Email This Post Email This Post
Home » Robert Plant

Caprices Festival, Crans-Montana, Switzerland

10 March 2006 2,854 views One Comment

Set-List:
If I Ever Get Lucky, Freedom Fries, What Is And What Should Never Be,Going to California , Another Tribe, Black Dog, Tin Pan Valley, Four Sticks, When The Levee Breaks.
Encores: The Enchanter, Whole Lotta Love

Reviews:
Thanks to Judith Dorning
Great set. Robert Plant in great voice and good spirits, He said he enjoyed the set by Amadou et Mariam (The support ) and was pleased that so much great music from Mali was now surfacing. Also dedicated Levee to Ali Farke Toure who died last week. Looks as if he’s taken some time out to catch some rays on the West Coast!!
In a tradition started some years ago, here’s a joint review between Sunila and Rob Davies (who managed to dodge the no Riff Raff rule)

Thanks to Sunila
Well this was yet another unusual venue, never thought that ski stations would also hold festivals. This was, I think, the 3rd edition of the “Caprices” festival and actually my first time in Crans Montana (I don’t ski), but I won’t say no to a nice week end in the mountains, also a bit
“misty” but not the same as the original. Approaching the venue is tricky; you need to scramble onto an ice covered stair… maybe to make sure not too many “old-timers” make it to the concert? Tickets could be printed at home which is handy but a bit unnerving when it comes to
scan the bar code, still the lights went green…. good printer.
Didn’t manage to get a hold of a set list, sorry. But it’s more or less the same show as last year. “No Gallows Pole” sadly but “When The Levee Breaks” is on. It impressed my more in Reading (Womad) but maybe it was because it was the first time. A drunken guy at the bar summed up what most people thought. “6 Zeppelin Songs, yeah how great”…err I have to say the new arrangements are fabulous but I’d rather have a maximum of new songs. Still no “All the Kings Horses”? I’d love to hear this live one day.
The crowd was hyper enthusiastic and responded very well, it showed also in the musicians reactions. No more “Swiss Ocean” these days, despite some attempts on our side, ah well it was 13 years ago now when it was in fashion and the new generation doesn’t know this. Makes me feel old all of a suddenly. But the current was coming through anyway and Robert in a very flirtatious mood.
Well, I’m not sure what else to say. I was more taken the last time in Reading but I was also very tired and a bit ill this time, that doesn’t help. Still once the adrenalin kicks in anything goes. Once again I notice I much prefer outdoor venues, all my favorite memories are related to outdoor concerts (Frauenfeld 93, 95; Reading 98; Vaduz 98 (ah well I’m biased in this case, it’s was my birthday after all); Womad 05; etc…)

Thanks to Rob Davies
Keeping up the tradition of reporting to TBL from weird venues, we’re on a (very cold) alpine hillside queuing in a tent. Fortunately the efficient Swiss have laid on heating and we’re soon inside. The good thing about being in a posh ski resort is it keeps the riff-raff out (although I managed to sneak in); also I suspect the Sensations act is new to most people. Having been away from the ‘scene’ for a while it was new to me as well.
Can’t recall full set list but Shine It All Around, Gallows Pole were out as was Hey Joe (maybe because it was a ‘festival gig’). Stand out tracks for me were Freedom Fries, Tin Pan Valley from the new stuff. Apart from What Is And What Should Never Be … all the Zep songs were fantastic, the (mighty) rearrangements compliment and freshen what may have sounded like a tribute turn. Much more Moroccan influence can be heard than previous tours; Robert was banging on enthusiastically about some exotic drum that looked like a tea tray. Speaking of enthusiastic banging, at some points his hips seemed to possessed by the spirit of Elvis causing some ladies at the back to faint (or possibly not). Whole Lotta Love sneaked in under the guise of Hoochie Coochie Man getting the whole place as rocking to avalanche levels.
It’s difficult to judge the capacity of the hall but just about everybody left after Strange Sensation had finished, leaving a meager scattering to watch the John Butler Trio. We too made our excuses and left.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

One Comment »

Leave your response!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.