, duals start out in this configuration, then collapse into egos clashes; It’s not 20, 30 or 40 year old stuff in certain jobs. The long-lost fad of CSNY-style giants is one thing, but superduos never really became a thing, at least in the same sense as joining the giants. It’s clear that there’s always a shortage of superstars willing to put themselves in a constant creative situation that could at any moment lead to those most terrifying scenarios for alpha creativity: a tie.

However, here, like kismet, there is Plant and Krauss, the exception to the rule. And here like Brigadon, they are also scheduled to appear every 14 years or so, as they did Thursday in Greece in Los Angeles, where they appear there for the first time since they were royals at the Grammys in 2008. It would be great if everyone were They could set their alarms for the upcoming occasion much sooner than 2036. This time next summer, for example, will be fine.) But sometimes it’s the oddity of the meeting that helps make the magic. These two feel like they were born to be together… once in a while. Thursday’s show felt right at home, and like Halley’s Comet.

Their second album as a duo, “Raise the Roof” last fall, was much like the late sequel to 2007’s Raising Sand, the group’s winning six Grammys, including highest honors, album and record for song of the year. The newest album wasn’t in danger of achieving the same heights of a pop culture phenomenon, and no one expected it, given how weird, rich, wonderful, and weird this album was like the first that went the way it did. He did, becoming the coffee table CD of his day. But the magic didn’t fade for fans of the duo, who loved to follow T Bone Burnett’s return to production, recorded with the same players in the same automatic conditions, as the players they had 14 years ago seemed to have been. Inventing their new musical language using ancient grains. Both albums are full-length covers (except for one Burnett/Plant post to write on their latest, “High and Lonesome”). And both seem to happen deep in the rock, somewhere near a swamp and in outer space all at once.

The tour unit isn’t quite the same this time, though, at least in its command, which probably made a few of the scattered fans who pay attention to these kinds of things wonder if they’d ever get something like a Broadway-demo of what they got a decade ago. And a half. Burnett, who is not fond of touring, is not on board as bandleader and guitarist this time around; Nor is Buddy Miller, a featured soloist in concerts in the late 2000s. But it’s no understatement for any of those who deserve the legend to say the solution to filling those shoes this time around works as well or better. J.D. McPherson is the lead guitarist And the A great opening show, and while this is a huge break for him, it’s also a blessing for the audience, many of whom get their first show of one of the best in American rock and roll.

Macpherson really helps raise the roof, speaking of the last album’s title, in a solo style that’s less indebted to the moody vibe of a swamp – although he can do that too – and more to a creative but highly charged co-rockabilly/country/early quest for R’s roots & B that he’s been subtly updating for the 21st century for several albums now. He vigorously energizes several parts of the show without seeming to have come out to steal it. You can see Blunt and Cross’s admiration in how, after singing apart from each other, they retreated together in the shade to look at him as proud parents.

Not that MacPherson has become a favorite kid yet, or likely will, because Blunt, at least, has shamelessly made it clear in his band introductions who’s at the top of the hierarchy. Jay Bellrose, a recurring character on Burnett’s stable of musicians, was introduced by ex-headman Led Zeppelin as “my favorite musician in the world,” and it’s not so much a mystery why someone who has worked with some of the greatest guitar players of all time might say that about a guitarist. Drums, if this in particular. If anyone could be described as “on the rhythm and offbeat,” it’s Bellerose, who seldom resorts to sticks as long as there are hammers or brushes available, and seldom plays a rhythm that you might feel with 100% certainty heard on stage before. He’s the master linguist who made Blunt and Croce’s music feel like they had discovered an unknown dialect.

At the same time, he does nothing to beat some of his fellow famous veterans in this group: Stuart Duncan, who plays second fiddle, second guitar and first mandolin and dobro, and two (Count M) bassists, Dennis Crouch (“King of the Bass”, said Blunt) and Victor Krause, the first lady’s brother, who also deals with very spare keyboards that come as an afterthought.

Second fiddle means there must be a first, needless to say, talking to Krause, who appeared on the bluegrass scene as violinist first and vocalist second, before becoming America’s favorite singer of sweet country pop songs. Krauss doesn’t actually have violin credits on a lot of the songs on the two albums she’s done with Plant. But he’s the lead singer of a lot of material on the show – especially with three Zeppelin songs being part of the group’s roster – and she needs something to do with her hands. So does Blunt, in that respect, but in his case, she’s the maracas, and in her case, she’s a world-class performer who brings so much that she’s got to dance to this pairing at the concert venue.

With Duncan, Krause formed a chain Section For what is probably the show’s highlight for many – a version of Zeppelin’s classic “When the Levee Breaks” that cleverly manages to interject some musical parts from a separate Zeppelin song, “Friends.” It turns out that Krauss is well capable of making your instrument feel as Middle Eastern as the Middle Tennessee. Can’t blame anyone for wanting to call “Levee” a climax moment, but the real highlight, and the exercise of some editorial power here, was Zep’s cover immediately preceding it, “The Battle of Evrmore,” in which Krauss’ voice was a major contributor to The rock standard of the ’70s, her belt makes the recorded version forever feel like she’s missing something in the future.

There was also a third Zeppelin chestnut – “Rock and Roll”, placed very early in the group as the fifth single, perhaps to reassure the audience that Blunt would not interrupt their youth favorites. Contrary to the perhaps surprisingly loyal stance taken on the other two Zep numbers, “rock ‘n’ roll” veered into a purely country ranch. It might have been a long time since we did that too.

Krauss and Duncan both played double violin on the few occasions they did, and they made such a powerful two-person syllable that you felt the band might be able to get away with properly majestic “Kashmir”. It is not attempted. Nor was it anything from Krauss’ solo/Union Station catalog, which she doesn’t seem to care about including in these joint shows. This, combined with the fact that Blunt carries the weight of public speaking, Lil evokes the idea that he’s the leader of this group, if ever there was one. (In a conversation with Burnett diverse For a profile on Plant and Krauss last year, they insisted it’s closer to being her really.) The dynamics they put in place for their common touring personas became clear, at least, when Plant mentioned how much chatting used to be at the performance and asked, “Do you remember when you were talking? ?” “No,” came her inevitable answer.

Knowing that one of the Plant’s main self-directions is not to repeat themselves too often, it might be really unlikely that we’ll suddenly see them adopt themselves in an open circle, over and over again. So this tour provides a good opportunity to enjoy the finest rock music of his generation doing what he does, which is of course a much quieter performance than it would have been in the golden days of the gods. Occasionally, he’d perform high on a Zeppelin song that hinted at the days when he and Janis Joplin were competing for the same top record. But it’s been decades since he made the wise decision to settle in octaves that would serve him well into the future – and that’s the nicest thing he has anyway. he is she has Make an additional choice to partner with Sopranos…but it sure seems like there’s a fleeting moment or two where you notice he’s suddenly taking a big part in their harmony.

The 2022 track took an unusual path, with the eastern part of the country the only one initially announced, throwing Los Angeles and others. In a panic, the West got what it was coming to after a European break. Los Angeles represented the third leg of the second leg of their US tour, which will end in New York at Beacon on September 12. One difference between the first and second halves of the tour is that three songs were dropped along the way, taking it down from 20 to 17. It was good to see the version of the show that ended more emotionally, with Maria Moldor’s “Someone Was Watching Over Me” ( It has since been dropped) as a final back number.

But it’s hard to imagine the show ending more perfectly than it does now, even if – or especially because – it closes with such a sense of high spirits and even some wit towards it. The main set was closed off with a rocking version of the Everly Brothers’ “Gone Gone Gone,” which from its title alone feels like a closer reality. But choosing to appear seems like a funny response: “Can’t Let Go,” their Lucinda Williams cover of the Randy Weeks song. It’d be a natural ending anyway, as the singing also gives McPherson guitarist one last chance to sting like a bee, too. But the title is also on purpose, and with a bit of brazenness, about how much of this show audiences really don’t want to give up. Let’s hope they don’t either, regardless of whether the 14-year absence makes the heart grow fonder.