Photo by Scott Heck

On Sunday night Robert and the Band Of Joy performed at the Bowery Ballroom in New York to a 500 strong audience in a special album preview show, similar to the one at the Mayfair 1 in London. The Band Of Joy played a full set list  which lined up as follows:

Monkey , House of Cards , Please Read the Letter , Misty Mountain Hop , Rich Woman , Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go , Medley (Twelve Gates To The City, Wade In The Water, In My Time Of Dying), All The Kings Horses , Satisfied Mind , Move Up , Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down , Central Two O Nine , Angel Dance , Houses of the Holy , Down to the Sea , Tall Cool One , Gallows Pole.With Harms Swift Way , Rock and Roll and  And We Bid You Goodnight as encores.

This exclusive review for  TBL from our man on the spot  Scott Heck

Excellent night from Plant and company.  A bit of info about the venue.  Website says it only holds about 550 and according to ticketmaster, only 400 seats were sold.  A dark overcast night set the stage outside of the Bowery Ballroom for the lucky few that were able to get in.  No marquee, no tickets, no opener.  A few minutes after 9pm, the Band of Joy came out followed by Plant.  Rather than open with Down to the Sea as was custom during the previous mini tour with the Band of Joy, Monkey and House of Cards started the night.  It was a powerful one-two punch.  Plant in fine form to begin and his voice sounding as excellent as it did on the recent Raising Sand tour.  While I haven’t been to the Bowery since JPJ played with Mutual Admiration Society in 2003, the sound inside was spectacular.  Plant provided his standard greeting “welcome to an evening with the Band of Joy” before House of Cards.  Plant introduced Please Read the Letter by saying this was written many years ago by a ubiquitous couple.  Patty Griffin sounded wonderful alongside Plant during this song.  Before Misty Mountain Hop, Plant referred to John Paul Jones.  He mentioned he received a text a few hours ago to learn that JPJ is playing with the Dave Rawling Machine in Glasgow on the same night.  Apparently, members of the Dave Rawling Machine introduced Plant to some of the musicians he was playing with tonight.  So Plant mentioned there was a connection, “albeit a tenuous one.” Then came MMH.  Plant commented that “he still doesn’t know what that all meant” after MMH concluded.  As this was the first Zep song of the evening, the crowd naturally provided its largest applause.  However, each song was met with considerable appreciation as those in attendance were certainly not opposed to hearing any non-zep material.

What followed after MMH was an excellent mix of Plant’s catalogue.  Highlights were gallows pole (which was probably the best version heard in the past 15 years), All the Kings Horses (where fortunately the crowd understood the need for silence while Plant sang and provided such…the silence was eerie as he sang and something never heard before), Plant on harmonica and washboard, the clever reworking of Houses of the Holy, Down to the sea (when I get older, when I get older), the excellent vocals of everyone involved in And we Bid you Goodnight, and of course, Angel Dance which has taken on a life of its own.

Plant has once again surrounded himself with first class, A+ musicians who are moving full speed ahead.  After the show, Buddy Miller walked around the crowd with a nice glass of wine and did comment that he is looking forward to playing several more shows to support to the album.  That is good news for all. To all TBL readers, please set your TV’s for Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Show and enjoy the new album.

The following night Robert  appeared on the highly rated Jimmy Fallon  show on NBC. Robert gave an interview which was aired on the show. They also taped performances of Angel Dance and You Can’t Buy My Love which will be screened at a later date.

Here’s a further exclusive on the spot report  on the Jimmy Fallon taping from Scott Heck

On September 13th 2010, Robert Plant appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, in NY, NY.  The taping occurred at 30 Rockefeller center and the studio held about 200 people, a majority of whom were tourists who were mostly Jimmy Fallon fans who didn’t know Robert Plant from the late Robert Palmer.  There were maybe a handful of people to see Plant including some from the night before.  As the taping began, it was announced that Plant would be the second interview behind Christina Ricci.  The musical act would be a number from a Broadway Musical, Memphis.  I found this surprising that Plant was not going to play especially since Buddy Miller had said the night before that they were looking forward to playing a couple songs.  The Plant interview was typical, genuine Plant and he made references to Bonham and Page throughout.  The interview can be found on http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com.  It is episode 307.  It usually takes a few days before the full episode will air, but the interview is currently streaming.  Plant also did four promos during commercial.  He was very comfortable promoting the new album as he must be well aware that he has a top class product to share with everyone.

After the show, Jimmy Fallon came back (in a different suit and tie) and announced that two songs would be played, but was unsure when the songs would air.  A great deal of relief for some.  It took about 20 minutes to set up all musical equipment and less than 24 hours after the powerful Bowery performance, Plant and company were at it again.  A superb Angel Dance was followed by You Can’t Buy Me Love (which was the first time I heard this live, although it may have been played on the recent mini-tour).

After the taping, I spoke with Darrell Scott.  He commented about the Bowery performance, how great the crowd was and how much fun they had playing in front of such a small audience.  They expect to be back soon.  Enjoy the new album. (Scott Heck)

Robert also gave an interview to CNN which can be seen below