Click the photo to see a slide show of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' show at Starlight.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
September 23, 2008
Starlight Theatre
Better Than: Pickin’ on Led Zeppelin
By SCOTT WILSON
Robert Plant may be a bona fide rock god, but he shuffled onto the stage at Starlight last night in a protective crouch, stoop-shouldered as an arthritic uncle called upon to deliver a speech at a wedding. Then he got to the microphone. The once (and future?) Led Zeppelin frontman straightened, parted the curtains of his frizzy mane and became … a relatively sure-footed uncle of orbit-fixing charisma called upon to deliver a speech at a wedding. The nuptials in this case: a foreigner’s unspoiled awe of American song forms joined with a flying wedge of U.S. musicians bent on verisimilitude. Co-headliner Alison Krauss, whose fiddle came out early and worked often, guided Plant through a songbook devised by heroic dilettante T-Bone Burnett and played with wit and impeccable attention to detail by a relaxed band.
In their dark coats and ties, that band at first looked like pallbearers ready to carry their mountain sounds far away from rock. They turned out to be groomsmen attending Plant, whose body registered vibrating glee not just at singing this music but at witnessing it. Krauss, a wraith swathed in what looked like a smartly tailored vintage bedspread, beckoned Plant and the players with her coal-into-crystal voice. Her singing and Plant’s ducked ahead of and behind the beat and each other, making every song sound as immediate as a rehearsal without sacrificing a dram of certainty.
Burnett, who took center stage for just one song, led his group from a discreet parcel of the stage, occasionally whipping guitar picks at the audience in an awkward flourish and conducting with the neck of his guitar, a deacon in a long coat that flapped at his sides. The evening’s primary pleasure may have been the simple sight of journeyman musicians at work, with Plant and Krauss just two more professionals finding joy in their labor. Drummer Jay Bellerose hit like a prizefighter, and bassist Dennis Crouch held his ground without loosening his tie. Bookending the stage, guitar players Buddy Miller and T-Bone Burnett (the tour’s musical director) added layers of baritone intrigue, curt fuzz and ringing clarity. Fiddle player, banjo picker and all-around catgut swell Stuart Duncan shadowed Krauss’ voice and instrument, complementing and anticipating her tone.
For a solid 90 minutes, Plant and Krauss harvested most of their recorded collaboration, last year’s lovely Rising Sand, supplementing it with well-chosen Led Zeppelin songs and Plant’s “In the Mood,” the orignal’s monotone brightened by the band’s attack and by the interpolation of the standard “Mattie Groves.” What comes off sober and reverential on disc last night sounded good-humored and forward-looking. It’s hard not to hope for a second volume of Plant and Krauss at play in Burnett’s Americana fields.
Setlist
Rich Woman
Leave My Woman Alone
Black Dog
Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us
Through the Morning, Through the Night
So Long Goodbye to You
Fortune Teller
In the Mood (with “Mattie Groves”)
Black Country Woman
Earlier Baghdad
Trampled Rose
Wildwood Flower
Down to the River
Nothin’
Battle of Evermore
Please Read the Letter
Gone Gone Gone
Don’t Knock
When the Levee Breaks
Killing the Blues
In the Pines
One Woman Man
Critics Notebook
Personal Bias: I prefer the “O Bonham, Where Art Thou?” version of “The Battle of Evermore,” which is more Cold Mountain than Lord of the Rings.
Random Detail: The source of Jay Bellerose's huge sound: mallets, big shakers and vintage kits.
By the way: Opener Sharon Little sang her small, appealing songs with a big, precocious voice that convinced plenty of people to pick up her CD before Plant and Krauss went on.
Showing 1-10 of 10
I guess my seats were perfect. Allison blew my mind with the voice of a young Dolly. T- Bone's song was one of my favorites of the night. All hail the Baritone guitar! Robert Plant was about as good as I would expect. I winced when those Zep songs started but relaxed enough to enjoy the arrangements. You could not have asked for better weather. A really lovely evening of fresh and breathtaking Americana-from my perspective.
We must have been sitting near Rick, close to the sound board and he could not have described our experience more perfectly regarding the sound mixing. The performances were great, except a couple of times the band just seemed too slow. Toward the end, Robert even mentioned something like "Alison just said that if we don't pick it up we will put everyone to sleep." She also gestured a couple of times and then her mike was adjusted. She and Robert seemed to be talking into each others ears a lot and then the sound would change. So it was obvious that they also weren't too happy with stuff. I'm glad I saw the show, but it needed work. Having seen Robert three other times around here, I am well aware of how precise he is with his sound.
Rich, good point, re the sound you wanted vs the sound you heard.
Your point that _all_ of the audio for this tour is full of resonance and muddy, and that's an artistic DECISION is important.
It's just important that anyone ELSE looking to later locations in this tour recognize that Allison's core fan group who are expecting the whispery-voiced angel to "step up some" are instead going to hear her as secondary to the "real" front man of the tour; Plant, and that HIS artistic vision contributed more to the sound than hers.
If you're not prepared for that, then this can be a very hard concert to hear.
But thanks Rich for helping me grasp where my problem was. I appriciate it.
Great review. Sorry you guys had problems with the sound. All I can add is that I was 3rd row left-center aisle and the sound was great there; mostly stage mix plus a small high end forward speaker and indirect bass from the main stacks. I heard everything very clearly.
The T-Bone sung song was a miss, but I heard magic in the vocals all night.
To Rick regarding notch filtering to correct problems: You've doubtless heard the album, right? Its full of resonance and muddy sounds. Very unconventional. Plus, I have 4 audio boots and 2 video boots from this tour, and they ALL sound just like last night. For example, I'm pretty sure that Alison's acapella solo gospel sound was intentional, not incompetent(*).
(*) Its possible that my ears overlooked the soundman's mistakes (feedback is always a mistake, of course) because I had already prepared myself for the sound. (If it sounds like you expect, then it sounds great, right :-?)
I'm an old soundman myself (lesser level of course), and I must admit that the album and tour sound has always seemed "odd" to me. I just think its a choice, not an oversight.
Just wanted to make sure you guys aren't complaining about the sound you wanted vs. the sound you got. For example, Alison has talked in detail about how this album and tour have pushed around her conceptions about lead singing. The "Led Zeppelin with banjos" comment is apt, and Alison is still a student of that sound. FWIW, the only criticism I had was the fleeting wish during the last 2 songs that Alison could break into a rock n roll sweat. As great as she is, she doesn't quite know how to turn it up to 11 and ROCK!
That isn't a serious criticism: Hell, she is off-scale for me. I'm loving her current exploration, I loved her last year at Starlight with Union Station, and I'll continue to see her every time she comes to Kansas City.
But, for example, can you imagine her helping out on that Led Zeppelin reunion tour? Wouldn't that be incredible?
The show was great, Rick is the kinda boring asshole that can't enjoy anything. Who cares the sound might not have been the best? But it was an awesome concert with three legends in KC. Good for KC! While Rick sits around with his nose in the air and only to turn down to smell his own farts, what an elitist! Go get F/U/C/K/E/D Rick, read between the lines.
The show was great, Rick is the kinda boring asshole that can't enjoy anything. Who cares the sound might not have been the best? But it was an awesome concert with three legends in KC. Good for KC! While Rick sits and around in a with his nose in the air and only to turn down to smell his own farts, what an elitist!
I have to agree the sound man was deaf though I kind'a chalked it up to (probably) a new venue for him and the fact that this was essentially "opening night" for the second leg of the tour after a 40 day break. I kept waiting for the mix to get right and it almost did a few times but alas, never quite.
Despite the sound problems I thought it was a killer show. The material was widely varied and the mucisians incredible and though they did not always get there, when Bob and Allison nailed the harmonys it was magic.
I have to agree the sound man was deaf though I kind'a chalked it up to (probably) a new venue for him and the fact that this was essentially "opening night" for the second leg of the tour after a 40 day break. I kept waiting for the mix to get right and it almost did a few times but alas, never quite.
Despite the sound problems I thought it was a killer show. The material was widely varied and the mucisians incredible and though they did not always get there, when Bob and Allison nailed the harmonys it was magic.
Rick, I admit that I winced a few times at the high end, but I chalked it up to being within 20 yards or so of one of the speaker arrays to one side of the stage. I thought the overall clarity was impressive--lots of sting to the strings--but there were indeed moments that the fine bottom and middle ranges were overcome by treble. Then again, that's what ear protection is for, and I was without. A decent pair of earplugs not only protects against hearing loss but also helps forgive many mixing-board and speaker-proximity sins.
It's possible you were at a different concert than I was.
I suppose it's possible setting almost in the exact center of the soundfield in Starlight was a bad place... I'm not sure.
It was easily the worst concert experience I have had in the last 30 years.
Well, that MAY not be true, there was that one time that the sound board went out ENTIRELY for an outdoor jazz concert....
but this might have been BETTER if the sound board went entirely.
The sound man was clearly of the "heavy metal" school of sound board operation. Everything was 15 to 20 dB higher than it should have been, no filtering for notches that were resonant in the space, feedback, distortion, resonant squeals, etc etc etc.
Think Led Zeppelin with banjos.
Bad. Very very bad.
To give you a sense of how bad, the one accapella solo gospel song Krauss sang was too loud, distorted and had feedback squeals every time she enunciated a "B" or a "D" followed by an open vowel.
Bad. Really horrifically bad.
And then,,,, and then,,,,, T-Bone Burnett sang one song while playing lead guitar, which was a first performance of a new piece, which, the parts I could understand through the distortion sounded to be an anthem to depression, suggesting that I am sad, and you are even more sad, and perhaps you should kill yourself, or perhaps I will first.
I could be wrong about that, it was hard to make out the words.
Note that Starlight _can_ be amp'ed for precision sound. I heard Manhattan Transfer there, for the Vocalese tour. Every syllable was clear. I heard Garrison Keeler there for a live PHC broadcast. Every sound effect, every banjo pick was perfect.
THIS sound man, on the other hand, should have been SHOT. There was musicianship and artistry going on on-stage. We just didn't get to hear it.
Very disappointed.
Rick
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