Almost everyone who is anyone in the world of metal and hard rock was at the Back To The Beginning concert at Villa Park last month. But one band who were not represented in any way were Sabbath’s contemporaries, Led Zeppelin.
Now in a new interview in this month’s Mojo magazine, Robert Plant has revealed that he actually was invited to perform that day, by his fellow Midlander, Tony Iommi.
“I said, Tony, I’d love to come, but I can’t come,” recalls Plant. “I just can’t. I’m not saying that I’d rather hang out with Peter Gabriel or Youssou N’Dour, but I don’t know anything about what’s going on in that world now, at all. I don’t decry it, I’ve got nothing against it. It’s just I found these other places that are so rich.”
In truth, hard rock hasn’t been Plant’s thing for a while now. His solo work over the last few decades has largely been coloured by folk, World music and country. And that’s continued in his current band Saving Grace, which play largely traditional tunes or at least modern spins on them.
And whilst live they do drop some acoustic versions of old Zep tracks, Plant says they have to “be very careful that we make sure it stays closer to Bert Jansch than Axl Rose.” They’re touring this autumn, but don’t expect to hear Stairway To Heaven.
“When people say that I don’t like Stairway To Heaven, I just don’t like the idea of it,” Plant explains. “These iconic things – they’re just what they are. But you know, most people have missed some of the best Zeppelin stuff. For Your Life, on Presence. Achilles' Last Stand! Fucking hell. Just extraordinary that three people and a singer can do that.”
But the idea of getting Zeppelin back together one last time doesn’t appeal: “to do it for the sake of it was never what Zeppelin was about”, he tells Mojo. Neither is he interested in banging out old Zep tunes in huge venues.
“(These new) gigs are small enough so that if nobody wants to go, it’s not the end of the world,” he says. “And so, by having that laissez-faire, easy-going, whatever it’s called - suicidal! - attitude, instead of doing the football stadium with some old mates … we were free. We could mess about.”
The ten-track self-titled album, Saving Grace, by Robert Plant comes out on September 26.
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