U.S. tour dates announced for Robert Plant; June-July for world music tour with Sensational Space Shifters

Robert Plant has new words today on his musical direction or "path," a word he always preferred over "career" anyway. Contained in a press release announcing his June and July U.S. tour dates with the Sensational Space Shifters are these words:

"Keep it fresh, spin the bottle, dig deep, embrace the past - visit it - celebrate it - but don't build a home in it."

Yeah, it sounds like something Plant would say. It helps to understand why so much of their concert has been taken up by playing Led Zeppelin songs. The evidence is on the official live releases he's recorded with them, available as downloads or physical CDs. Just check www.robertplantlive.com.

His 2013 touring band, the Sensational Space Shifters, is fresh off a month of dates in Australia and New Zealand, not to mention Singapore, one destination that never came through for Led Zeppelin back in the day. The Sensational Space Shifters are a reconfigured Strange Sensation, the backing band that accounted for Plant's 2001-2007 output -- up to his collaboration with Alison Krauss and the Led Zeppelin reunion.

The Strange Sensation backed Plant on the albums Dreamland and Mighty ReArranger as well as many performances, including for the WOMAD audience. Since then, guitarist Justin Adams recruited riti player Juldeh Camara from the Gambia. Also coming from that country with experience in sabar drumming is Dave Smith, a jazz drummer and orchestral percussionist said to have "Ginger Baker-like energy." Meanwhile, guitarist Skin Tyson and bassist Billy Fuller played in the 2010 project Men from Mars, recording "in the hills of Snowdonia" a self-titled album available for download at Bandcamp. Keyboardist John Baggott has been composing for TV and film.

Plant's press release reveals that he was a "timid English boy" early in his teens, growing up in a "sanitized shelter." He grew immensely, finishing out his teens having just become a quarter of the lineup of Led Zeppelin.

An array of sonic influences continued to develop Plant's singing throughout the years, not the least of which is the music of the Mississippi Delta: "a world of field holler, despair, Levee camp and chain-gang moans; of Saturday night fish-fry and Juke Joint foot stomp."

Plant has also learned "from the sounds of Southside Chicago Electric Blues; of Griot mantras from West Africa; from Louisiana Dance Halls; Greenwich Village Folk hangover; Haight Ashbury indulgences; Moroccan medina breakbeat; the early English radical techno materials, Texas two-step and Bristol Dubstep."



The Sensational Space Shifters and Plant, this June and July, are coming to the United States to play 21 cities spanning both coasts and a few in between. Fifty years after being that "timid English boy," Plant is "drawing from a lifetime of adventures, tracking the dark, beautiful resonator." While speculation about any kind of a possible Led Zeppelin reunion can be put off for the near future, it's said that "Plant follows his heart and lifts his voice higher and joyous ever away."

What the press release doesn't indicate is whether they'll be unveiling any new music at this time. UPDATE, 2:34 p.m.: A publicist for Plant says the set list has yet to be determined and added "no new record [is] scheduled to be released." Tour dates follow, after the jump:

Robert Plant's O2 Rockwell set consists of two reworked Led Zeppelin numbers

No "unique collaborations" of note by Robert Plant onstage at the O2 arena in London tonight, but his solo set at the Rockwell charity gig was comprised of a pair of Led Zeppelin songs.

Twitter users said Plant's awesome set brought the house down with African-style renditions of the classics "Black Dog" and "Whole Lotta Love."

Between the two was another song, a similarly reworked version of the blues tune "Funny in My Mind (I Believe I'm Fixin' to Die)" Plant included on his 2002 album Dreamland. For this version, the singer pulled out a harmonica and took a solo between verses.

Onstage with Plant for his set was Justin Adams, a member of the Strange Sensation lineup that contributed to Dreamland and its 2005 followup, Mighty ReArranger.

Among the musicians with them onstage was Juldeh Camara, a Gambian instrumentalist and vocalist who released an album called Soul Science with Adams this May.

Camara and Adams have been touring far reaches of the world this year in support of their disc, and in April their headlining set at the WOMAD music festival in Abu Dhabi was boosted by a special guest appearance from Plant.

Singer Beverley Knight wrote on Twitter during the O2 Rockwell show, "Robert Plant is a total legend! My GOD, awesome. Xxxxxx." Afterward, she had her photo taken backstage with Plant, as seen at right. This prompted her to comment, "OMG! Me and the (wolves) legend Robert Plant!!!!"

Among entries from the LedZeppelinNews Twitter feed during the concert:

• RT @MikeSouthon Robert Plant doing a folk/african version of 'Black Dog'
• RT @MikeSouthon Robert Plant doing 'Whole Lotta Love, with his cracking folk/african band. bliss!
• RT @RyanQuadri Robert Plant's on!!! F***ing cool!!! Two Led Zeppelin classics including 'Whole Lotta Love' playing now!
• RT @andylopata Sanity restored thanks to Mr Plant and a whole lotta love!
• RT @paul_hide What a whole lotta love, Robert Plant brings the house down. Rockwell O2
• RT @pauldoussay ROBERT PLANT JUST PERFORMED WHOLE LOTTA LOVE :-D

Update: And now the first YouTube videos arrive!

Robert Plant's Womad finale

See http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090426/NATIONAL/704259836/1001 for a report on Robert Plant's gig last night in Abu Dhabi with Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara.

This morning, I think I heard Robert Plant's name on the Speed network's coverage of the Formula 1 race in Bahrain. I know the announcer said Eric Clapton was there, but I think he said Robert Plant was too. Their fellow countryman won the race.

Robert Plant to make Arab appearance at world music festival

Robert Plant has sung from '66 to Timbuktu, and now he's on his way from Nashville to Abu Dhabi.

He played one concert with Led Zeppelin in 2007 and 55 with Alison Krauss last year before picking up five Grammys for their recordings.

Now, Plant's next concert appearance was announced today: He'll be performing later this month as a special guest on the closing day of the World of Music and Dance festival in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Plant appeared at an installment of the Womad festival in Reading, England, on July 29, 2005, with his band the Strange Sensation. That show kicked off a European tour in support of his disc Mighty ReArranger. He and the Strange Sensation were previously slated for a Womad appearance in Redmond, Wash., but the band withdrew its appearance due to scheduling conflicts, the festival and Plant's management said at the time.

Now, Plant is to take part in Womad's headlining act in Abu Dhabi on April 25, which fuses together blues and African roots. This lineup incorporates Strange Sensation guitarist Justin Adams and his more recent musical collaborator, Gambian singer and musician Juldeh Camara.



This just proves you can never predict with great accuracy where Robert Plant's next move will take him! Krauss nailed it last summer when she told her hometown newspaper that Plant's "constantly on the move for inspiration." She likened him to a snake with an unpredictable path:

"He's going to go around this curve over here, and maybe he got a CD in Seattle and that made him turn this other way. Or maybe he shook somebody's hand in Istanbul and that's why he's turned to the right now."

In a similar turn of events, Plant sat in with Tinariwen in April 2007, performing the Strange Sensation blues song "Win My Train Fare Home."