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Gig Review - Robert Plant @ Fiddlers - 22nd June 2007 |
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Review by
Moose |
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This was more of an event than a gig,
with a real buzz starting as soon as the date was announced. I'm not
sure how quick tickets sold out, but it couldn't have taken long - I
seemed to be in the right place at the right time to pick up ticket
#1, but once inside that was to count for nothing as everyone got
the same rubber stamp ink mark on the back of their hand. Activity
outside the Fiddlers pre-gig was extensive too, with plenty of
people trying to nab any spare tickets that were up for grabs.
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Once inside it's very busy, with the
"older" crowd that you'd probably expect. Can't say the same for
support band AurA though, who look like they've come straight from
school after doing their homework. They play a decent selection of
blues-rock originals, including a slow blues workout that you could
actually sing the old Zep standard "Since I've Been Loving You"
along to nearly note perfect! "Has anyone heard of Neil
Young?" asks vocalist Dave Small prior to launching into "Rocking In
The Free World" - err Dave, when your audience is old enough to be
your dad everyone has heard of Neil Young!!!! Talking of old dads,
it's Robert Plant's young son on drums, and very good he is too.
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By the time Planty with his Strange
Sensation amble onto the stage the place is packed to the doors - so
much for the earlier rumour that only 200 tickets have been sold to
keep the place comfortable!! Now, I'm not too familiar with his
recent solo material, and I think the crowd were split 50/50 too -
half just waiting for the odd Zep song to be wheeled out, with the
other half having a bit more of an idea of what the newer material
should sound like. If you could stand the heat in what was by now a
sweatbox, neither half were disappointed.
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The guys in the band seem to be able to switch from jazzy eastern
tinged restraint to balls out rockers at the drop of a hat, with
Clive Deamer on the drums in particular being especially chameleon
like, swapping from complex Turkish style beats to Bonham-esq
pounding with ease. Bass player Billy Fuller (from Bristol
apparently....) swaps between double bass and electric bass
depending on what's required, and the two guitarists (Justin Adams
and Skin Tyson) complement each other perfectly, with Joe Strummer
like edge and aggression on one side and a more classic rock type on
the other - complete with different open tunings for almost every
song, very clever....
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Robert looks great and sounds even
better. The newer songs like "The Mighty Rearranger" seem to be more
comfortable for him, but there are a fair few Zep classics thrown in
too, stuff like "Four Sticks", "Gallows Pole", and the set closing
Whole Lotta Love" - all heavily re-worked with all sorts of
different rhythms. Kinda similar to the Page/Plant "Unledded" CD/DVD
thing from a while back, but different again. He makes
a comment about the Fiddlers "not being Glastonbury" after the first
couple of songs, making me think that he'd kept the date free for a
slot to play to a bigger crowd in a muddy field, but then didn't get
invited?? There's also a bit of politics as he rips into the current
Blair/Brown situation later in the set, but it's all handled in a
warm but dry humoured way that comes over very well.
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| There are no other UK dates scheduled
for a while now, as the rest of the current tour seems to be mainly
in eastern Europe, but he's back for The Green Man festival in Wales
on the 18th of August if you ended up stuck outside without a ticket
- check out
http://www.robertplant.com/ for details. |
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