Robert Plant at Prospect Park

Robert Plant has refused to be identified solely as the former lead singer of Led Zeppelin. That band went on to become the most popular hard rock band of the 1970s, due in large part to Plant’s trademark high-pitched bluesy screams and charismatic rock-god presence on stage. Since the breakup of that band in 1980, he has recorded solo albums, experimented with ethnic music as varied as bluegrass and Middle Eastern music and greatly toned down his stage persona. Rather than going on a concert tour on his name alone, he has attached the names of several different bands to his on the marquee. (This time around, the act is billed as Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters.) When he first launched his solo career, he refused to perform Led Zeppelin songs, but in recent years has added them to his repertoire, although he has rearranged them so they are not played as they were in the original band.

For those in attendance hoping to relive a Zeppelin moment, that is what they got, a moment here and there. At Prospect Park tonight, Plant showed that his trajectory continues to spiral away from his Zep base. Long gone are the days of hairy-chest-revealing open shirts and crotch-demonstrative tight pants. His singing included little if any of his Zeppelin’s high-pitched and excessively emotive vocals. This was a mature Plant, now 65 years old and still creatively strong. The set included blues, folk and country-tinged songs from his solo albums, and unusual renderings of Zep songs “Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You”, “Black Dog”, “Going to California”, “Four Sticks”, “Friends”, “What Is and What Should Never Be”, “Whole Lotta Love” and “Rock and Roll.” Several songs were combined with old blues songs, and other songs were played with extended Moroccan-style instrumentation. Although some of these songs seemed to drag on just a bit too long, Plant made them all interesting. After 40 years in the spotlight, Plant continues to reinvent himself, and that is far better than becoming a Zeppelin karaoke machine.