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Robert Plant & SSS @ Bayou Music Center, Houston, TX


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June 21, 2013. The Summer Solstice. Robert Plant & the Sensationall Space Shifters rocked the Bayou Music Center in Houston earlier tonight. I'll write about the show another time but here's the setlist for the Houston show. I'll post whatever I can as soon as possible. For now, I'll just say it was a great show and we had a great view.

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Edited by Strider
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It was so much fun!!!

This was my first time seeing a member of Zep perform live and what an experience it was. Thanks to sweet friends----ANGIE!!!---we were able to be up front and I was front row. It blew my mind that I was mere feet away with just the pit, a security guy and amps between myself and Percy. He was right in front of me! I took photos(flash was banned) but no video since the security guard parked himself a couple of feet away and he was busting others for taking video.

I will share more later and maybe some photos.

I paid a specific amount for the ticket to get into the building but I left with an experience that was priceless.

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The show was fantastic!! Melanie got some really great shots from the front row. Robert was moving and grooving and he sounded better than ever. It was so much fun meeting up with friends from here on the LZ forum! We had a blast!

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Here are photos from last night. They are not the best but using a flash was strictly prohibited and I was two feet away from security. I actually like them this way since they have a nice ethereal quality.

I was happy to see that he was in great form physically,musically and spiritually. He and the band were energetic and he brought out "the voice" for Rock n Roll and Whole Lotta Love.


Note: Inscense(? too tired to spell correctly) was taped to the amps that were in front of him and a mug of hot herbal tea was placed nearby.

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thank you for the pics!!

Here are photos from last night. They are not the best but using a flash was strictly prohibited and I was two feet away from security. I actually like them this way since they have a nice ethereal quality.

I was happy to see that he was in great form physically,musically and spiritually. He and the band were energetic and he brought out "the voice" for Rock n Roll and Whole Lotta Love.


Note: Inscense(? too tired to spell correctly) was taped to the amps that were in front of him and a mug of hot herbal tea was placed nearby.
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What a great review! Look at the last sentence!

Led Zeppelin golden god vocalist Robert Plant brought his new backing band, the Sensational Space Shifters, to the Bayou Music Center to play the Zep songs that have made the world shimmy, shake, and sweat for the past five decades.

These days Plant looks more like the Cowardly Lion than the Greek statue come to decadent life that he was when Zep was roaming the Earth in their customized Starship jet. His voice has aged into a less-howly animal than it was on those bedrock albums, and into more of a seductive growl.

Add to that the Space Shifters unique take on the Zep catalog — think TV On The Radio meets Black Rebel Motorcycle Club meets Jimmy Page rave-up — and you have a totally unique take on the iconic act’s classic-rock Rosetta Stone.

For those who were too young to have seen Zeppelin — they broke up in 1980 after drummer John Bonham’s death — in their touring prime, or not fortunate enough to have seen them at their 2007 one-off reunion gig in honor of music mogul Ahmet Ertegun, Friday night’s set at Bayou Music Center was a gift from the rock gods.

Opening with “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” from Led Zeppelin’s first shattering vinyl slab, Plant bewitched the crowd. It wasn’t a greatest hits set, thankfully, and it wasn’t a polarizing display of material only super-fans would be able to decipher. It was Plant reinterpreting his life’s work with the Space Shifters. “In The Mood” came second in the set for the classic-rock radio heads. A recitation of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Spoonful” sprayed blues onto the crowd.

Zep’s “Black Dog” raved up the audience, thirsty for the Zeppelin that they lost their virginity to. As stated previously, Plant’s voice has aged, but it hasn’t lost it’s oopmh. It’s a well-worn instrument. His backing band, which includes a member of Massive Attack, put an eerie, electronic lacquer on Zep songs that fans didn’t know it could benefit from.

“Whole Lotta Love” came with a quick snippet of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” in the middle, a blues lesson for the evening. In fact, Plant and band had been reconstructing blues all night.

An encore brought the traditional “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down” from his 2010 Band Of Joy disc and Zep’s “Rock and Roll” from Led Zeppelin IV, which he introduced as “an old English folk song”. Most in the crowd were tipsy and bleary-eyed and maybe assumed he was faking them out. Now, nearly 40 years since it’s release, that is not so much of a stretch. At this point it is a part of the basic code that makes the titular sound what it is today.

Kudos to Plant for taking on the catalog of his youth without dumbing or watering it down. It takes brass you-know-whats to reinterpret songs that have become a part of the fabric of modern rock and roll.

The other two surviving members of Zeppelin don’t know what they are missing each night with Plant.

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Great pics, Melanie! I loved the effect of the incense. I was very groovy! I think he was drinking a beer during the encore...a well deserved beer after the show he put on. :) Here is a pic of Melanie, Strider and me after the show. It's hot down here in Texas, but a great time was had by all!

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so glad to see a pic! Do you all 3 live there?

Great pics, Melanie! I loved the effect of the incense. I was very groovy! I think he was drinking a beer during the encore...a well deserved beer after the show he put on. :) Here is a pic of Melanie, Strider and me after the show. It's hot down here in Texas, but a great time was had by all!

RPnight_zps3784e7ad.jpg

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Great pics, Melanie! I loved the effect of the incense. I was very groovy! I think he was drinking a beer during the encore...a well deserved beer after the show he put on. :) Here is a pic of Melanie, Strider and me after the show. It's hot down here in Texas, but a great time was had by all!

RPnight_zps3784e7ad.jpg

Great photo, you guys! Glad you had such a good time at the show!! :)
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So Strider.. not only do you see Robert Plant in concert, you're also flanked by two attractive women the same night.

I have no problem admitting for the record that I'm a bit jealous...

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Great pics, Melanie! I loved the effect of the incense. I was very groovy! I think he was drinking a beer during the encore...a well deserved beer after the show he put on. :) Here is a pic of Melanie, Strider and me after the show. It's hot down here in Texas, but a great time was had by all!

RPnight_zps3784e7ad.jpg

Nice pic....looks like you all had a great time...how could you not considering where you were and who you were seeing. Lucky ducks!

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Still on a buzz from last night's concert...not just because it was good(with that band, I knew it would be), but being able to share it with good people from the forum, and a good friend who was seeing Robert Plant for the FIRST TIME made the night extra special. As Melanie said...a special shout-out and thanks to Gigi for helping us procure spots right in front, allowing Melanie to experience her first concert by any member of Led Zeppelin on the front rail. I was behind Melanie about 5 or 6 feet, to allow some other shorter people in front. I met a few other nice people at the show...Sheila, Shelly, Todd, Wendy, and Noelle(who sings in the all-girl Zeppelin tribute band Zepperella). Review is forthcoming...I don't want to be on my phone too long while amongst friends. But though my cellphone camera is nowhere near as good as Melanie's, I'll post some of my photos now, starting with a batch of preshow and photos from the first song of the night: "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You".

The line to get into the concert...

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Me with Wendy, Todd and Noelle...

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The stage backdrop...

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Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You...

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