If you’ve never experienced a Robert Plant performance with backing band The Sensational Space Shifters, you could be forgiven for being jarred into cognitive dissonance by hearing the typical staccato guitar bursts of Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” replaced with languid electric fiddle and psychedelic organ flourishes.
But that’s the point, isn’t it? Plant has never felt particularly bound to tradition, and so, Tuesday night’s re-framing of old rock and blues standards in Americana, bluegrass, and world music archetypes was simply his latest means of keeping the music he loves a living, breathing, and captivating entity — rather than a museum showpiece to be revered under glass.