The first dates of Robert Plant and The Band Of Joy’s 2011 summer European tour have been announced. They will be appearing at the following venues:
19th July – CAPANNELLE FIESTA Italy, Rome
20th July – ARENA CVICA Italy, Milan
22nd July – LES ROMAN ARENES France, Nimes
23rd July – PALEO FESTIVAL Switzerland, Nyon
27th July – NEW ARENA Russia, St. Petersburg
29th July – CROCUS HALL Russia, Moscow
31st July – PALACE OF SPORTS Ukraine, Kiev
2nd August – TORWAR Poland, Warsaw
3rd August – ZITADELLE Germany, Berlin
5th August – LOCKERSEE FESTIVAL Belgium, Lokeren
Further dates are likely …

Photo Credit: © Christie Goodwin
Black Country Communion have joined forces with Planet Rock, the UK’s leading classic rock radio station, to offer rock fans the opportunity to download two exclusive freelive Black Country Communion tracks.
The tracks, “Black Country” and “One Last Soul,” were originally recorded live in front of a specially invited audience at John Henry’s, London on  September 20th2010.  The live recordings have been exclusively mixed for Planet Rock by BCC’s producer, Kevin Shirley.
To be eligible to download the live tracks, rock fans are being asked to become VIP …

Robert Plant was the co host on the Chris Evans Radio 2 Breakfast Show this morning between 8 and 9am.
In a hugely enjoyable rapport with Chris Evans, he talked about the legacy of Zeppelin, the Band Of Joy album, Wolverhampton Wanderers and more –as well as reading out various news items. The playlist for the hour included Zep’s Rock And Roll and D’yer Mak’er plus the Band Of Joy’s Cental Two-O-Nine, Angel Dance and the new single Harm’s Swift Way.
A couple of effective loop pieces of Over The Hills And …

The new opera Anna Nicole with John Paul Jones’ on stage involvement, begins it’s run of six performances at the Royal Opera House London tonight. Written by Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Richard Thoms (whose previous credits include Jerry Springer: The Opera, and Shoes), it charts the eventful life of Anna Nicole Smith, the Playboy model who married an elderly billionaire and died of  an overdose of sleeping pills.
John Paul Jones will be performing as part of the onstage trio along with guitarist John Parricelli and drummer Pete Erskine.
John Parricelli was …

Them Crooked Vultures, Band Of Joy’s Patty Griffin and Jeff Beck triumphed in the 53rd Grammy Awards staged last night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
New Fang from the Them Crooked Vultures album featuring John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme, won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
In their nominated categories, Robert Plant & The Band Of Joy lost out to Paul McCartney’s Helter Skelter in the Best Solo Rock Performance category and to Mavis Staples album You Are Not Alone in the Best Americana Album category. …

Bob Harris with Robert 2008
The bearded man I was sat across from last Tuesday lunchtime at the Heights bar in London, was directly responsible for enlightening myself and thousands of other Led Zeppelin fans, via his announcements from the TV screen on Tuesday and Friday nights back in the 1970s.
He was the man who introduced the stunning sequence that accompanied the premier of a new Led Zeppelin track on the evening of Tuesday, March 20th 1973. ‘’It’s the band’s use of dynamics’’, he said in that calm whispering tone, ‘’And …

As we move into February, the Robert Plant and The Band Of Joy tour continues across America – here’s a round up of the tour progress so far:
New songs worked into the set include a radically reworked version of Black Dog, a version of Nobody’s Fault But Mine that lends itself more to the Unledded version than the sonic Presence version and an excellent arrangement of Ramble On -while numbers such as In The Mood, Silver Rider and Cindy have re-appeared.  The press coverage has been universally positive and even …

Picture by David Smith (Toronto)
Robert Plant’s Band of Joy at DAR Constitution Hall
By Dave McKenna
Robert Plant got famous exploiting a traditional form of American music – the blues. At a Led Zeppelin show in Laurel in 1969, Washington Post pop-music critic Carl Bernstein (yeah, him) found Plant’s performance so derivative he labeled it “latter-day blackface.” Plant survived the slur, and he and Zeppelin went on to do all right for themselves. In fact, had Plant wanted to play that same stuff the same way with the same band all these …

Photo by Dave Smith
This excellent review from New York City’s very own Maria Gorshin from her wonderful blog citygirlwrites.blogspot.com/
The moment Robert Plant and Band of Joy appeared on stage at the Beacon Theatre on Saturday Night the air went electric with a charge that ran both ways. They hit the boards beaming and visibly jazzed for a night of playing great music while the audience rose to greet them in a spontaneous, all-at-once movement that seemed set off by a shockwave of ardor. In America’s favorite rock room, American roots …

MGM Grand Theatre at MGM Grand at Foxwoods
Setlist
Angel Dance
Down to the Sea
Cindy, I’ll Marry you Someday
You Can’t Buy My Love
Houses of the Holy
Twelve Gates to the City
Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down
Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go
Nobody’s Fault But Mine
Monkey
Satisfied Mind
Tangerine
Move Up
Ramble On
Tall Cool One
Gallows Pole
Encore
In the Mood
Rock And Roll
We Bid You Goodnight
REVIEW: Plant mixes old, new songs
 One has to admire Robert Plant for not standing still in the music world, always evolving as do Sting and a select few others.
The former frontman for Led Zeppelin and his latest band, The Band …