Re: Cleveland Leadbelly Tribute

["Wyatt Brake" <wyattbrake@xxxxxxxxx>]

By semi-popular demand, here's info from tblweb.com (since it seems I
can't link directly to the Tour Watch section), including the review I
submitted to TBL and FBO:

Robert Plant
Nov 7 Leadbelly Tribute Concert, Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio

Plant Set-List: Where Did You Sleep Last Night ("In the pines"),
Alabama Bound, Red Dress, Gallows Pole


Links:
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1099996482314541.xml

http://www.digzep-dutch.com/newpage5.html : Pix of Plant Onstage

Reports:

This from Wyatt A. Brake

Harry Belafonte spoke very eloquently about his relationship with
Leadbelly and the great artist's influence on him and many others.
Belafonte introduced Odetta. This wonderful woman must be in her
seventh or eighth decade on this earth, but - my what a voice! She
sang two songs with piano accompaniment, one of which was "You Don't
Know My Mind", and she was fabulous. Goosebumps, shivers down the
spine, you name it. I won't go through every performer's set, but it
was definitely an evening filled with great music. There was much
collaboration among the artists, and many performers' sets overlapped.
For example, I think Dave Alvin played with Dan Zanes and Dan Zanes
played with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.
Brown is a treasure, playing guitar in a very interesting style and
pausing to pick up a fiddle and play a little before resuming the song
on the guitar. John Hiatt's version of "Midnight Special" was great
too.

No cameras were allowed, but some did gain entry. Hopefully someone
will send a few in. Robert Plant's photographer Frank Melfi was there,
and the show was recorded with a professional video camera, although
who might have access to that remains a mystery. Now - I might have
the order of the songs wrong and I'm sure I don't know all the names
of the tunes performed, but Robert was initially brought out with
Justin Adams (who could first be seen in the wings while Belafonte was
speaking), Alison Krauss, and the Tarbox Ramblers (who opened for
Robert the first time I saw him - in Boston 5/25/2001) as a backing
band.

They opened with the song that was probably made most famous by Nirvana.
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" was done in a great way, with Plant
and Krauss harmonizing on some parts and trading vocals in others.
Krauss played violin. Adams was on acoustic guitar. Robert came out
slowly and bowed appreciatively to the ovation. He made a few remarks
about Leadbelly and then the music started. He started snapping his
fingers to rhythm, and he and Krauss looked at each other whenever
they sang as one, although Plant was definitely the lead vocal. Alison
appeared to be taking her cues from him. Plant continued to snap his
fingers throughout the hauntingly slow and deliberate piece.

This was my fifth time seeing Robert and his voice has never disappointed.
When I compare his vocals of the last few years with the "Unledded"
recording and subsequent tour, I am struck by his remarkable
improvement. I know this has been discussed on the list before, along
with the reminder that the type of venue is a factor and the simple
fact that the songs he's doing now don't really require (for the most
part anyway) the type of screaming and strain on the vocals that
Zeppelin songs like Heartbreaker or the Wanton Song might need. I'm
not sure how much of it is the selection of songs and how much is just
a different approach to singing. Either way, I think he sounds just
phenomenal. I could have listened to him all night.

Almost without exception, all the vocalists had LCD monitors on the
floor from which they read the lyrics to the songs they sang. Robert
was among the majority.

After "...Last Night", another song was performed. "Alabama Bound" was
done with The Cleveland Four, a quartet of black male vocalists. They
sang backup on this tune. Robert left the stage and a few other
artists took the stage after various intervals. Los Lobos was
eventually brought on and they had a great rendition of "Bottle Up and
Go." Plant was introduced again with Alison Krauss and Robert kept
singing about a pretty girl with a red dress on. I wasn't clear on
whether that was actually part of the Leadbelly song (I didn't gear up
on Leadbelly as much as I had planned to after I first ordered the
tickets) or a reference from Dreamland's "Red Dress."

Regardless, at one point the band (with Adams on gymru [sp?] this
time) broke into a strange amalgamation of Middle-Eastern tropical
salsa and Robert sang the line, "I'm just a Fool In The Rain" multiple
times before repeating it once more in a break, more clearly, and many
people in the crowd applauded vigorously. He then returned to the Red
Dress motif. During the break between vocals, he came out toward the
edge of the stage to clap and shake his hips a little bit to the beat.
He had to take a few steps to do this, because all the band equipment
was set up so that it would be hidden by the curtain when it was
drawn. This resulted in all of the performers being well back from
even those of us in the front rows.

I'll preface my remarks on the last song by saying that I have not
heard a Strange Sensation take on Gallows Pole yet, so the
Plant/Adams/Los Lobos version (Krauss had left the stage by then) of
the song was quite unique to me. It was very effective and enjoyable.

As he thanked the crowd and started to walk off, Robert was confronted
with the problem of being on the wrong side of a rapidly closing
curtain. He noticed too late and tried to hop over some monitors, only
to slip and fall (probably the fault of slippery, traction-free dress
shoes and maybe a freshly waxed floor). He did not look seriously hurt
in any way and he appeared to be laughing it off, but his fall was
certainly a less than dignified way to end the evening. After some
closing remarks by the president of the Rock Hall, the lights came on
and everyone was on their way out. It was barely 10:30 and Plant had
done about 4 or 5 songs.

While it was a great night of music, I guess I had just hoped that the
headliner would have been able to do a few more numbers, especially
after it was repeatedly noted that "Leadbelly had 500 songs at his
fingertips." All in all though, it was most assuredly well worth
attending. Robert was in great spirits and fine voice.
____________

Wyatt
http://zepcowboy.blogspot.com

On 8/15/07, Edwin King <zandoritlives@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> You know I had tickets to the show and couldnt make it to the show for
> other engagements. I was wondering what the show was like and how you
> would rate it. Ohhhh and too, if anyone has any recordings of the show
> I would love to hook up. After all Cleveland used to be my home town.
> Thanks,
> Cheers,
> edk
>
> ==
>
> The excerpts sound very intriguing.  I think we can be confident that
> Robert's voice will have been recorded very differently than it has
> been in the past ten or fifteen years, and I think that could be a
> very good thing.
>
> I watched the video with my girlfriend, who almost immediately
> asserted that Krauss and Plant were sleeping together (apparently she
> could ascertain this simply by the way they interacted in the
> interview).
>
> While this may or may not be the case, it's undeniable that the two
> have a certain chemistry together.  I was fortunate enough to witness
> their collaboration at the Leadbelly Tribute show (November 7, 2004...
> my review can be found at tblweb's Tour Watch) in Cleveland, to which
> they refer in the video.  Their vocals really meshed well at that
> show, and that may have served ultimately as the inspiration for this
> album.
>
> In any event, I'm very much looking forward to this release.
>
> -Wyatt
> http://zepcowboy.blogspot.com
>