Robert PLant and Alison Krauss

I thought I'd just share my feelings having just seen these two at Wembley Arena in London last night, and urge any of you with the slightest interest in great, great live music to try and catch them if you can.

I can't remember a concert or other live entertainment experience that was anywhere near as transcendent and universally appreciated. The very eclectic crowd was rapt from very early on, and the atmosphere towards the end of the gig and during the encore was quite astonishing - intense and clearly full of great joy.

I know I am sounding like a pentecostal at his first healin', and am not normally so hyperbolic, but sometimes when you experience great art you just have to drop the cynicism and tell it the way you see it.

Plant was superb - mature and empathic in a way that I think validates his decision not to squeeze more out of the Zep marque for a while (I know, heresy - I own every Zep album and a ton of bootlegs, have never seen them live and would have killed to get my hands on a ticket to the reunion - but I don't feel ashamed to say it). He evidently loves collaborating with T-bone Burnett and Krauss, and engages with the music and the other musicians with a commitment and energy that makes you wonder just how awesome seeing him in Zep prime would have been. Not that this gig would necessarily have suffered in comparison. A quieter, more reflective genre of music maybe, but when the breaks got crunchier and the tempo fast I still wouldn't have traded the excitement on the stage and in the crows for any kind of my beloved heavy metal thunder.

Whilst I know she has a substantial and long-standing reputation in the States, I had never heard of Alison Krauss before buying and listening to 'Raising Sand'. I was impressed by her voice and musicianship on the studio album, and thought she made a good foil for Plant. Oh boy, did I get that wrong. It was as much if not more the Alison Krauss show last night, and deservedly so. I'm no connoisseur of female voices, but I can't believe you wouldn't have to go many miles to find one as gorgeous as hers. At times, particularly the duets it was like listening to crystal harmonies, but when she let rip, something magical filled (and I mean filled) the arena. I can't think of ever having had a literal drop of the jaw before hearing her sing last night.

Both of them in fact seemed eminently suited to the pathos, bucolic simplicity and fun of the country and bluegrass stuff, and also the high melodrama of the Zep covers. I didn't think it was possible to improve on certain Zep tracks - When the Levee Breaks being one of them. The slower, almost heavier version they belted out last night gives the lie to that. And with a voice with as much range as she enjoys, Krauss was a perfect counterpoint to Plant on a wonderful, lilting cover of Battle of Evermore.

The backing musicians were very good, and a couple of them were awesome. T-bone (again, another person I'd never heard of prior to this album) was clearly a artist of substance, played really nice, echoing guitar lines that twisted in and out and complemented of Plant's and Krauss' vocals perfectly. The 'lead' guitarist was similarly clearly hewn from the core of American music and wrung progressions and solos from his guitar both delicate and gleefully unrestrained. The drummer too was just great, particularly on some of the faster tunes, where he was hitting some pretty fast, syncopated rhythms and swapping time signatures with abandon.

As I said above, I'm not normally one to wax lyrical and heap effusive praise on gigs and the like. There is something in the air about these two, though, something potentially historic. That's why I urge, urge, urge you to beg, borrow or steal tickets to see them. It's an incredible show.

ETA: Robert Plant and Theoden King, separated at birth?

As I said above, I think his decision to forgo a Zep tour in favour of this is, as you say, entirely vindicated. There's a sense of a great artist stretching himself. I can't help but feel, although it would awesome seeing them all together on stage, the fire, passion and sheer exuberance would somehow all feel artificial. No real basis for that, just instinct.

His covers of Zep songs on this tour and the ones I heard him sing live on the Mighty Rearranger tour (and by the way, I hope he does a second album with Strange Sensation because the first and the tour were storming) are enough for me and feel fresh.

Shame about the ticket prices. I know it can be a struggle, and I'm not his agent, but if you can stretch to it, go. You will really not regret it even if you're living off beans for a month as a result.

As for the guitarist - there is someone playing with them who excels at pedal steel and blues/bluegrass guitar. I didn't catch his name but there were loads of whoops and yeahs from the cognoscenti in the audience, so it may well be the chap you mentioned. Even it it wasn't the guy onstage was pretty darn brilliant.

ETA: having checked out his website, I can confirm that (at least in the UK) it isn't Ribot.

I find it astonishing just how much I'm still buzzing from that concert and it was over a week ago. Power of art, I guess. The Chilis are about the only other live gig I can think of that had a similar impact on me - although that was probably as much to do with the frenetic energy as anything else. The memory of Kiedis going mental whilst Flea slapped a double time intro to Higher Ground is an combination of sound and vision that feels as immediate as the real thing did fifteen years ago.