Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters live…

Retro Culturati caught Robert Plant and his latest band, The Sensational Space Shifters on their UK tour this week and putting post concert hysteria aside it was remarkably good. It is difficult not to like the man himself, even during his heyday as frontman of the biggest rock band in the world he never took himself seriously and neither does he now. Plant knows what he wants to do, what he likes and if there’s an audience for it then great. If not, so be it. Not for him the endless remixing of ‘undiscovered’ Zeppelin tracks and reunions and with a group of assembled musicians like Band of Joy and The Space Shifters you can understand why.

Plant’s ethos has been to create a modern-day band of minstrels and his latest album and tour has captured that essence brilliantly. The scope of music and instruments played to create that sound and vibe is considerable, the sound quality and Plant’s infamous dry humour which permeates every link between songs proves you are in the company of something special.

His Led Zeppelin days were covered but re-fashioned to suit his current influences, ‘Going to California’ and ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ were sung and performed with a renewed energy and vitality to them. To see him round off with a staggering rendition of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ was a special moment. For all of the versions and all the rock classics that man’s voice singing that track is one to tick of the bucket list. I’m glad that I have.

Oh, and the t-shirts are very cool.