Robert Plant presents the Sensational Space Shifters. 7:30 p.m. July 19. $39.50-$79.50 plus Ticketmaster fees. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, 2200 Encore Parkway, Alpharetta. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
Robert Plant could simply regurgitate letter-perfect renditions of his greatest hits and few complaints would come from fans, many of whom would love to see the former Led Zeppelin frontman reunite with his old mates.
But instead Plant is challenging himself on tour with the aptly christened Sensational Space Shifters. The group takes Plant’s history and influences and turns them into something refreshingly new. Be it a Zeppelin tune, a solo track or a blues standard, these aren’t the versions you’ll hear on classic rock radio.
Plant isn’t against celebrating the past or occasionally even joining the other surviving Zeps, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones. The most recent reunion in 2007 at London’s 02 Arena was documented on last year’s “Celebration Day” video and audio release. Earlier this year, in an interview in Australia, Plant hinted at his availability to potentially refly the fabled Zeppelin in 2014.
Still, Plant is a lover of all kinds of music. Turning 65 in August, he continues on a journey of sonic discovery. During a chat from a San Francisco hotel, he talked about his passion for musical exploration rather than basking in past glories.
Q: You always seem like you’re up for learning about and exposing yourself to music that’s new to you.
A: I was very fortunate, because when I was a kid there was quite a progressive music scene in Britain with the very beginnings of British blues, psychedelia and that sort of thing. So there was mainstream music and then there was the other side of it. And I was on the other side of it. … And I think my early adventures, which led me to cowrite quite a lot of varied material with Led Zeppelin, was because of travel and absorbing other kinds of music. … Music is such a beautiful thing. You’ve got to go out and dance with the stuff, whether it’s a two-step ballroom in Texas or something down there in Crowley or Lafayette, La. Whether you’re in Morocco or Egypt or wherever it is that you are, it’s the pulse and the beautiful excitement of stuff that you don’t expect. I deal in that sort of thing rather than absolute repetition.
Q: Where was the most unexpected place you’ve discovered something new musically?
A: I think just spending time in the Mississippi Delta, and when I was a kid in Zeppelin, hanging out around Muscle Shoals, Ala., and even in Atlanta and Macon; little moments with guys who were attached to the Allman Brothers and all of that sort of thing. It’s just a great weave, you know. It’s a beautiful tapestry, this American music. And more recently I got dug in with Alison Krauss and Patty Griffin. And now I kind of went back to Europe and reassembled a kind of much more urban and powerful singular voice with a lot of dynamics and crescendos, having taken a break from two-steps for a while.
Q: So what excites you most about performing with the Sensational Space Shifters?
A: Oh, you just don’t really know exactly which way it’s going to go, because it’s a very exciting music form. There are lots of real big moments, very powerful moments, which are not rehearsed. There are a lot of key indicators on how to drop into new parts of the songs. But it’s like turning “Black Dog” upside down and kicking some life into the old dog and that sort of thing. … You can’t actually have a life in music and tear along the dotted line forever. You’ve got to zig-zag, and this is what I do. Sometimes it has amazing results, and sometimes it gives me food for thought.
Q: Have you ever revisited a song and thought, “I wish I would’ve done this the first time?”
A: [Laughs] Well, the thing is, technology has changed, times have changed. So I can’t really say, because most of the material that we’re dealing with, obviously a lot of it, comes from another time. So I can’t really go back to a Led Zeppelin track and say I wish I would’ve done it like this in the first place, because a lot of the facility that I now have didn’t exist then. And also it was perfect the way it was. Because what are you going to do with “Heartbreak Hotel” or “All Along the Watchtower”? Everything has its time and then some. So if you go further into it, you don’t want to screw it up. You’ve got to keep moving it.
Q: What drives you forward?
A: The new songs that I’ve written, which are quite spectacular. And I’ve written a lot of material with quite a few different artists. I have a plan that I’m going to hatch, because I’m traveling around expecting people to come along and join in this amazing collage of wild music visiting all the parts of my career. … So I’m counting on people having faith in the excitable elements of what I’ve done in the past. And I came through Atlanta with Alison Krauss, I came through with Band of Joy, I came through with the Strange Sensation. I’ve done lots of different things, and people sometimes don’t really know what they’re subscribing to. In a way it compromises people to some degree. … I think what I’m going to do is create the biggest, most powerful album I’ve made for many years and then come back in a couple years’ time [and perform]. And I know exactly what I’m going to do and more or less how I’m going to do it. It will involve quite a lot of different people. … So I’ve got a plan. I’ve got a Rand McNally and a map of the world.
Q: Talking about a map of the world, what’s the best place you’ve found to immerse yourself in recording? How important is environment?
A: Oh, it doesn’t matter. It’s really just being visited by the muse. And the muse is usually close to water, close to the western sea is a really good one. … I’m really drawn to little rivers and very beautiful, lonesome places. I’ve been along the coast of Georgia from Savannah going down to the islands of the Gullah people down there on the road toward Florida and come across some amazing places.
Q: Some of your early musical interests involved bands such as Jefferson Airplane and other West Coast groups. Before your Zeppelin days you recorded a demo of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”
A: How would I have known we’d all wind up in the same bag? I’ll go see Neil Young [in concert], or I’ll stand in the back of a room and watch Dylan. Then I’ll go and see the Black Keys and Mumford & Sons. And I’m in the middle of it all. I’m not just copying it. I’m creating it, I’m mutilating it, and it’s great.
Q: It must be a surreal place to be.
A: The Mumfords are a very bright bunch. I mean, they played Glastonbury [Festival], and my kid went to see them. They were on the same weekend as the Stones back there over in England. Everybody was amazed at Mick Jagger’s energy, which is great. I’m glad to see that somebody even older than me can jump about and be the ultimate concert entertainer. But with the Mumfords, they’re touching on stuff that I really dig: that kind of skiffle, Lead Belly, the whole idea of the explosive aspects of music, which really come more from Shreveport, La., than they do from Guildford in England. I’m just a fan.
Q: What do you think of the current state of rock ’n’ roll?
A: It’s broader and wider. Access to it is much more truncated. So there are real amazing themes and scenes of musical adventure, which don’t make the mainstream, but they’re huge. And I think that’s great. That takes us right back to 1965, when you had an amazing underground music scene. And you can come roaring into the 1990s into the U.K. with East Indian Bhangra music. … Nobody ever knew what was going on, but the music was huge. And it was outselling Madonna, but it was never on the charts, because the actual formula of recognition of it through the business didn’t exist, which is great. I love it. … I’m supposed to be a mature artist. Time’s been good to me, but my excitement elements stopped me from being a kind of stuffed shirt. So I can stand in the back of any club and hear a DJ kick [tail].
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