Rock music fans across the world are still pining the for reformation of Led Zeppelin, one of the most iconic classic rock bands of all time. There hasn't been any good news on that horizon (even if you count the 25/1 odds given that the band plays Glastonbury next year), but Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant has a new outfit that specializes in playing the band's songs, even if they are totally different renditions.
Plant and his new band, the Sensational Space Shifters, gave their debut performance in the United States on Thursday as headliners at the High Sierra Music festival in Quincy, CA. The band is assembled from a wide range of musicians and influences, stemming from world music to electronica. The group made no doubt that Led Zeppelin was its go-to source for material however, even if played in radical new styles.
Plant and company opened with "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," a cover of a folk song that debuted on the band's first album in 1969. Plant has been a fan of folk, blues and American traditional music for a while now. If the blues-influence wasn't obvious enough in Led Zeppelin's work based on all of its Robert Johnson covers, the Sensational Space Shifters added to it further by playing a low-key version of the hit "Black Dog."
"Welcome to another night of bluegrass and soft rock," Plant said to the crowd. "That's how we got here."
The set also included some of Plant's newer originals and some covers from other non-Zeppelin artists, such as Willie DIxon's "Spoonful." The crowd was most in tune to the hits however, which included Zeppelin's "Rock 'n' Roll" and "Going to California."
