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Robert Plant "Non Stop Go" Tour 1988


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I took these of Robert at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, OK on Nov. 18, 1988. Great show!! He was at the top of his game that night.

This date was originally scheduled for a month or so before, but drummer Chris Blackwell fell in the shower and broke his wrist during Joan Jett's opening set. :slapface:

10 minutes to showtime, Robert's tour manager comes out and has the unpleasant task of telling 12,000 fans there won't be a Robert Plant concert tonight!!!

Thankfully, the Okies took this news well -- although they were certainly not amused. Most seemed to agree upon further reflection that Zeppelin tunes sound much better with drums, however, and waited patiently for the make-up date.

The Norman show was re-scheduled for Nov. 18th. Don't recall what the original date was, sorry. Slept since then.

I also interviewed both Plant and Blackwell for my radio show and a feature article in the Oklahoma Gazette in advance of the Nov. 18th date where we talked about the shower incident. Pretty funny stuff...good laughs; Spinal Tap drummer jokes all around. The interview quickly devolved into a Monty Python sketch. Bloody hilarious. Eventually I will digitize these goodies (when I find those confounded, elusive boxes) and share `em here too.

Enjoy the pics. Really love that one of him smiling, close-up. Handsome devil! :)

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Edited by SinceIveBeenLovingU
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10 minutes to showtime, Robert's tour manager comes out and has the unpleasant task of telling 12,000 fans there won't be a Robert Plant concert tonight!!!

^^^

October 7th 1988.

Thanks for posting those photos from the rescheduled show, they're great. I can't wait for the audio and print interviews.

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Wow, so cool all these years later to virtually meet some folks who were there, too!! Both times!!!:D

thanks Steve for providing the original concert date of Oct. 7. Yes, I remember that now because I was excited to see Page and Plant concerts so close together...had just seen Jimmy in Dallas Sept. 23, and then would be seeing Robert just about 2 weeks later in OK.

as it turned out of course I didn't even get to see Robert or Chris at all the first night. Had backstage access for an event AFTER the show, but when Chris had to be rushed to the hospital, the whole band split and the after-show party was cancelled.:(

Thats ok, tho'...we made up for lost time in November!!! The band was in especially fine form that night. Rocked the damn house!!!

Chris Blackwell, btw, is one hell of a great drummer. Funny guy, too. I see he's keeping busy these days with mostly orchestral and some commercial work. Sure would like to see him w/ Plant again. Next to Richie Hayward and Michael Lee, he's my favorite drummer that Plant has worked with in his post-Zep period. And sadly, he's the only one of the 3 who is still alive.

Edited by SinceIveBeenLovingU
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I was at the concert in Norman and it was a hell'va show! I have caught Robert in concert many times over the years and he is a true showman. I have seen him and BOJ twice in the past year. I have to say the ones that stick in my memory the most are Page/Plant OKC 98 and Zep at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis 75 and 77. I love the boys and always will. No one can come close to any of them.

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Cheap Trick opened for him in at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, SC, when I saw him on the Non-Stop Go Tour 88.

He performed "Dimples" and did an awesome job!!! People were standing for the entire concert.

R B)

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I missed the opening act (which I believe was Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) at the show I saw at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill due to a couple of party poopers who didn't even want to be there. One of them also caused me to miss the last portion of the show when Plant broke out some Zep because they insisted upon leaving early.

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I saw Plant in Phoenix for that tour and The Mission UK opened for him. Phoenix crowds are notoriously rude and rowdy toward opening acts and I admit I was a bit embarassed at the greeting The Mission UK received. The crowd would not stop booing them and screaming, "Get the FUCK off the stage...You suck!!!" Finally, after two songs the singer told the crowd to fuck off, threw down his mic and stormed off. The remainder of the band went into one hell of a hard core metal jam for about a minute and the crowd LOVED it. Went beserk! The the rest of Mission UK took off their gear, flipped off the crowd and left. Insane. When Plant and the crew performed they did an amazing show. A rather large woman of about thirty rushed the stage with a bouquet of roses and just when security was about to get medeval on her ass, Plant motioned to security to back off. He approached her, gave her a hug and accepted the flowers, he then kissed her and helped her (with the aid of three security guys...I said she was a big girl) off the stage. Robert proves time and again he is a true gentleman, great showman, and incredible musician.

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A saw a show from that tour and his opening act Stevie Ray Vaughn blew him away!

Hey, I like SRV as much as the next guy but he could never blow Robert off any stage because Robert has always been as passionate as SRV and that is what it is all about. Also, not to get anyones knickers in a bunch but as much as I loved SRV style and playing abilities I never liked his tone. Way too twangy and steely for my tastes. I always thought the best of the Texas blus players was Gatemouth, agressive style and a meater tone than the other Texans.

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My parents, that week, saw Page at Memorial Auditorium in Kansas City, I forget the date, but they were supposed to see Plant a few days later and Plants show in KC of course got cancelled as well. They talk about it every now and then, cool to see someone else postin about it.

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Drove down from DC to Richmond, parked the car, walked down the backstage ramp, had no tickets, my future wife(now seperated) on my arm, nodded to the security guard, started talking to a roadie wheeling in equipment and walked in with no ticket. Ended up all around the arena, loud, raucous, echoy, remember the encore was some mishmash of zeppelin and a cover song. Crazy, funny, epic, over the top, classic, oh what a night.

Went to the Merriweather Post Pavillon show that same tour, was partying hard to the top of the covered pavillion when out came Phil Johnstone in his dress up impression of Jimmy Page. I loudly announced while looking through binouculars that Jimmy Page was on stage. The twenty or so people around me were fully excited that there was a reunion of sorts happening on stage. The rush of adreliane and unbelievablility was too much. I took another look and fuck me raw but it was Phil Johnstone in his Jimmy Page scarf, pants, acoustic guitar slung low for Black Country Woman. I told my future wife(same from the Richmond gig) that it was not Jimmy Page but a imposter. I then suggested that we slink off as not to be abused by those that called me out on my ruse. I still wonder to this day how many of those rockers around us claimed that Jimmy Page appeared at this show.

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Hey, I like SRV as much as the next guy but he could never blow Robert off any stage because Robert has always been as passionate as SRV and that is what it is all about. Also, not to get anyones knickers in a bunch but as much as I loved SRV style and playing abilities I never liked his tone. Way too twangy and steely for my tastes. I always thought the best of the Texas blus players was Gatemouth, agressive style and a meater tone than the other Texans.

Led Zeppelin is my favorite band by far. But SRV did blow him away.That night the audience agreed.

Edited by sixpense
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i saw -robert plant and -jimmy page in 1988, plant show was my first zep related show, nassau in july, we all decided to then see the show the next night, so took the -long island railroad in and scalped tics and saw that show. what can i say...after a journey of going to record conventions and into nyc for led zep bootlegs, it was a great thing, to hear misty mountain hop live....actually, dimples was really very memorable too. i def dont want to sound like a lazy zep fan, had already bought all the blues related records from the early zep stuff i had read about, willie dixon etc. for -plant it def was about his new record, he played/sung stuff off that recored with great heart, it was so cool to hear -tall cool one so heavy and -ship of fools, which ofcourse is such a telling song for us all as life goes on and we all see how things happen and so forth. it actually is very interesting to see how far plant is running ahead and how jimmy has seemingly either stayed in place or doesnt want to move. i def dont knwo and its none of my bus but just sayin. had a great page/outrider show experience too,but will add that in another thread and try to remember it too.

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A saw a show from that tour and his opening act Stevie Ray Vaughn blew him away!

I am only posting this as it is from SRV with Robert. Robert is amazing, but so is/was SRV...all I know is I would have loved to have seen them together ;)

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood - Meadowlands Sports Complex, NJ 5/17/1988

Edited by Deborah J
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i am def remembering -stevie ray with the white feather in his hat in 88, dont know which show it was, but he was ofcourse gggggreat. also -cheap trick opened for -plant somewhere along that tour or next tour, because i remember them opening up too. stevie ray just tore it up with the blues big time and cheap trick got catchy and atmospheric here and there.

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I am only posting this as it is from SRV with Robert. Robert is amazing, but so is/was SRV...all I know is I would have loved to have seen them together ;)

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood - Meadowlands Sports Complex, NJ 5/17/1988

Thanks Debs for this. I was at this show. Better yet, being on my birthday. One of the best birthdays ever. :D SRV was great but certainly didn't blow Robert away. This is pretty close to the view I had. One of the best openers I've seen.

I thought it was cool that R.E.M.'s Lifes Rich Pageant (which just celebrated it's 25th anniversary last month) was the house music prior to Plant taking the stage at the show I saw in Chapel Hill.

Pretty cool that this was the opening P.A. music at your show. Just don't remember if this was used back in May of 1988 at my show. Was always a big REM fan and then they sort of lost it when Bill Berry left and Michael Stipe shaved his head. They had a great string of records from Murmur in 1983 to Automatic For The People in 1992. Also the EP they released before Murmur was quite good too. Have seen them several times live, but not recently.

Hopefully this won't cause a derailment here!

Edited by SuperDave
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  • 5 months later...
I also interviewed both Plant and Blackwell for my radio show and a feature article in the Oklahoma Gazette in advance of the Nov. 18th date where we talked about the shower incident. Pretty funny stuff...good laughs; Spinal Tap drummer jokes all around. The interview quickly devolved into a Monty Python sketch. Bloody hilarious. Eventually I will digitize these goodies (when I find those confounded, elusive boxes) and share `em here too.

You have that interview? I would really love to hear that some time. I sort of remember doing it but if you could digitize it and let me have a copy I would be eternally grateful!

CB x

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