Robert Plant is still not open for a Led Zeppelin reunion. Although currently on tour with Alison Krauss and enjoying the success of their recent hit collaboration, Raise The Roof, Zeppelin fans still clamor for just one more reunion. Plant spoke to The Los Angeles Times and was asked about a return to Zeppelin, to which he explained, “Going back to the font to get some kind of massive applause — it doesn’t really satisfy my need to be stimulated.”
Despite the December 2007 one-off Zeppelin reunion in London featuring himself, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham filling in for his late dad John Bonham, Plant has been the lone hold-out in committing to a full-on reunion. Several of the industries’ top promoters have essentially offered the band a blank check should they commit to any number of road dates.
He went on to say “I know there are people from my generation who don’t want to stay home and so they go out and play. If they’re enjoying it and doing what they need to do to pass the days, then that’s their business, really.”
Regarding his legendary vocal prowess and how it’s aged, Plant revealed, “I know that the full, open-throated falsetto that I was able to concoct in 1968 carried me through until I was tired of it. Then that sort of exaggerated personality of vocal performance morphed and went somewhere else. But as a matter of fact, I was playing in Reykjavík, in Iceland, about three years ago, just before Covid. It was Midsummer Night and there was a festival, and I got my band and I said, ‘OK, let’s do ‘Immigrant Song.” They’d never done it before. We just hit it, and bang — there it was. I thought, ‘Oh, I didn’t think I could still do that.'”
- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss North American tour dates (subject to change):
August 23 – Napa, CA – Oxbow RiverStage
August 25 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
August 27 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield Amphitheater
August 28 – Redmond, WA – Marymoor Park
August 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – Sandy Amp
September 1 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
September 3 – Grand Prairie, TX – Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie
September 4 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater
September 6 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
September 7 – Franklin, TN – FirstBank Amphitheater
September 9 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
September 10 – Mashantucket, CT – Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino
September 12 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
SIDE NOTES
- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss second joint album, Raise The Roof, was released last November 19th and topped Billboard’s Independent Albums chart, hit Number Three on the magazine’s Top Country Albums list, and reached Number Seven on the Billboard 200.
- In October and November, Plant and latest solo band, Saving Grace, are set to play nine dates across Ireland and Scotland. In addition to Plant, Saving Grace features vocalist Suzy Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, along with guitarists Tony Kelsey and Matt Worley.
CHECK IT OUT: Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters on June 25th, 2019 performing “Immigrant Song” at Iceland’s Secret Solstice Festival: