Robert Plant, second from the left, and his backing band Saving Grace, at the Black Country Living Museum, in June, 2025.Tom Oldham/Supplied
True story: In 1998, I was sternly lectured over the telephone by Robert Plant.
He was speaking with the press about his then-new Walking Into Clarksdale album. I asked him “Why Clarksdale?” Apparently, it was the home of the blues, and Mr. Plant expected and assumed I would have known that. He gave me a loud and stern reproach. Cool, but embarrassing.
Plant really knows his music: traditional, roots, gospel, country, Americana, North African, blues, you name it. He played at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Monday, presenting his eclectic new album Saving Grace, a collection of largely obscure but captivating roots pieces.
Plant did great and award-winning things when he worked with traditional country singer Alison Krauss. Plant is now vocally accompanied by English singer Suzi Dian, who shares vocal duties here in equal measure.
Because the Led Zeppelin days are now 45 years behind him, Plant’s voice has changed considerably, but not in a bad way. He now sounds more like an American troubadour than a vocal Golden God, but his shared vocals with Dian meshed seamlessly.
Most of the 12-song set list on Monday featured material from his new album. Backed by a terrific veteran band that was also referred to as Saving Grace, Plant and company opened with a classic gospel piece called Gospel Plough. This was a heavily atmospheric number that introduced Dian and guitarist Tony Kelsey. The latter’s moody and electric strumming reminded me of English guitarist John Martyn.
This was followed by another number from the album, Higher Rock. The Martha Scanlan-penned song was more of a romp, and Plant allowed Dian free rein in the spotlight here.
Now, obviously, the majority of the audience was drawn here by the possibility of hearing some classic Led Zeppelin, and what they got was certainly more than expected. For the record, Plant very much wears his 77 years. He looks somewhat grizzled, moves cautiously and probably would not be recognized in a Tim Hortons.
But while his voice has morphed into something less thrilling, it is still remarkably strong. Early on, he and the band jumped into a complex version of the classic Zep number Ramble On. This alone would have justified the ticket price, and earned Plant his first standing ovation.
Other Zep memories provided were Four Sticks, Black Dog and a beautifully atmospheric The Rain Song, which served as the encore.
Once the audience (not as old as you might have thought) settled back in after Ramble On, Plant returned to the new album with a country blues piece, The Soul of a Man by Blind Willie Johnson (not from Clarksdale, apparently). This featured Plant’s strongest vocals of the evening, earthy and powerful.
Other highlights included an almost-folk number called It’s a Beautiful Day Today, a Moby Grape deep cut that Plant mentioned he had been singing since he was a teenager, and As I Roved Out, wherein Dian and Plant matched vocal harmonies beautifully. The latter also featured North African rhythms that gave it a complex feel.
Mention must also be made of the backing band. Besides Kelsey, Saving Grace also included drummer Oli Jefferson, strings player Matt Worley and cellist Barney Morse-Brown, who basically provided serpentine bass parts. The band was, as Dian mentioned, an absolute “groove machine,” and about as far removed from Jimmy Page and company as it was possible to get.
Can’t say it was a particularly generous show, crashing out around the 90-minute mark, but hey, 77 and all.
Robert Plant’s Saving Grace plays Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre, Nov. 19.
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