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Robert Plant Circa 1983


luvlz2

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Thanks Mark Zep for unploading this. the first time Robert Plant and Jimmy Page played live on stage together after Led Zeppelin disbanded. Unfortunately no video, only audio of a special moment in Robert Plant's solo career in 1983.

Edited by luvlz2
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  • 1 month later...

This was the only Robert Plant tour I have missed. We just moved from Chicago to Phoenix that summer so me missed him at the Rosemont Horizon gig. Since he did not stop in Phoenix and my parents would not let my brother take me to LA with him to see that show, I got screwed. The vids are great, looked like a hot tour with a great band behind him.

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Just found this awesome 1983 full length concert of Robert Plant performing in Montreal. Thanks Mark Zep

 

I was at this show. As a teen at the time, with walls plastered with posters of Zeppelin in their full testorone glory, I can only say that seeing Plant in a jump suit, dancing around in a un-zep fashion was a big letdown. The songs were good, and the show was entertaining (and Phil Collins was on drums)...but it just wasn't Zep. Kudos to Plant for trying to be original and break away from his past, but as a kid it was a bit of a disappointment. Thanks for sharing this video.  

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I have to say I saw Robert sometime in mid September 83'. Yes Collins on drums, at MSG. Of course

no Zep, but the show I saw was amazing. First of all despite all Plant's blather about leaving Zep behind,

plenty of songs had Plant ad-libbing Zep style, and doing some of those legendary sustained howls.

Second, Robbie Blunt was excellent, a unique sound and able to be subtle or forceful as the song

required. And live some of the studio songs which were a bit "weak" worked fine live. I think Plant

must have lost his mind to lose Blunt, IMHO.

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I have to say I saw Robert sometime in mid September 83'. Yes Collins on drums, at MSG. Of course

no Zep, but the show I saw was amazing. First of all despite all Plant's blather about leaving Zep behind,

plenty of songs had Plant ad-libbing Zep style, and doing some of those legendary sustained howls.

Second, Robbie Blunt was excellent, a unique sound and able to be subtle or forceful as the song

required. And live some of the studio songs which were a bit "weak" worked fine live. I think Plant

must have lost his mind to lose Blunt, IMHO.

Yess indeed, Blunt is a great guitarist and very unique too. Plant had a great band behind him no doubt.

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This was the only Robert Plant tour I have missed. We just moved from Chicago to Phoenix that summer so me missed him at the Rosemont Horizon gig. Since he did not stop in Phoenix and my parents would not let my brother take me to LA with him to see that show, I got screwed. The vids are great, looked like a hot tour with a great band behind him.

I missed this tour also, didn't get to see him in concert until he came to Phoenix in 1985, in the meantime I recorded every Robert Plant concert that was broadcast on the radio from the Principle of Moments tour. :)

August 26, 1983: Peoria, IL - Peoria Civic Center

August 27, 1983: Kalamazoo, MI - Wings Stadium

August 29, 1983: Rosemont, IL - Rosemont Horizon

August 30, 1983: St. Louis, MO - Kiel Auditorium

August 31, 1983: Milwaukee, WI - MECCA Arena

September 3, 1983: Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena

September 4, 1983: Cleveland, OH (Richfield) - Richfield Coliseum

September 6, 1983: Worcester, MA - The Centrum

September 8, 1983: Monteal, QC - Montreal Forum

September 9, 1983: Buffalo, NY - Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

September 10, 1983: Toronto, ON - Maple Leaf Gardens

September 12, 1983: New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden

September 13, 1983: Hartford, CT - Hartford Civic Center

September 14, 1983: Philadelphia, PA - The Spectrum

September 16, 1983: Memphis, TN - Mid-South Coliseum

September 18, 1983: Baton Rouge, LA - LSU Assembly Center

September 20, 1983: Houston, TX - The Summit

September 21, 1983: Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center

September 22, 1983: Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena

September 24, 1983: Denver, CO - McNichols Arena

September 27, 1983: Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood) - The Forum

September 28, 1983: Oakland, CA - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

September 30, 1983: Seattle, WA - Seattle Center Coliseum

October 1, 1983: Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum

Please correct me if any of these dates are incorrect.

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I missed this tour also, didn't get to see him in concert until he came to Phoenix in 1985, in the meantime I recorded every Robert Plant concert that was broadcast on the radio from the Principle of Moments tour. :)

August 26, 1983: Peoria, IL - Peoria Civic Center

August 27, 1983: Kalamazoo, MI - Wings Stadium

August 29, 1983: Rosemont, IL - Rosemont Horizon

August 30, 1983: St. Louis, MO - Kiel Auditorium

August 31, 1983: Milwaukee, WI - MECCA Arena

September 3, 1983: Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena

September 4, 1983: Cleveland, OH (Richfield) - Richfield Coliseum

September 6, 1983: Worcester, MA - The Centrum

September 8, 1983: Monteal, QC - Montreal Forum

September 9, 1983: Buffalo, NY - Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

September 10, 1983: Toronto, ON - Maple Leaf Gardens

September 12, 1983: New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden

September 13, 1983: Hartford, CT - Hartford Civic Center

September 14, 1983: Philadelphia, PA - The Spectrum

September 16, 1983: Memphis, TN - Mid-South Coliseum

September 18, 1983: Baton Rouge, LA - LSU Assembly Center

September 20, 1983: Houston, TX - The Summit

September 21, 1983: Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center

September 22, 1983: Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena

September 24, 1983: Denver, CO - McNichols Arena

September 27, 1983: Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood) - The Forum

September 28, 1983: Oakland, CA - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

September 30, 1983: Seattle, WA - Seattle Center Coliseum

October 1, 1983: Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum

Please correct me if any of these dates are incorrect.

That was the same gig I attended, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, second time I saw Robert, first time being at the infamous April 10th 77' Chicago gig when I was 9 years old (went with older brother and much older cousin).

I really liked that 85' tour, a real mix of tunes plus the 50's Honeydripper set after the main set. I remember the curtain on that insanely sloped stage going up after a short intermission and Robert in duck-tail hairdo and leather jacket with the three ladies in Poodle skirts singing backup. Great, great show in 85'.

Edited by IpMan
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What always struck me about 80's solo Robert is it seemed 80's fashion and musical trends were more important to him than doing his own thing in a certain way. Back in Zep it seemed to me he, nor any other in the band, really cared about any trends, they were the ones making them in fact. When he came back in 83' and toured though, Robert is wearing the fashion of the day (Billy Squire was wearing an almost identical stage wardrobe at the time), sporting a mullet (???), and somewhat tailoring his music to musical trends at the time. Take Shaken & Stirred for example. I really hated that album when it first came out as to me the whole damn thing (except for Pink & Black) sounded like whatever Robert had on his own playlist at the time but redone with a Robert twist. The first time I heard Sixes & Sevens I thought Robert was listening to way too much U2 & Cure. IMO he did not really come into his own again musically until Manic Nirvana, which is also the first tour he quit having stupid stage outfits. Though I always did like his live presentation, weird clothes and all, and Shaken & Stirred has really grown on me as an album through the years.

Like many here the 17 year old me wanted to see the Robert from Zeppelin, however the 47 year old me is glad he came into his own and did his own thing, bad dancing and jumpsuits as well.

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I think the 1980's were appalling in regards of fashion so in that respect Robert was no better or worse than anyone else although he did have to defend the ballet pumps in the Radio Clyde interview stating that it helped with his movement onstage.

Musically Robert seems to have (IMHO) really been listening the more Avant Guard edges of UK pop and New Wave rather than rock. I think it is most obvious with Shaken n Stirred with references to Art of Noise, China Crisis and Scritti Politti.

Oddly enough I too like Shaken n Stirred because it is well bonkers even by the standards of the day. Remember though this era had many established artists flop in the charts. Kate Bush was just about to release her comeback LP Hounds of Love; Peter Gabriel was at least three years away from the global smash "So" and Scott Walker was really going to go to some strange places.

Robert at this point really seems to have wanted to keep away from anything close to established rock sounds and to be fair having Robbie Blunt's guitar synthesised really dates the LP terribly above everything else but his vocals are wonderful especially on Sixes and Sevens and Too Loud would have been lorded by the critics if it had appeared on another artists LP. Also I would love to know how confessional his lyrics were.

I can see rock fans hating the steps he took post Zep but you can see the intent and results that all the successes and failures later led to.

I still think there is no excuse for those silk jumpsuits.  

 

 

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I certainly see how Robert ended up looking a bit silly going from the Greek God to the

pied piper, or whatever title is apropos. However extreme his musical experiments I far

prefer the 80's stuff all the way to FON than the post-1999 material. Iv'e said this often

but many of the later projects do not sound anything like real band collaborations, the

main suspect being IMO a rather strange combination of some complex but many other

overly simplistic parts, as if Plant is dictating the instrument parts. Well, Plant post-2000

still has dedicated fans, so all power to him and that subset.

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First of all despite all Plant's blather about leaving Zep behind,

plenty of songs had Plant ad-libbing Zep style, and doing some of those legendary sustained howls.

 

I discovered Led Zeppelin in 1982 as a freshman in high school so when Robert Plant's solo career began in 1983 I was still discovering Led Zeppelin. I picked up all the magazines, music, etc that I could get my hands on.

And then I started discovering bootlegs. A friend introduced me to a friend who really turned me on to Led Zeppelin bootlegs and rare releases. I went into his place one day, and he said "check out the albums" (they knew I was a already a huge Zep fan, that's probably how I got introduced at all), anyway you could see the huge long stack starting from the wall going into the middle of the living room, so I started going through them, and immediately began noticing they were all different Led Zeppelin live concerts, rare releases, etc. I believe I asked him if he could record me a couple, so from all those glorious vinyls I ended up picking "Bonzo's last stand" (Berlin 1980) and I forgot the other one.

When I first heard the version they played of "Whole lotta love" from the Berlin 1980 concert I was exhilarated. I mean I was already exhilarated but these bootlegs just heavily deepened my love and curiosity for this band. This was right before I first got to see Plant in concert, so when I finally got to see him in Phoenix and hear him ad-libbing Zeppelin and doing some of those legendary sustained howls it was truly mind blowing. he did a version (thing) with his voice in the same way and rhythm that was done when Zep played Whole lotta love in Berlin in 1980, that is what really got my attention. So I have really fond memories of first seeing him in concert in his early solo career. . :)

Edited by luvlz2
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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

The Time Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Reunited - For One Song

 

Long before their '90s-era reunions, to say nothing of Led Zeppelin's celebrated one-off concert in the following decade, intersections between Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were much harder to come by.

 

They'd rarely happen, and they didn't last nearly as long, in the immediate aftermath of Zeppelin's 1980 breakup. One of the more memorable occasions was Dec. 13, 1983, during the encore of Plant's concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon. It was just the second time Plant and Page performed together after calling it quits, and again they reached into their pre-Led Zeppelin past - but only for a single song.

 

"I've got an old friend here who's unused, as he is, to public speaking - Jimmy Page,' Plant said to an ovation that interrupted him in mid-sentence. They then launched into an R&B hit that inspired them in their formative years, "Treat Her Right" by Roy Head. Their initial reunion, on May 12, 1982, found the duo sitting in with Foreigner for a cover of Little Richard's "Lucille" at the Olympiastadion in Munich.

 

It was very emotional for Page and Plant because it was the first time they had been together since the death of fellow Led Zeppelin bandmate and drummer John 'The Beast' Bonham two years earlier," Lou Gramm wrote in his autobiography, Juike Box Hero. "It was cool for me to share the stage with Plant, because I had always admired his reckless singing style - and some critics had compared my three-octave vocal range and stage presence to Plant's which I took as a high compliment."

 

"Treat Her Right" reached No. 2 on both the R&B and Hot 100 charts in 1965, having been kept out of the top spot by the Beatles' "Yesterday." It continues to be an inspiration to Plant. He also sand the song when he sat in with Los Lobos at the Taste of Chicago in 2010, throwing in a few lyrics from "D'Yer Mak'er" during the breakdown.

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What always struck me about 80's solo Robert is it seemed 80's fashion and musical trends were more important to him than doing his own thing in a certain way. Back in Zep it seemed to me he, nor any other in the band, really cared about any trends, they were the ones making them in fact. When he came back in 83' and toured though, Robert is wearing the fashion of the day (Billy Squire was wearing an almost identical stage wardrobe at the time), sporting a mullet (???), and somewhat tailoring his music to musical trends at the time. Take Shaken & Stirred for example. I really hated that album when it first came out as to me the whole damn thing (except for Pink & Black) sounded like whatever Robert had on his own playlist at the time but redone with a Robert twist. The first time I heard Sixes & Sevens I thought Robert was listening to way too much U2 & Cure. IMO he did not really come into his own again musically until Manic Nirvana, which is also the first tour he quit having stupid stage outfits. Though I always did like his live presentation, weird clothes and all, and Shaken & Stirred has really grown on me as an album through the years.

Like many here the 17 year old me wanted to see the Robert from Zeppelin, however the 47 year old me is glad he came into his own and did his own thing, bad dancing and jumpsuits as well.

There is a lesson to be learned here, imo.  An artist has to be willing to look ridiculous in order to grow.  Maybe it's best not to wait for divine inspiration.  Instead pick a musical "style" that interests you and see where it takes you.  Even if the project flops, you'll learn something along the way; make valuable contacts, etc.  

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There is a lesson to be learned here, imo.  An artist has to be willing to look ridiculous in order to grow.  Maybe it's best not to wait for divine inspiration.  Instead pick a musical "style" that interests you and see where it takes you.  Even if the project flops, you'll learn something along the way; make valuable contacts, etc.  

Good point Disco

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