the venerable Englishman and 74-year-old rock icon returns to the Montreal International Jazz Festival with his muse Alison Krauss. Bluegrass, country-folk and rock on the soft pedal, the evening promises to be divine. We did try to talk to him; it doesn’t matter, we talk about him the same way as a preview of the 43e editing. Nobility obliges.
Don’t get stuck in the past. Extensive program.
“Massive applause no longer satisfies my need to be stimulated,” he confided to the LA Times in 2018.
Robert Plant, the ex-singer of Led Zeppelin, has laid 17 albums since the end of the activities of the mammoth rock band.
Sitting in front of Jools Holland in 2020, he confides to the British animator and former member of Squeeze: “If you create Whole Lotta Love, how many identical songs do you need? Sometimes we were brilliant, other times not so much. And that’s how it was supposed to be. »
Asked about Greta Van Fleet, the cheeky emulators of his former group, Plant confided to journalist Scott Alderman in 2018: “They are Led Zeppelin 1. Their singer is handsome and I hate him! Plus, adds Plant, he borrowed the voice of someone I know very well…”
Revealed in all its lasciviousness on the big screen with the film-concert The Song Remains The Same (1976) – seen 35 times –, the ultimate rock star, the mane, the voice that pitch on the ceiling, all that is distant. Except that, in order to prove that rock is above all an animal drive, Robert Plant has achieved a stroke of genius by achieving one of the most beautiful crosses there is.
PHOTO PIERRE MCCANN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Led Zeppelin group in Montreal, April 13, 1970. Pictured: Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page.
His mystical, philosophical and spiritual texts with Led Zep, influenced by among others JRR Tolkien who inspired the songs Ramble On, No Quarter And Over The Hills and Far Awayreferences to Lord of the Rings were obvious; Plant now sticks to American folklore and its roots.
In all the jumble of preparations for the rockers’ reunion at the O2 Arena in 2007, Plant already had the American Midwest in mind, the outline of a tandem with the musician americana Alison Krauss is very real: violins, acoustic guitars, mandolins and double basses…
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Raising SandDirected by T-Bone Burnett, Wins Grammy for Album of the Year in its category. It comforts her man in his choices; moving away from the lead airship was the right decision. Mel Tillis, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson and the Everly Brothers are revisited under the lead of the singer. Rebelote on Raising the Roof (2021).
A seasoned music lover
On tour around the world, Plant walks around with his shoulder bag, eager for record stores where he rummages in the LPs. Perhaps he hopes in his quest to find a Jesse Roden or a Frankie Miller, two of his singers brit favorite?
Unless he spots the Orange Crush bootlegs (1972), Earl’s Court (1975) or The Destroyer, 4 quality 7/10 contraband vinyl recordings of the 1977 tour, for the humble scribe who owned them all, these concert testimonials were coveted objects at the time. Even the reptilian manager and former wrestler Peter Grant, so protective of the brand, could not do anything against this black market of live.
Not an opportunity is missed to visit and follow in the footsteps of its formative heroes in the humidity of Mississippi, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bukka White, Skip James, the burial places of bluesmen of his childhood.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Robert Plant received the Spirit Award from André Simard in 2011.
In 2011, with Band of Joy and super guitarist Buddy Miller, he left a strong impression on André Ménard and André Simard, the co-founders of the Jazz Festival. During a small ceremony organized behind the scenes of Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Simard presented him with the Spirit Award for his musical influence on the periphery of jazz. Bob Dylan has already received it. The Press is here. The charismatic frontman accepts the statuette with sincere thanks.
“I went to fetch him from his dressing room to accompany him to the greenroom, says Andrew. I expected to be disappointed. He opens the door and welcomes me with his best smile from the top of his six feet and two. Affable and charming, he answered with subtlety the question of Alain de Repentigny (pillar of music journalism, now retired from The Press) on a possible alumni reunion: ‟There is no point competing with your youth”.
Between the Sensational Space Shifters, Band of Joy and Strange Sensation formed in 2022, Plant surrounds himself with scholars. The Plant-Alison duo is accompanied by five musicians.
When The Levee Breaks, rock ‘n roll And The Battle of Evermoreso beautifully sung by the late Sandy Denny, are three selections from Led Zeppelin 4 which are played in all cities, in addition to Please Read The Letterconducive to vocal harmonies.
André Ménard, who saw the show in Saratoga last year, is ecstatic: “The vibes is extraordinary and JD McPherson (who is doing his first part) is invited to join the group. »
Between the Delta and Louisiana, the music of the Maghreb and the Tinariwen group, his love for Ali Farka Touré and the propagators of American roots music, Robert Plant has always known how to be on the move in the bends. His greatest merit was to question himself with lucidity and objectivity at the right time.
July 7, 7:30 p.m., Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts