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Robert Plant & The Band Of Joy – Portland, OR – The Schnitzer

19 April 2011 2,057 views No Comment

Setlist

Black Dog

Down to the Sea

Black Country Woman

Tangerine

Houses Of The Holy

Monkey

In the Mood

Please Read the Letter

Angel Dance

House of Cards

Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down

Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go

Satisfied Mind

Ramble On

Gallows Pole

Encore

Harm’s Swift Way

I Bid You Goodnight
It had been 6 or more years since seeing Robert perform live and my 1st Band of Joy experience in Portland.

There was an unexpected surprise thanks to the support band “Mississippi All Stars.” They managed to more than warm up the full house/sold out event for the Band of Joy. They were new to me and I was easily but pleasantly blown away by their talent..

These two brothers took me away to an altered state of pure musical m agic. I was lost in the moment of it all when they asked if we were ready to see Robert Plant and the BoJ …oh yeah, THAT’s why we were all there,  it was a great way to get us pumped guys (:

The Band Of Joy took to the stage and rocked us out then rolled us back and forth, old songs decorated in soothing but sensual array, newer songs in interesting energizing decibels complimented by the likes of Robert with Band Of Joy spinning their web of delight to the senses.

I am grateful to have attended this show and hope to see more of this band, they are clearly enjoying themselves and so are we all when being lucky enough to experience them live.

I hope you all do make the effort to catch a show near you, just go for it, to those who have or plan to do so, share the joy

From Ria in Oregon

Concert review: Robert Plant and Band of Joy at the Schnitz

Reveiw by Jeff Baker, The Oregonian

Robert Plant took “Black Dog” and a few other Led Zeppelin songs for a walk through the roots-rock swamp Tuesday night with a group that more than lived up to its name, Band of Joy.
Plant has hooked up with some musical geniuses from Nashville and Texas and blended his English hippie-folk vibe with their earthier version of Americana. The result is Richard Thompson meets Porter Wagoner, to name two of the artists whose songs that were covered at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and is both a continent and a generation removed from the heavy metal of Led Zeppelin and a reminder of how great Plant’s old band really was.
By the time Plant sang about the big-legged woman who ain’t got no soul in a voice that was two octaves lower and a lot more soulful than the way he did it in 1971, one thing was obvious:
This wasn’t the Led Zeppelin reunion your father’s been dreaming about.  It wasn’t that Plant didn’t acknowledge his past — six of the 18 songs the band played were Zep classics — but that he re-shaped it to what he’s doing now and to his love of American music. “Black Dog” sounded like it came off side two of a Creedence album. “Tangerine” was more like the Flying Burrito Brothers, with a pedal steel foundation from Darrell Scott and a beautiful vocal from Plant. “Ramble On” had everything you’d want in a set-closer: harmony from Scott, Plant and Patty Griffin, a howling vocal break from Plant that was echoed for effect, and a crescendo that made his “The Lord of the Rings” influenced-lyrics about Mordor and Gollum sound profound instead of silly.

The Led Zeppelin songs were greeted with enthusiasm but not with the nostalgic outbursts that are so common on reunion tours, when fans leap to their feet for their old favourites and slump back down for the new stuff. The setlist flowed easily between Led Zeppelin covers, songs from the “Band of Joy”  album, and lead vocals from Griffin, Scott (a gorgeous take on “A Satisfied Mind,” the song Wagoner took to the top of the country charts in 1955) and Buddy Miller, who chugged through “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Mind.”
Miller was such a powerful, positive force on guitar and on the overall sound that one was to look at Band of Joy is that he’s the leader, the alt-rock Jimmy Page that Plant plays off. It’s Miller who has the connections to Scott and Griffin and the rhythm section of Marco Giovino and Byron House and Miller who produced the album. Miller wore a Russian fur hat and a silver jacket and played a variety of leads (and what looked like a theremin on “Monkey”) while Plant was the shaggy old lion at centre stage and Griffin the gospel force at stage right. Plant is 62 now and doesn’t often try for the high notes but can still let out a roar, the lion in winter reminding us who’s king.

Band of Joy’s presentation and performance was all about the music. No video screens, tasteful lighting, a bare-bones stage, no fog or fireworks. Everyone onstage was locked in the same groove, and the obvious next step is to write some original songs. There’s only one Plant-Miller composition on the album, and covers of Los Lobos and Thompson and Townes Van Zandt, however well-chosen, won’t get this band to the heights that are within its reach. The next Band of Joy album could be better than the last one, or it could be like “Raising Sand,” Plant’s one-and-done collaboration with Alison Krauss. Whatever he does, at least he’s moving forward and not stuck in the past.

Reveiw by Jeff Baker, The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/2011/04/concert_review_robert_plant_an.html

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