Led Zeppelin News

The Pulse of Radio reports that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss recently wrapped up a few U.S. shows and are headed off to tour Europe in May. They’ll return this summer to kick off another U.S. leg and are being joined onstage by producer and musician T-Bone Burnett. He tells The Pulse of Radio we can expect a variety of songs at the show, including some Led Zeppelin songs. “We’re doing ‘Black Dog’. I think we’re doing some more obscure ones too. We’re doing a couple of B-sides. We’re doing ‘The Battle of Evermore’, which is just mind-blowing. And that’s something that Led Zeppelin never did live. So it’s a great chance to do it now with Alison singing the Sandy Denny part. And of course she just kills it.”
http://www.pulseofradio.com/default2007.htm

Robert Plant is scheduled to appear on June 27, 2008 at London’s Hyde Park for a concert celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday.

What is interesting about this article is that “Robert Plant and special guests” will perform. Of course, this is mere speculation as to whom these special guests might be.

Also scheduled to perform in London are Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart, Bono and The Edge, Bryan Adams, Eminem, Eric Clapton, John Mayer and Buddy Guy, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Jools Holland, Joss Stone, Keane, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Lenny Henry , Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Queen with George Michael, Paul Rodgers with Robbie Williams, Razorlight, Roger Waters, Sheryl Crow, Spice Girls, Sting, Tina Turner, Vusi Mahlasela and Will Smith.

http://www.queenzone.com/queenzone/news_view.aspx?news_id=4677

As their impeccable band swung into “Rich Woman” with an easy flourish, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss took the stage Saturday night at the Louisville Palace to the first of several standing ovations.

Plant, still the god king of rock ‘n’ roll, strolled out with a quietly confident swagger, his hair in that tangle of curls so familiar to Led Zeppelin fans. Krauss looked like she was headed to a prom in her pink dress, maybe one with “Stairway to Heaven” as its theme.

And when they began singing, it was clear they still felt the chemistry so evident on their “Raising Sand” album, his well-traveled yowl blending perfectly with her pristine voice. There were a few goose bumps, and not the last.

This was the first night of the “Raising Sand” tour, but both the singers and the band sounded fully warmed up. Krauss didn’t hit a bad note all night, almost flaunting her perfect pitch, and the band, led by T Bone Burnett, was nearly flawless. Plant was Plant, and that was plenty.

Krauss and Plant performed nearly all of “Raising Sand,” a handful of Led Zeppelin classics and a couple of songs associated with Krauss’ solo career. They also threw in a George Jones cover just because they could.

As expected, the Zeppelin songs drew a huge response — one guy screamed “Led Zeppelin rules!” barely five minutes into the show — but they weren’t the highlights (although “Black Dog,” with the world’s spookiest banjo, was pretty amazing).

“Fortune Teller” was better, with drummer Jay Bellerose exploding the song from the inside out, and Krauss broke every heart in the place with “Through the Morning, Through the Night.” “Killing the Blues” and “Trampled Rose” were also contenders.

But the most unexpected song might have also been the night’s finest. Krauss, backed by Plant, Buddy Miller and Stuart Duncan, soared through an a capella version of “Down to the River to Pray,” from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” that was so beautiful it sucked the air out of the room.

Everyone who went back for yesterday’s second sold-out show should be so lucky.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/NEWS01/804210430/1008/NEWS01