by Ramiro Burr Express-News Arts Writer
9/25/98 Friday
**Page & Plant concert review: Thunderous Page, Plant show delivers Led Zeppelin flashbacks
The Robert Plant and Jimmy Page tour show that swings into the Alamodome Saturday has been called a Led Zeppelin greatest hits revue.
The concert showcases many of the Zeppelin's CD tracks, tunes like "Thank You," "Tangerine," "Gallows Pole" and "How Many more Times."
Plant says he doesn't mind. As far as he concerned, it's practically a musical reunion, and long overdue.
"I think we(Page/Plant ) spent a long time apart, 14 years or so I guess. When we got back together it was intriguing, and quite challenging to consider how to really reintroduce ourselves as entertainers without becoming a novelty show, a golden oldie show," Plant said during a stop in Los Angeles.
"This was important, (because) we have to know in the first place that we do have something in common that we share and we felt it was crucial to us musically and it was challenging.
"Otherwise, we ought to stay home and play tennis."
The band is touring behind its latest CD "Walking Into Clarksdale."
Plant , who turned 50 last month, said the band rediscovered magic during its 1995 tour.
"Doing the (tour) project with the Egyptian orchestra and the whole 'Unledded' thing which traveled the world was quite an experience and quite an achievement on the pop/rock 'n' roll stadium circuit. I think it was incredibly successful in reintroducing people to the intensity of what Page and I are all about. But it didn't give us the facility to be what we were years and years before, because we felt we had outgrown it a bit.
"This tour now surprises us as much as it does the audience because it is so, on..the..money(his pause). It's straight flat-out rock 'n' roll by a four-piece band playing more coherently than we've ever played.
"I guess that now that all the wildness is gone, we are really enjoying the music that we created and extending both with new songs from the new album and dipping back into the catalog but the thing is we're full on. We're not piddling about like the Moody Blues or something like that."
The crowds are only slightly different than the '70s when Led Zeppelin ruled.
"The cross section of audience really makes it worthwhile, because the audience is growing. I mean solo-wise, we(Page/plant ) were probably on the way to where all the other artists go, but now, teaming back together and getting this combined power, we've written new things on the road as we go along."
But the artist's ultimate goal is to ply his craft live, said Plant .
"There's several reasons to tour but the first one I learned when I was in school, is that you really want to stretch and interplay, interact with the guys around you. And that is exactly what is happening right now."
Asked about the British pop bands Oasis and Verse, Plant was blase:
"I'm aware, I listened, I know of them. We were just at the Reading Rock festival Friday night and we were playing with Manson, and Ash. You listen to these bands and they got 'some tunes,' they call them 'some tunes.' but its tunes based around the Brit pop formula. They're ok, you know.
"I prefer a band like Fish from America, and bands that are stretching out. We don't get much of that in England at the moment. A band like Fish has a huge following in America, they actually blow out and use free-form technique, which is what we do when we play. And by using video screens people can get right into what's going on, on stage."
He believes playing small clubs helps a band hone its craft, which is more important that crafting a hit.
"You gotta get your chops in. You got to thread the boards. You don't get there by cutting a couple of good songs. It's not big time because of that, because people want to see you live. You know there's a couple of bands in the Top 10 in America that don't play to more than 2,000 people because they don't have the, the lure.
"And we got it because we're good, and we're excited. No matter how old we are, we'll always be interested."
And his solo touring days don't compare to working with Page.
"Well, I mean, a few years ago I was writing little songs like "29 Palms," "I Believe," "If I Were a Carpenter," "Tall Cool One," all great little moments but this is different because I am actually leaning back entirely on the history of the thing, sharing the spotlight with my partner. And for all the reasons that exist, and it is fantastic because we're knocking each other out a lot." Plant remembers the first artist he traveled to see.
"I was pretty lucky that we lived not far from the second biggest city in Britain (Birmingham). In those days there were no big venues, just dancehalls. Anyway, it was Wilson Pickett. I had to be 17, going in someone else's car. I also saw Howling Wolf. I used to hitchhike too, to go see Sonny Boy Williamson, several times."
And his first 45 single?
"It was 'Shop Around' by the Miracles. And if you listen to that now, it is still the absolutely amazing to hear it. Smokey Robinson sang it.
Page/Plant -
Featuring: Charlie Jones, bass; Michael Lee, drums; Phil Andrews, keyboards
Where: Alamodome, I-37 downtown
When: 8 p.m. Friday
For openers: Lili Haydn, violin virtuoso
Tickets: $30-$50 plus service charges at Ticketmaster outlets.
Page/Plant Park & Ride
Service from: Crossroads Mall, I-10 West at Loop 410.
When: 6:30-8 p.m. Saturday; then until 45 minutes after the show.
Fares: Round-trip, $5. Usual half-fare rates apply - children 5-11, seniors, disabled, students with proper ID.
Call: 362-2020.
©1997-2003 Ramiro Burr. All rights reserved. Used by permission only. Problems, suggestions, complaints or compliments? Email: Musicreporter@gmail.com