Concert Review: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

6/18/2008 - Bennett Gordon Hall at Ravinia Festival Grounds, Highland Park, IL

Grade: Wow

By: Brent Owen

As the lights in the pavilion were dimmed, as the day slowly faded into night, and as Robert Plant and Alison Krauss took the stage; Bennett Gordon Hall was quickly and silently transported to a musical Neverland. Through the soft veil of dusk the band eased into the opening chords of the first song, “Rich Woman.” It became immediately evident that Krauss’ voice was as strong as an ox but as gentle as a lamb – she compliments everything and overpowers nothing. Then there is Robert Plant. The soulful voice of Led Zeppelin was in top form as his mystical voice blended perfectly with the fanciful tales of blues, gospel, and roots music that the top notch band was spinning from the stage. Plant truly is Rock n’ Roll’s Peter Pan.

The beautifully flowing set was filled with most of the Raising Sand album that the two recorded last year and peppered with reworked versions of some classic songs taken from both of their timeless catalogues. Their new rendition of the soulful, guitar heavy “Black Dog” is nearly unrecognizable in this arrangement – it’s slowed down to ¼ time and Jimmy Page’s imitable guitar riff was replaced by a ghostly banjo line that reverberated long after the house lights came up. The band rumbled and rolled right through an energetically subdued rendition of “Black Country Woman” that was without question a highlight of the set. And the upbeat fan favorite “The Battle of Evermore” worked wonderfully as Krauss offered a sweet harmony to Plant’s classically sinister wail. Krauss and multi-instrumentalist (and music virtuoso) Stuart Duncan played a fiery, dueling fiddle solo on “Evermore” which ended up being a compelling replacement for an old-fashioned guitar solo.

When they played Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose” the music slowly dripped down the nonexistent walls of the ampitheater like the legs of a good wine swirled inside a long stemmed glass. It was about ¾ of the way through the set and any remaining fragments of sunlight had long disappeared when Krauss started singing the gospel classic “Down in the River to Pray” from the O’ Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack, a cappella. At this point everyone in attendance fell into a fragile hush that was as capable of cracking with each passing note as her soft and impassioned voice seemed to be. For that moment even the trees stopped rustling out of silent reverie. By the time they got around to playing their latest single, “Please Read the Letter”, Plant and Krauss’ increasingly interconnected voices had become a single resolute voice.

The humility of both renowned singers was apparent, if for no other reason than their constant willingness to let the road-tested band of Nashville’s finest, led by the incomparable T-Bone Burnett, to be on full-display throughout the entire set. It was their handling of the delicate mood changes within the music, from organic to lavish or moody to euphoric (sometimes all in the confines of a single song) which proved that this couldn’t have been done with just any ol’ group of musicians, there is definitely a special chemistry between these players. Burnett has certainly put together an ensemble that compliments one another like they’ve been playing together since birth.

Unfortunately though, we can’t stay in Neverland forever – we must return to our shadows and face the ever looming promise of age – but getting to hang-out with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and their musical band of Lost Boys for an evening was truly a magical experience that shouldn’t be missed.

(note: these photos are not from the Highland Park performance...since I didn't have a telephoto lens I lifted these from their Beacon Theater performance in NYC. But you get the point)