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.

Jason Bonham adds Airrace concert dates to summer schedule

Drummer Jason Bonham is becoming increasingly in demand again, now having been booked to play a few shows in England reuniting him with the members of his first professional rock band.

Bonham was 17 years old when he joined Airrace, which released an album called Shaft of Light on the Atco label in 1984. The album was put to CD for the first time in 2003 by the reissue label Wounded Bird Records. The hopes of selling more CDs appear to have prompted the group to get back together.

Classic Rock magazine reports that three other original members are to join Bonham (shown on right in picture) in the reunited Airrace: guitarist Laurie Mansworth (left), singer Keith Murrel (center) and keyboardist Toby Sadler (not shown). In addition, new member David Boyce is to play bass with Dean Howard on second guitar, completing the six-piece lineup.

Three British concert appearances by Airrace, with Bonham on drums, are currently scheduled for this June and July, with Mansworth telling Classic Rock magazine a more permanent reunion, including a new album, could be in the works.

On June 19, Airrace is to headline a show at the Pitz in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The band is also set to support British rock group Thunder at Sheffield City Hall on July 4 and in Cambridge on July 5.

One more Airrace date is to take place Oct. 24 at the Firefest in Nottingham, although it has already been announced that Bonham would sit out for that show due to scheduling conflicts. Classic Rock's report does not specify exactly what commitments are keeping Bonham from playing this date, which once again leads one to wonder.

Of course, it could be as innocuous as a previously scheduled family outing for the Bonhams. But on the other hand, with John Paul Jones saying last week that he hopes "to be everywhere this summer" with "a couple of other people" who've been "working [with him] on some other music, which is more rock based," one cannot help but wonder what other plans are on the horizon.

Bonham's June and July concert dates with Airrace surround his only other announced live appearance this summer, a June 30 headlining set at Norway's Quart Festival combining him with Slash, Ozzy Osbourne and Ron Wood. No other performances by this de facto supergroup lineup have been scheduled.

Last August, Bonham left Foreigner as its regular drummer while the band was very busy touring, stating that he wanted to spend some time with his family in the short term before returning to the music scene. At the time, it seemed possible to him that a few jam sessions earlier that year with Jones and Jimmy Page would allow him to continue playing with them, as he had onstage at the Led Zeppelin reunion in December 2007. Page's manager said in January 2009, however, that auditions for a new singer to join a touring and recording band with Page and Jones had concluded, without anyone having landed the gig.

Meanwhile, the natural selection for any group including Page, Jones and Bonham -- Robert Plant -- spent last year touring with Alison Krauss, with their joint album Raising Sand deemed a commercial and critical success. A potential follow-up album is already in the works, but Plant is already dabbling in at least one other project: He is scheduled to take part in this Saturday's headlining act at the three-day Womad festival, which is already underway in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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."

John Paul Jones hints at summer tour, begins week in New York

Summer touring plans may be starting to develop for John Paul Jones, who appeared on TV last night performing with Sara Watkins for his first of five gigs in New York this week.

The four upcoming gigs, which run Thursday through Sunday, will see Jones playing with Sonic Youth and violinist Takehisa Kosugi at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Jones also spent some time at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Monday backing Watkins on her first major media appearance as a solo artist since last Tuesday's release of her self-titled album.

He played bass on their rendition of "Long Hot Summer Days" for the new NBC show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. They also brought in Sean Watkins, Sara's brother and Nickel Creek bandmate, as well as Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the drummer of Fallon's house band, the Roots, who previously jammed with Jones at the Bonnaroo Festival in June 2007.

While it appeared last week that none of the participants in Led Zeppelin's December 2007 reunion would likely be making any music this summer, plans have since emerged for at least one concert date involving drummer Jason Bonham as part of a supergroup also involving Slash, Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie Wood.

But that may not be all. John Paul Jones says he's hoping "to be everywhere this summer" with "a couple of other people" who've been "working [with him] on some other music, which is more rock based."

This comment comes from an interview printed in today's issue of Women's Wear Daily. When prompted to reveal some details, Jones tightened his lips, offering only:

"It’s a secret, actually. I shouldn’t have even said that, you know? There are some exciting projects coming up, let’s put it that way."

It's the first time this year that Jones has offered any public comment on his musical plans for the near future. Last October, Jones confirmed he was working with Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham and "trying out a couple of singers" for a record and a tour. Jones also said they were keen on playing loud music.

Talk of this possibility halted in early January, when Page's manager said singer audtions hadn't resulted in any selection.

So, what does this mean? Is Jones teaming up with the Slash-Osbourne-Wood-Bonham supergroup? And if he is, will Page join him too?

Could the "couple of other people" Jones mentioned be Page and Bonham? Furthermore, have they finally persuaded Robert Plant to do a 360 and participate in a Led Zeppelin reunion tour despite his most recent and insistent refusal last September?

Jason Bonham to perform in really awesome supergroup

Dude, no way! This has to be bullcrap. Or maybe just mistranslated.

We have a Norwegian paper and a festival Web site that both seem to be claiming our friend Jason Bonham is going to hook up with some really famous musicians for a show in Oslo, Norway.

On guitar, you have chain-smoking Gn'R axeman Slash. On vocals, you have the Sabbath-crooning, bat head-chewing, obscenity-spouting pater familias Ozzy Osbourne. And on bass or guitar or whatever he damn well pleases, we have the O'Doul's-swilling Faces and Stones vet Ronnie Wood.

Imagine how lucky these stars of the '70s, '80s and '90s will be to have the direct descendant of Zep skinsman John Bonham pounding away for them!

Good for Jason, good gig!

The show takes place June 30 at the Quart Festival in Oslo, Norway. In case that's all this lineup does, you may want to check into flights now.

No summer tour plans announced for any Zeppelin members; only a rumor of Jimmy Page joining Jeff Beck

• Jeff Beck, newly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is on tour right now. The first date was last night in Scranton, Pa., and he's set to visit Philadelphia's Electric Factory tomorrow and New York's Irving Plaza the next couple of nights. From there, he's off to New England, the Midwest and California, before a U.K. tour in June and July, with some Canadian dates and a short European tour rounding out that month.
  
  As for a rumor reported today by Boston Herald's Inside Track that says Jimmy Page may join Beck "on tour later this year," it's not a rumor I could find anywhere else recently. Of course, we did hear back in July 2007 another reported rumor -- that time courtesy of Rolling Stone magazine and others -- that Page and Beck were going to join up with the already-touring original Yardbirds members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty, and that hasn't happened.
  
  But you never know if Jimmy Page might show up at Jeff Beck's concerts. Check out those tour dates here and decide for yourself.
  
  
• Sara Watkins just released an album produced by John Paul Jones, and she'll soon be out on tour. It looks like she's booked to open for Old Crow Medicine Show for a few dates in the South, starting this Thursday. She's supposed to play on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" next Monday night and then head to Minneapolis for shows on April 15-16 that kick off her first-ever headlining tour.
  
  Jones will not be a regular in the touring lineup although he is scheduled to appear with her on Monday's TV spot, which will tape in New York. Jones is committed to being in New York to perform with Sonic Youth on April 16-19, during Watkins's headlining shows in Minneapolis, Naperville, Ill., and Nashville. But if Jones sticks around in New York for just a few days more, he would still be around when Watkins performs at the Mercy Lounge on April 22. This may be the best chance of Jones sitting in during the tour, but you can view all the tour dates here and decide for yourself.

Side note: While Watkins is out touring, she will presumably take with her Pete Thomas, who drummed for Elvis Costello in the Attractions lineup that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and again later for Costello's Imposters lineup. That lineup also included bassist Davey Faragher, who was said to be one of the members of the Watkins solo band (also called the Works Progress Administration -- and, previously, the Scrolls) back when it was lining up in December 2007.

• But it probably doesn't bother Elvis Costello when his former bandmates find new things to do. He has a new band now called the Sugarcanes, and he'll be using them on a dozen or so tour dates this June and August. The band includes Stuart Duncan on fiddle and banjo and Dennis Crouch on bass; both toured last year with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Also in Costello's Sugarcanes lineup is Jerry Douglas, who's a member of Krauss's Union Station. They'll be supporting Costello's June album release, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, which (also like Plant and Krauss's Raising Sand) is produced by T Bone Burnett and features him on electric guitar.
  
  
• There was speculation late last year of a new studio project by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss leading them to some tour dates this year. However, nothing more currently appears on the horizon. Heck, there hasn't been any indication that any recordings proceeded beyond the "pre-production" stage as Krauss pronounced it. No word even if Krauss will be out at all this year.
  
  And whatever happened to Plant's band the Strange Sensation? I always thought it would be natural for him to return to that group once he was done with Krauss. That's the group that helped him record the albums Dreamland and Mighty ReArranger, and he went out on tour with them several times between 2001 and 2007, right up until Raising Sand was released. All throughout Plant's association with Krauss, the front page of his official Web site had a link to biographies of his band members, who were listed as the guys in the Strange Sensation. But last week, his site was redesigned for the first time in four years, and the Strange Sensation stuff has disappeared.
  
  
• Tour dates for Foreigner continue without Jason Bonham on drums anymore. They've had Bryan Head on drums ever since Bonham's departure last summer, which he explained at the time he was doing so he could rest up with his family in the event he was suddenly called into action by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. Foreigner's out playing all the time and currently has shows booked through October.
  
  
• The surviving members of former Swan Song recording artist Bad Company have reunited again and will be playing 10 shows in late June and early July. I'm a fan of the fact that this band's first reunion of the original lineup reunited in honor of Peter Grant, their manager and Led Zeppelin's, after his 1995 funeral. They played a show last year, and they're returning to the same venue to kick off their limited tour and sell a DVD of the 2008 appearance.
  
  Perhaps it's a plan the Led Zeppelin members ought to consider since they have a DVD to release and seemingly don't have very much else to do in the near future.
  

John Paul Jones listed for TV appearance with Sara Watkins next week

Stay up Monday night (or set those newfangled or oldfangled recordin'-machines) to catch John Paul Jones sitting in with Sara Watkins on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.