Robert Plant and the Band of Joy shows revamped rock takes a stand in Austin

July 26, 2010, at Stubb's

By Amanda Stovall
Published: August 3rd, 2010 | 4:30pm

The Monday afternoon that Robert Plant’s parade of tour buses rolled into downtown Austin, there was quite literally a bolt of electricity that hit the city during a jarring lightning storm. By 7 p.m., when the doors to Stubb’s amphitheatre opened to the public, the only reminders of the rain were lingering clouds, the wet gravel of the outdoor venue, and the galoshes intermixed with cowboy boots that stretched around the block.

Stubb's, with its “general store” bar sign, Spanish outpost style stone green room, and wrought iron horse shoe decorations is distinctly Texas. Even Band of Joy mate Patty Griffin calls Austin home, and the only non-Texas element of the night was Plant’s preserved British accent, which remained well masked for most of the night in the lines of the band’s bluegrass and country-rockabilly songs.

The sold-out show garnered a crowd donning a canonical collection of classic rock band T-shirts, from Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to the Doors, which were worn by audience members ranging in dental age from braces to dentures. The packed grounds gave little glimpse of Plant save for the occasional view of his trademark hair flying up in the air, but the sound of the band’s gospel and blues overtones reverberated off the rusted aluminum roofs of the surrounding buildings like nobody's business. The consistent clank of aluminum tall boy cans as crowd members toasted songs they liked also made the sound quality especially vibrant and fitting for a band that attempts to reach deep into the heart of rock music’s roots and shake the sleeping giants awake.

“Down to the Sea,” the first song of the night, took its cue from the club's surroundings with its influence of Spanish guitar solos—a reworking of the classic rock version of the original track. Band of Joy members Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin sang a bluegrass duet with Plant as they harmonized their vocals through his harmonica on the song “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go.” Southern gospel stylings were also featured prominently in songs such as “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down.”

When the stage lights shifted to bright orange and only two notes had been played, an uproar resounded from the audience, while a man in front declared to everyone around him that “this is my favorite song.” “Tangerine,” the Led Zeppelin classic, had been reworked into a country-rock song that could have sparked revulsion in those with an aversion to change, but got most of the Austin audience foot stomping with a rhythm worthy of a Texas dance hall.

At the end of the set, it took a short three minutes of crowd prompting to bring the band back on stage to play a three-song encore that included a rendition of Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt’s “Harm's Swift Way.” The night’s mix of banjos, harmonicas, and soulful singing strong enough to pull a “Halleluiah” from the mouth of even an irreverent fan, may not have been the sound that many Led Zeppelin mourners had hoped to hear upon purchasing a Robert Plant ticket, but the legendary singer and his reworked Band of Joy reminds everyone that if you’re not evolving, you’re probably not moving forward.

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Robert Plant's official site

Rounder Records