Boston Herald Fleetcenter Review 7/13~LONG

[Mike <cubby73@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Page, Plant soar in Led-based set
By Dean Johnson

   Wonder what Paris was like when the French
won the World Cup?
   All you had to do was be in the sold-out
Fleetcenter last night when former Led Zeppelin
frontmen Jimmy Page and Robert Plant broke into
their old band's classic stomper "Heartbreaker" just
three songs into their 90 minute set.
   This crowd, clearly Ledheads, made more noise into the
corridors before showtime than most audiences do during
encores.  Stoked?  Why, yes.  They also weren't disappointed.
   Guitarist Page and vocalist Plant have finally come to realize
that it's easier to build on your past when you embrace it rather
than run away from it.
   After years of trying to distance themselves from Led Zeppelin,
the duo have now fully immersed themselves in it, and the results
last night were, at times, absolutely incandescent.
   Unlike the 1995 "No Quarter" tour when the two danced around
Zeppelin Classics, they took them on headlong this time, backed solely
by drummer Michael Lee, bassist Charlie Jones, and an occasional
keyboardist.
   "Whole Lotta Love," "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," Tangerine,"
"Gallows Pole," and "Going to California," were among the nearly
20 songs done last night, and only a handful of tunes from the pair's
fine new disc "Walking into Clarksdale" were included.
   One of the enduring mysteries of Led Zeppelin is why guitarist Jimmy
Page plays so brilliantly with Robert Plant but hasn't been able to do
rat's
spit without him.
   Plant was a tad hoarse but still has one of the most effortlessly
commanding
presences of any singer.  But Page ruled.
   He unleashed bone-snapping riffs on "Walking into Clarksdale," a
great
surging solo during "Heartbreaker," and a searing, torturous break in
"Babe
I'm gonna leave you."
   His lengthy sortie during "How many more times" was all barbed wire,
bent nails, and rusty spikes......and just glorious.  A head-spinning
break on
"Rock & Roll" near the end was almost excessive only because it came
after
so many already brazen shots.
   Sometimes the old ways are still the best ways.  This was about as
good as
it gets.
   Former Brown Student Lili Haydn opened with her band that featured
her
own violin, a viola, and a standard rock quartet.  When the elements all
meshed
the results were exotic and exhilarating.  When they didn't, the music
was
bombastic and shrill.  The sides just about broke even by the end.