Bob and Al
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the Manchester Apollo (8th May 2008)
Oh man, where do you start with this one? At the top, I guess... Has anyone seen the bridge?
The missus was gutted that work commitments meant that she couldn't come along to this one, and she was right to be gutted as the gig was an exceptional performance by all involved. so for me, this was to be a romantic date with Pete. I picked him up and got on the way to Th'Apollo, the absolutely perfect venue for a gig like this. I feel for the scrotes who have got tickets for Wembley Arena and the like for this tour, as this was a theatre show which really felt at home in the surroundings of an old building. Anyway, I'm cutting ahead here. We got there and parked up and wandered to the gig. The first thing to strike us as we drove in was the amount of trucks and buses outside the back of the Apollo. There seemed to be more trucks than usual for a gig there. Jeez, there were trucks and buses, the lot, more than for when the Scorps and Priest played there together with their own gear and stage sets!
The place was rammed, as you'd expect from a gig involving Percy and with a gig that's got as much press and hype as this. The crowd was a mixed bag of bluegrass fans, Zep-heads, music snobs (not me) and everyone in-between. It was all very polite and sedate, which was reflected in the fact that there was no scrum to buy the crap in the foyer. That said, it still took an age for the six-foot guy with stupidly long hair waving £20 notes in the air to get his T-shirt (£20) and Programme (£15 - cough)... Unbelieveable. It was also a sign of the level of giggage that we were talking about here as the programme was (and still is this morning) a hardbacked book. Very classy. After this and a discussion about Leppard and Shitesnake with Pete, we headed upstairs to our circle seats. This being a seated gig, I got the usual sort of spot and we had a great view of the stage.
There was no real clue about showtime or if there was to be a support act, but there was extra gear set-up and there was a warm-up set that started at 7.30pm. The guy was called Scott Matthews and he was accompanied by a bandana-wearing cellist-surf dude and a percussionist on a big drum, splash cymbal and wooden box. His stuff was very Nick Drake with Jeff buckley style vocals. It veered between pretty good to a bit boring, but he fit the bill and played really well. His guitar playing was great though. His line in stage banter was pretty amuising, although having a full 90 minutes of his droning on would be waaaay too much. Anyway, he did about 30 minutes during which I was exchanging the usual sarcastic texts with Marky-Boy who arrived during this support slot. (And yes, boyo, I did buy the album this morning on Amazon New and Used!)
The interval gave me a chance to catch up with Roberts and his good lady and shoot the shit for a while whilst Pete hung back and checked out the programme book. This night would be a bit of an eye-opner for Pete who was not that familiar with the P/K album, but came along on the off-chance. I went back and sat down a few minutes before the set start. The stage was crammed full of gear with a huge selection of amps that looked like they had been on the road since time began. The drum kit looked great. A real traps-style set-up with a nice range of percussive treats on it, all old style, not a power-tom in sight. There were banjos, double-basses, the lot.
Crowd anticipation was a bursting-point when the lights went down at about 8.30pm and the band ambled on stage in the dark and started up the riff and intro to "Rich Woman". T-Bone Burnett had his fans in the audience who gave him a great reception as the lights slowly started coming up and Mr Plant and Miss Krauss came on stage from their opposite sides, greeting each other as they crossed before taking their mics and getting into the song. The place went nuts for an instance and then settled down. Krauss slinked about through songs and Planty pleased the crowd with the odd lemon-squeezing pose occasionally. Burnett also let loose with his floppy fringe during the meatier bits of the set too.
The performances were all top notch though. The band was as solid as a rock, the drummer, Jay Bellerose, (and I would notice this) was a master. Oh man, he was incredible. He came on and plonked himself behind this kit, fully suited and booted, which was set up so he was sat very awkwardly and he just made what sounded like a two-man job seem like he was shelling peas. So smooth and tasteful, but with amazing dynamics and power in the totally correct balance. He didn't put a foot wrong, ever. Some of the stuff he was playing blew my mind.
From here-on-in though, it was all go. The set covered pretty much everything from "Raising Sand", although they may have missed one looking back now. There were other songs in there from the repetoires of Plant, Krauss and Burnett too, but more of that (again) in a mo. The sound was top notch throughout with everything loud and clear, but never swamping or covering the incredible vocal perfomances from the leads. The only time the sound dipped seemed to be at the start of the encore, but more about that later. The lighting was subtle and moody, as expected, giving the whole show the great vibe that it needed to give the atmosphere that the Apollo is so good at giving for gigs like this one.
At this point, special mention should go to Ms Krauss's boots. High boots with a heel... Very nice. Not that it makes a blind bit of difference to the standard of her performance, but she looked great. Mr Plant was looking his usual self with the curly mane in place and his pointy boots and leather troosers. It's a shame that gravity and on-stage gear was proving to be the mans downfall as he nearly stumbled over in the first number and continued his Norman Wisdom impression throughout by doing things like tripping over the double-bass stand and getting a bit tangled in wires. This seemed to rub off on the band a little too. The drummer almost went arse-over-tit on some of Burnett's guitar leads at one point!
In general, the whole set seemed to go with the Zeppelin "Tight-But-Loose" approach to the music. Some of the songs seemed to sound like they were not played all the time, but that said, they were nothing but spot-on, even when things were seemingly not totally sure in the way they were played, if you see what I mean. There was confusion about the setlist at times with a few off-mic discussions between the band and even Percy half-way to leaving the stage before being reminded that one of his tunes was next up. Banter was kept to a minimum with Percy doing most of the chatter. Krauss was a little quiet, possibly to give Planty the main crowd-addressing duties. Then again, it was great to see Plant hang back on the songs that he was only supplying backing vocals to. He would simply retreat to a stool by the double-bass player and leave the spotlight to the lead. One would suspect that he would want to have his "I Am A Golden God" spotlight on him for the whole gig, but the man obviously understood totally that rampant egos were not to play any part in this band. Everyone got a fair crack of the whip when it came to their share of the limelight.
"OK, OK, but what Zep numbers did they do?" I hear you all ask. Well, a few. I already knew that "Black Dog" and "When The Levee Breaks" were part of the set and they appeared last night. "Levee" was different from the Krauss-led arrangement that I'd seen on YouTube with a full-on duet happening and special mention must be made of the excellent drumming including some lovely stick work to suggest an echoey drum sound. The arrangements were so different for these and worked a treat. "Black Dog" was a sneaky one and a real crowd-pleaser. See the video below to see what I mean. "Battle of Evermore" was a very pleasant surprise and introduced with how they did this one as a tribute to Sandy Denny. Krauss's vocals on this were excellent, just great. This was a highlight for me. This one was played a little closer to the original. "29 Palms" was another Plant solo treat and just sounded so good. This song really suited the P/K approach and, again, Krauss sounded like she owned the song as much as Plant does. Krauss's solo spots were also lovely, especially "Down To The River To Pray" which just killed with the boys coming in on the chorus sharing one mic, just out of the spotlight. Her voice soared above the band with ease and filled the room. Lovely stuff. T-Bone Burnett was also given a solo spot with the band to spotlight some of his material I can't remember the song titles now. His songs sounded pretty good and they may be worth some future investigation.
Needless to say, I tried to get some photos, but they didn't turn out too well and are either blurry, or blocked by the woman's fat 'ead from infront of me. This was mainly due to the well over-the-top security at seated Apollo gigs. I agree that using the flash is not good and distracting, but if you don't use the flash and you're not taking photos every twenty seconds with professional gear, then I don't see the problem. It's more distracting for the audience having some knobby security nazi shining a torch over the audience and waving his arms around. That said, after a number or so, I didn't really bother with the camera as I was really into the show and didn't want to piss about too much and miss anything. I did get some footage though, which was nice. I really hope that they film and release one of the shows on this tour as it'll be an essential purchase.
At a running time of about two hours and fifteen minutes, we really did get value for money out of the band. The Apollo seats were pretty unforgiving on the arse cheeks, I can tell you, but I would have happily sat for another hour or so if they wanted to continue. There were a few people who couldn't manage to sit for the whole set and had to wander about a bit, which always foxes me, but there you go. I'd rather piss on my seat than miss something whilst in the gents! The set proper was about two hours long and the encores ran to (as I remember) five numbers, including an instrumental from Krauss and a short number from the whole band before the final run of "Stick With Me Baby", "One Woman Man" and a lovely "Your Long Journey". The crowd were on their feet for standing ovations during the breaks in the songs and they kept the break between the main set and encores down to a minimum, thankfully.
Then it was all over and the lights came up after the final bows on stage. We made our way into the night after saying our goodbyes to Mark and Ser. The usual pissing about in the car park meant waiting around for 20 minutes to let the main crush go before we drove home. And that was that!
So, final verdict and comments? It was a great gig, the kind of gig you don't witness every day. There has been so much hype around this band that you could go along thinking that nothing could match up to the expectation, but this show exceeded expectation. The show just breezed by and the performances were just so good. Both singers looked very comfortable and happy to be there with this band though. The performance reflected the love that they have for this band and project too. It's clear that this is not going to be a one-off anyway. Plant is very right to stick with this band and ignore the cries for more Zeppelin. We can only hope that Plant's claims that Burnett had already chosen some new material for them to get into for a new record are true and that the band do the rounds again sooner rather than later. I could happily go back tonight and watch the whole thing again and I don't often feel that after gigs. It's just a shame that the better half couldn't come along, but I think that Pete was duly impressed by the show and enjoyed it.
Final words? F**k the bridge!
The Day After The Morning After...
Added: 9th May 2008
Just a quick addition to say that I'm still coming down after this gig. I spent a good portion of yesterday reading the tour book over and over again and thinking about the show. I also spent a good portion of the day trying to remember the stuff the drummer had been doing and trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to play it myself!
What a night though. If you have tickets for this show, you are not going to be disappointed. If you are, you must be some kind of moron.
On the Saturday After...
Added: 10th May 2008
Still thinking and talking about this gig. Still buzzing! Started getting some tape traders boots down to listen to now and I've updated the setlist. Can't I see this gig again? Please?!
Songs Played
Unsure of the order and I'll have missed some tunes out, but this is what I remember them playing and also recognised. There were also two Burnett songs which I cannot remember the titles of, plus some other stuff I didn't know the titles of. If I find a setlist on t'Internet anywhere, I'll update this page.
Next day: Found a few more songs from set :)
10th May 2008: I think that this is pretty much the set from Manchester now. This is sort of cobbled together info gleaned from other set lists on the tour and seems corrent, although I'm sure that there was another short song on the encore beofre "Stick With Me Baby". All good stuff!
- Main Set
- Rich Woman
- Leave My Woman Alone
- Black Dog
- Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us
- Through The Morning, Through The Night
- Fortune Teller
- Black Country Woman
- 29 Palms
- Shut It Tight (Burnett)
- Bon Temps Rouler (Burnett)
- Trampled Rose
- Green Pastures
- Down In The River To Pray
- Killing The Blues
- Nothin'
- Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson
- When The Levee Breaks
- The Battle of Evermore
- Please Read The Letter
- Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
- Encores
- Krauss Instrumental
- One Woman Man
- Stick With Me Baby
- Your Long Journey
Bob and Al
The video is in FLV format and should stream quite quickly to your computer. Excuse the distorted sound, the microphone on the camera isn't the best when recording high-volume noise. Please be patient if the video doesn't load immediately.
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell