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!

Trying to predict the unpredictable

After one of my pen pals asked me what songs I thought Robert Plant would perform at the O2 arena charity gig on Friday, I gave it some thought and came up with some guesses.

For one thing, I bet there is tremendous pressure for Robert Plant to perform Led Zeppelin songs. I can imagine the other performers wanting to sing them as duets with him, particularly with this recent trend of talent show sex symbols Leona Lewis and Adam Lambert remaking "Whole Lotta Love." It's time for Plant to reclaim the song -- and perhaps lend a little of it to elder sex symbol Tom Jones.

Plant has a history of granting people's wishes when it comes to dueting on Zeppelin material. The precedent was set on Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album when he shared vocal duties with Sandy Denny. While they didn't know it at the time, the song was tailor-made for Plant's future vocal collaboration with Alison Krauss, and Plant's also kept the song in the Fairport Convention family by performing it at last year's Cropredy Festival with another young talent, Kristina Donahue.

We could look also to Plant's studio remake of "Down by the Seaside" with Tori Amos, or his onstage run-through of "Fool in the Rain" with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, or those live versions of songs like "Hey Hey What Can I Do," "Black Country Woman" and "When the Levee Breaks" also with Krauss. Perhaps an arrangement of "Fool in the Rain" with Plant sharing the vocal duties with Joss Stone wouldn't be entirely out of question.

There are plenty of examples of Plant sharing the spotlight with the likes of vocalists Ian Hunter, Kevin Scott MacMichael, Buddy Miller, Juldeh Camara and Scott Matthews. But with all of those cases, it wasn't on Zeppelin material. We shouldn't overlook the possibility of Plant dipping into his own catalog of solo material -- like "In the Mood," "29 Palms" and "Win My Train Fare Home," all solo tunes he attempted on the road as duets in recent months. But substantial evidence suggests Plant would try out some cover songs; he's certainly done that once or twice before.

So, instead of "Whole Lotta Love," Plant's sharing of the stage with Tom Jones could well result in a duet version of "Kiss" by Prince, for instance. I could also see him helping Lulu tackle "Morning Dew," a Bonnie Dobson song both singers have released as a single.

Consider that Plant is one who has often nodded to his lyrical influences by reverting to the original in concert. With Led Zeppelin, he sang "How Many More Times," whereas with the Honeydrippers he sang "How Many More Years" by Howlin' Wolf; with Led Zeppelin, he sang "Communication Breakdown," whereas last year saw Plant crooning Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown."

So, Plant's about due to acknowledge "Never," the bluesy number by Moby Grape with some lyrical sentiments he ended up echoing in "Since I've Been Loving You" on Led Zeppelin III. He has long expressed his reverence for Moby Grape's music, and he's covered a lot of their songs live and in the studio, but never "Never." Will he someday? Never say never! Watch for Plant and Joss Stone might to settle in on a soulful rendition of it tomorrow.

But, that all being said, these "Leducated" guesses are based on what's characteristic about Plant. As we know, he's also often an unpredictable guy. This is, after all, the dude who turned up on harmonica on Primal Scream's studio take of "The Lord is My Shotgun" only because he offhandedly told one band member, while they were out having a drink, that he would show up and do it the next day. Not to be disingenuous, but who would have taken Plant at his word?

So, my final answer is Plant will sing "Let's Have a Party" with the Hot Rats and "Stairway to Heaven" with Razorlight.

Them Crooked Vultures to headline in Australia this January

Check it out: Them Crooked Vultures will be touring Australia and New Zealand early next year.

Dates are set up for Perth on Jan. 19, Melbourne on Jan. 22, Brisbane on Jan. 25, Sydney on Jan. 26, Wellington on Jan. 29 and Auckland on Jan. 30.

This, of course, follows previously announced dates in the United Kingdom and North America and extends existing tour dates beyond December and into 2010.

Zep members benefit charity front

News today from Led Zeppelin headquarters as all three surviving members have donated an assortment of band memorabilia to a charity auction benefiting Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant have joined other people close to the band in donating an array of books, photographs, and even two autographed Electric Magic fanzines, to be auctioned off for the hospital's benefit.

Of the items related to Led Zeppelin, the highest valued one is a concert program from the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert, held in December 2007 at the O2 arena. (The event, of course, became more famous for its headlining act, the reunited Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham on drums in place of his father.) Now bearing autographs by Page, Plant and Jones, this hardcover concert program, shown at right, carries an estimated value determined to be approximately $500.

The auction also includes:

• live still photographs of the band in concert in 1973, 1975 and 1977;
• an 8 mm film reel of footage shot from the front row of a Led Zeppelin concert in 1972;
• a photo of John Paul Jones playing the bass at the Knebworth festival in 1979, autographed by the man himself; and
• a rare promotional 12-page promotional book published by Atlantic Records in 1997, which highlighted the upcoming release of the Led Zeppelin album BBC Sessions.

In addition:

• Jason Bonham has autographed an issue of the fanzine Electric Magic from 1991 with his image on the cover; that's being auctioned.
• Page has done the same to another 1991 edition of Electric Magic bearing his image on the cover.
• Sam Rapallo, the author of those Electric Magic fanzines, has also signed a copy of his book, "Led Zeppelin: The Montreux Concerts," along with coauthor Gilles Chateau; that's being auctioned.
• There's also a rare photo collection by Mick Bonham, brother of the late Led Zeppelin drummer, titled "Bonham by Bonham," which was released posthumously in a limited and numbered set.
• Finally, there is a Robert Plant/Alison Krauss Raising Sand CD that is autographed on the cover by Plant.
  

Bidding for the Led Zeppelin-related items closes on Oct. 8 at 10 p.m. Eastern.

The announcement of these auction items comes 48 hours before Plant, who recently turned 61, is to take the stage at the O2 arena for the first time since the Led Zeppelin reunion. He's billed to appear at the star-studded Rockwell fundraiser.

The Rockwell lineup -- which also includes Tom Jones, Lulu, David Gray, Razorlight and Joss Stone, among others -- promises "unique collaborations." However, from an announcement of the full line-up, it does not appear Plant will be pairing up with any other acts on the bill. That doesn't mean he won't surprise us!

Proceeds from this concert on Friday are to benefit Nordoff-Robbins, a U.K. charity that uses music therapy techniques as a means to improve the quality of life for people living with various illnesses and conditions.

Beatlemania hits U.S. on feast of the nines

Beatles fans will be shelling out upwards of $250 to obtain the new box sets that present the first remasters of that group's catalog since the 1980s. Just as the Led Zeppelin catalog was remastered for re-release in the early 1990s, and selected tracks remastered yet again for the Mothership collection in 2007, the sound of all the Beatles albums has been updated for modern listeners.

The Washington Post yesterday included two opposing articles, one in support of the Beatles tracks in mono and the other in support of them in stereo.

Also because 09.09.09 is here, a Beatles edition of the video game "Rock Band" has also arrived, ushering a new use of licensing of the band's catalog. Contributing some thoughts on this, not surprisingly, is music-industry commenter Bob Lefsetz. He says the Beatles are behind the curve in reaching out to this format, one he says "is on death watch." Lefsetz doubts this move to the "Rock Band" enterprise will create fans out of today's youth: "If you want to teach the younger generation how great the boys from Liverpool were you'll reach more of them via advertising than you will via this half-baked game."

Jimmy Page, too, was recently critical of the "Rock Band"/"Guitar Hero" format, expressing his displeasure at the thought of dads trying to be John Bonham when they're not. Page said this to the press this June while promoting his film "It Might Get Loud" along with co-star Jack White in Los Angeles. White, too, expressed his ambivalence about that style of video game, offering that he noticed "a loss of romance" when those controllers get between the music and the listener.

In one October 2008 edition of the influential Lefsetz Letter, the author railed against the band for licensing a line of footwear. It was little over a month later that I similarly criticized the Led Zeppelin activity of 2007 -- not the reunion concert but the further distillation of Zep's material via Mothership, the moves to iTunes and YouTube, the launch of the official Web site, and even the new version of The Song Remains the Same -- as the popularization of Led Zeppelin to the everyman, the gasping last breaths of any mystery once associated with Led Zeppelin.

You know, the kind of mystery we're now seeing with the arrival of Them Crooked Vultures!

But the Lefsetz Letter also featured the lengthy and reasoned reaction by Jeff Jampol, the acting manager today of the Doors, explaining his actions. It wasn't an attack, and it wasn't a defense. It was just an explanation, a history of decisions. And the more I reflect on Jampol's words in response to Lefsetz, the more I budge from that hard-lined position and realize why the footwear line and other judgment-call decisions by the Doors management were appropriate at the time -- and, by extension, why these moves undertaken every once in a while by the Beatles and Led Zeppelin are appropriate for them at those points in time.

That all being said, Lefsetz may be right about "Rock Band" as a dying art form, and Page has the right to believe it was never that great in the first place. Lefsetz often says the CD format is dead. He's even argued physical media are dead, and selling digital files is on its way out too, soon to be replaced by the format he's now championing: streaming on-demand media. Of the Beatles, Lefsetz says:

"We know that the Beatles blazed trails. Opened doors that were not even seen. Created music that you could not only sing along with, but inspired you to take up musical instruments to play. The Beatles Rock Band will inspire no one to become a musician, will turn few on to the music, because it's at least two years too late. The Beatles led, we followed. Now Apple Corps. is so tentative that it can't help but follow. Imagine the remasters on Blu-Ray. Sure, few would be able to play them, but they'd inspire the public to get Blu-Ray players just to hear them. Could have been done. Would have blown our minds. We'd have gone to friends' houses just like we did in '64, to be exposed to this magic music. But that wouldn't be expedient business. Expect the Beatles to sell MP3s when streaming is the norm. It's a bit sad. But the music, even listened to at 128kbps on cheap white earbuds, is still revelatory. It will never fade away. Unlike Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the White Album, all of the Beatles records, are not a fad. They still get our adrenaline pumping and put a smile on our face. No matter when and where we hear them. You can build edifices atop the music, but the tunes still shine, will continue to shine. Thank God."

Maybe it's just because I'm a bigger fan of Led Zeppelin than I am the Beatles, but I think whatever new medium hasn't yet arrived could be new territory for Led Zeppelin. The embalming liquid of the future that will preserve Led Zeppelin's music for eternity -- or at least until the next medium makes it obsolete. The new format that will be employed whenever Them Crooked Vultures have new music they want heard -- and, preferably, sold for profit. Because it's a business.

Do musicians really ever retire?

There's an unconfirmed report that Charlie Watts is quitting the Rolling Stones. The veteran drummer apparently isn't interested in touring or recording with the group anymore.

So, in effect, would Charlie be retiring? I mean, he's not forfeiting his license to play Stones songs. But if he's not playing them with Mick and Keith anymore, then who's he gonna play 'em with?

Is Charlie going to go the Ringo Starr route and start up his own cavalcade of stars, rock musicians who go around and play yawn-inducing versions of their songs to aging folks in lawn chairs?

Drummers aren't afforded the same luxuries given to singers. If Robert Plant doesn't want to tour with Led Zeppelin, he can still record an album with Alison Krauss and sing "Black Dog" in concert -- and he does, and then people vilify him for doing the same thing others praise him for doing.

Or is Charlie just going to sit at home and relax now that he is in advanced age and enjoy the fortunes he has earned playing his limited role in the creation of songs like "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up"? And if that's what he's doing, doesn't the word "retirement" come to mind? How many times do you hear that word in this discussion?

Jimmy Page hasn't been on a major tour since 2000, and he didn't even finish it for reasons that were explained at the time as medical. There was probably a time last year that he genuinely thought he would be on the road this very day, playing Led Zeppelin songs with John Paul Jones, Jason Bonham and the singer of their choosing. It fell through for reasons not exactly explained, and Jimmy must be disappointed about that, if not absolutely heartbroken.

He says he wants to be seen again, and thank goodness for that -- because if things continue to carry on the way they have for the past decade, Jimmy will soon find himself in declining health and moping that he missed out on being seen, and enjoyed, when he certainly was capable. People want to see Jimmy and enjoy him.

Les Paul never retired. To the very end, he made himself available to his fans. Those who met him found a man who was very proud of his accomplishments and who was very friendly with those who admired him. Les was a great role model for any artist, not just guitarists but singers, drummers, everybody.

There's still a market for Jimmy Page, no doubt. There's still a market for Charlie Watts too. But is it the Rolling Stones crowd? Is that the only vehicle for his career today?

Does Charlie still have any unrealized aspirations? His technical abilities aside, could Charlie be the mastermind drummer in a spontaneously arranged supergroup not unlike the one John Paul Jones is in, and go out and write new music that has nothing to do with "Street Fighting Man" and more to do with, say, "The Day that Never Comes"? Might Charlie have some skills he's been shielding from the spotlight, like a decent singing voice?

As I watched "It Might Get Loud," it struck me when Jimmy Page declined to sing along with The Edge and Jack White when the three attempted "The Weight," the classic by The Band. Jimmy used the word "can't" when asked to sing. Aren't we taught as children to aspire higher than that? "Can't" was a naughty word in my household. Jimmy does end up singing a third harmony on the "and" at the end of each chorus, so kudos to him for overcoming one of his anxieties.

Jimmy also sang backup a few times during Led Zeppelin's career, and don't forget his pre-Yardbirds solo single "She Just Satisfies"; he was all over that one vocally. But why a man at his age would be debating whether or not to sing in the company of The Edge and Jack White is beyond me. Just go out there and do it, Jimmy. I encourage you!

Don't retire, Jimmy, and don't make us think you retired either. There's a market for you. There's a band for you. You're not washed up, and you never will be. Go out there and be seen. We promise your fans will be there.

Them Crooked Vultures solidify tour plans in third newsletter edition

Tour plans announced earlier today are correct, with concert tickets for the North American shows in October going on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. In addition, an official newsletter sent minutes ago by Them Crooked Vultures provides details for special presales set to begin Thursday at 10 a.m.

For those hunting for concert tickets to any of the U.K. shows taking place in December, the presale starts in only a few hours, at 10 a.m.

"Tour dates! [pause] This is tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow ..."

The newsletter contained passwords for the presales. (I won't repeat them here. You were warned to subscribe.)

Also in the newsletter is a new Them Crooked Vultures T-shirt design. This shirt sells for only $25 instead of $30 as with previous shirts. Shipping is only $6 compared to $10 on previous shirts.

Finally, the newsletter also contains one more of those lovely animated videos we all crave, with a sampling of audio from Them Crooked Vultures in the studio. The music is an instrumental portion of their track "Scumbag Blues." Here it is, followed by an assortment of other good stuff.



Enjoy!