Robert Plant And The Sensational Space Shifters Live At The Marquee Cork. 25/6/2014.

Robert Plant Live At The Marquee Cork.

Last Wednesday evening Robert Plant and his latest offering of musicians known as The Sensational Space Shifters rolled into Cork as part of the long line of gigs held at the annual Marquee festival.
After publicly making it clear that Led Zeppelin would never again tour as a band, Plant has taken his own direction several times, notably with his solo career and his collaboration with Alison Krauss.
Zeppelin fans however will not be disappointed with what is to offer with the latest live shows.
To my delight and I think everybody else's, the first choice of song was 'Baby I'm Going To Leave You' a track from the first Zeppelin long player all of 45 years ago.
Despite the huge time span since the hey days of Zeppelin in the late 60's and 70's the former frontman seemed as energetic and dynamic as ever. There is a certain spine tingling chill that you get watching such a legend of rock a few meters before your eyes.
The voice with perhaps a few octaves lower is still outstandingly powerful and never faltered throughout the set. Lead guitarist Justin Adams an accomplished producer and all round multifaceted musician was mind blowing at times with his range of abilities. The familiar riff of 'Whole Lotta Love' rang through from his guitar sending the crowd into a frenzy as the show got better and better. 'Black Dog' was given a more tamed down makeover, laced with hints of African influences thanks to Juldeh Camara and his skills with an instrument called a Ritti which is a one stringed traditional violin.
A beautiful rendition of 'Going To California' was another stand out moment, at times it was hard not to wonder was this all a dream. This night for me diminished any notions that Plant could have taken the wrong road by not continuing to tour with Led Zeppelin after the 2007 reunion concert in London.
Instead I think me has moved on graciously while remolding his career wisely, his latest band couldn't have been selected more perfectly. This was a night we will remember for a long, long time.

'lullaby and....The Ceaseless Roar' is the title of the forthcoming album which will be released in September, also there is a return trip to Ireland and the U.K in November for more live dates.  'Rainbow' is one of the tracks from the new album.