When Zeppelin and their own songs are performed live, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss make a captivating duo. Vienna, Virginia The pairing of bluegrass royalty Alison Krauss with legendary rock god Robert Plant has long since ceased to be surprising.
These two get along well after 17 years of musical companionship, give or take a few breaks to focus on other endeavors. A couple of musicians who sincerely love to share the air between them, who savor every harmony, and who recognize every subtlety in an upright bass or violin.
Plant and Krauss met at center stage during their sold-out performance on Tuesday at Wolf Trap in northern Virginia. They briefly touched hands and finger-snapped through “Rich Woman,” the opening track on their 2007 Grammy-winning debut album together.
Plant and Krauss captivated audiences with their 16-song set, supported by a fantastic five-piece band that included notable guitarist JD McPherson, who opened the show, and drummer Jay Bellerose, who spent 90 minutes making extremely difficult drum patterns look effortless.
Before their summer tour, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are giving each other equal amounts of respect and jest.
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Using samples from “Raising Sand” and the eagerly anticipated 2021 follow-up, “Raise the Roof,” the pair combined their vocals over Randy Weeks’s “Can’t Let Go,” which features a rootsy guitar and a foot-stomping beat.
While Krauss’s singing is, well, angelic, Plant, an onstage fan blowing his mane with genuine rock star eŁlan, has a voice that is expressive and robust.
A subdued presence on stage, 52-year-old Krauss layered her mesmerizing voice over The Everly Brothers’ sensual crawl of “The Price of Love,” and her fiddling brought a touch of melancholy to the closing notes of “High and Lonesome.”
Even though the show’s tempo changed throughout, many people in the audience undoubtedly wanted to rock a little.
Plant complied, grinning, “Want some tempo?” and nodded to multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan, who replaced the famous drum opening of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” with a sawed-off fiddle.
Plant, who is 75 years old, couldn’t help but turn his hips to the line “been a long lonely, lonely time” and delighted the crowd even more by letting out a little peak-era yowl at the song’s conclusion.
Compared to earlier Plant/Krauss performances, the focus was more on Led Zeppelin’s catalog. The two combined their free-spirited vocals (him) and captivating violin (her) on “Please Read the Letter,” which was actually a Plant/Jimmy Page collaboration, and reveled in the Celtic punch that “Gallows Pole” delivered.
Plant, who is 75 years old, couldn’t help but turn his hips to the line “been a long lonely, lonely time” and delighted the crowd even more by letting out a little peak-era yowl at the song’s conclusion.
Compared to earlier Plant/Krauss performances, the focus was more on Led Zeppelin’s catalog. The two combined their free-spirited vocals (him) and captivating violin (her) on “Please Read the Letter,” which was actually a Plant/Jimmy Page collaboration, and reveled in the Celtic punch that “Gallows Pole” delivered.
Plant showed his appreciation for the current generation of musicians by introducing Krauss as “the woman who saved me from the fire” and praising the “amazing ensemble” of musicians (“I’ve been resurrected!”), while graciously giving in to fans’ craving for Zeppelin songs despite their authentically rootsy reworkings.
“The Battle of Evermore” opened with a mandolin melody and reached a powerful vocal crescendo. However, the pair’s most recent recorded release, “When the Levee Breaks,” brought the main set to a frantic, soul-shaking close.
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Krauss and Duncan’s dueling violins, the latter of which wound into a fury of notes, punctuated the song’s ethereal atmosphere, and Krauss couldn’t help but smile as he played. Plant, meantime, stood back in awe and began clapping his hands incessantly.
Beginning earlier this month and continuing through September, the Plant/Krauss run includes select dates as part of the Outlaw Music Festival Tour alongside Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.
Together, they have created a sound that is mostly Americana with hints of rock, blues, and bluegrass. It’s definitely visceral in addition to being a pleasing blend.
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