Today I spent a little of my leftover Christmas " money " which was in the form of Best Buy gift cards. I picked-up the Robert Plant - Soundstage dvd. Yes I really did see Led Zeppelin.... Twice. Atlanta and The Forum in L.A. Oops I must have been only 4 at the time.
Robert Plant is one of Rock and Roll’s true royalty, and in my opinion, his solo career also truly shines. With Zeppelin Plant proved that he was an amazing vocalist and performer. As a solo artist he has proven to be one of rock’s true innovators. He covers a wide variety of material during this performance and the whole group's ability to adapt everything and make it cohesive, let alone different from the versions we all know note for note, speaks volumes.

The new band The Strange Sensation plays a set that features both brand new material from his Mighty Rearranger album, as well as dramatically revamped versions of his classic Led Zeppelin songs. The set opens with a stunning East Indian-spiced version of his the Zep Classic "No Quarter". At that point I realized this was going to be an amazing show. He continues with a soulful rock treatment of "Shine It All Around," The band morphed other Zeppelin numbers into completely different animals, while still holding onto the essence of songs like "Black Dog,". Where guitarist Justin Adams delivering a slowed-down funky groove over an arrangement that contained just a little country twang along with metal crunch to make it feel like "a runaway Louisiana Hayride heading over a cliff". They include a modernized yet still rockin’ rendition of "Whole Lotta Love." At age 56, I gotta admit, the man can still wail. The bonus performance footage includes some really amazing covers, such as Bob Dylan's "Girl From The North Country" and a heavy metal, psychedelic version of Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe," ( by Joe South ) which featured keyboards injecting an spaced out synthesizer line that was as menacing as it was disorienting. This DVD travels to new musical places and it’s amazing to see. Don’t miss out.