Set-List:
If I Ever Get Lucky/4 Sticks/Morning Dew/7+7 Is/Going to California/Girl From the North Country/Gallows Pole/Hey Joe/Ramble On/ Tall Cool One/ A House is not A Motel/Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You
Encore: Whole Lotta Love

Reports:
This from Tryfon Misionis
An extraordinary Robert Plant hit Pistoia blues Festival rocking 10,000 (or more?) fans. The “new” Strange Sensation, played really well, accompanying Robert.

We got wonderful versions of Morning Dew,Going to California, Gallows Pole, Ramble On, Tall Cool One (the best?). A high standard was mainrained for almost every song. The only one that seemed a little worse than in the recent past, was A House Is Not a Motel. Maybe too much rocking…Let me listen it again in Rome. 🙂

Generally the band plays rougher these days – even if all the African/Indian influences in various songs are more than present. Robert (fashion note: blue jeans, blue dark shirt) likes the sound, and delivered us the ranges of his voice; with less screaming and much more feeling!

It was the first time in Italy that I saw such an enthusiastic crowdc & Robert noticed it, saying to us that today it was much better than his previous concerts of 10 & 3 years ago, in Pistoia. Special Credit for the public: Robert started the concert at midnight & finished at 01:40 and they (we) were standing from 18:30. The audience did not seem to have any trouble with some (but not few) sound problems
Nice Introduction for Skin, “directly from the Pharmacy”!

The great concert finished with WLL and all the public jumping. During the proceeds Mr Deamer(just superb) lost a stick during the final drumming onslaught! Oh, and we had the award made to Mr. Robert Plant from the organizers as best rock ‘n’ roll singer

On the stage of the Pistoia Blues Festival,the Mississippi atmosphere of Eric Bibb and Otis Taylor,
the unrestrained Dr Feelgood and the refined Jonny Winter, prefaced the oriental atmosphere of the Strange Sensation. Robert Plant came in on tiptoe, driving crazy the whole enthusiastic audience of the medieval Piazza Duomo of Pistoia. Following the whispered “Win My Train Far Home (If I ever get lucky)”, an interesting introduction, created by Plant’s group, led us to a warm “Four Sticks”,followed by an intense “Morning Dew”.
The audience was very very warm! They sang all the song with Robert,in fact he himself said “There’s a little tear on my face!”. “Seven and Seven Is” has been played in the most hard version of the entire tour; the sweet “Going to California” has been followed by the brilliant “Girl From the North Country”, an homage to Bob Dylan,who couldn’t be absent!
“Gallows Pole” has been dug up from the Led Zeppelin’s repertory. It has been surely the top of Plant’s vocal power, that roused us also in the psychedelic “Hey Joe”. The wounderful Plant’s performance in “Ramble On”,was stifled by the band,who didn’t seem to have a bent for the song.
It was,in fact, confused, violent and rough. We found relief in the absorbing “Tall Cool One” and in the unrestrained “A House is not A Motel”. The concert wound up with a nostalgic “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You”, where Plant was accompanied by the audience. The encore, with Plant singing drinking a beer,was a powerful “Whole Lotta Love”, that re-awoke the mood of Led Zeppelin II.
A magic night, with a smiling and touched Percy, who was at one’s best.
The Strange Sensation boasts an incredible drummer(Clive Deamer), an able guitarist (Justin Adams) as well as the keyboard player (John Baggot). Unfortunately, the two new entries, Skin Tyson (guitar) and Billy Fuller (bass), are inefficient for a band as Plant’s Strange Sensation.
ELETTRA NICOTRA – LZCI www.ledzeppelinclub.it