Robert Plant breathes fire on the now and a whole lotta lost Led Zeppelin

Photos by Andy Argyrakis

Never expect Robert Plant to repeat himself. That goes without saying on every recording and installment of his ever-evolving backing band, but even extends to individual concerts, especially the encore edition of the “Carry Fire” Tour that came to a comfortably crowded Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park when compared to a Riviera Theatre sell out over the winter.

Practically every smartphone shot up in the air when Robert Plant and company returned for a mega-medley starring “Bring It On Home,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Santianna” and a reprise of what turned out to be the only super obvious Zeppelin recollection.

Those who populated the pavilion or lawn of the outdoor edition could’ve possibly mistaken the early part of the show as a Led Zeppelin rarities revue with Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters barreling through “The Lemon Song,” “Four Sticks” and “What Is And What Should Never Be” as if their lives depended on it. At 69, the rock n’ roll god’s voice is holding up astoundingly well, while his songwriting muse kept heating up with the stomping, rumbling, rustic bookends “Turn It Up” and “The May Queen.”

Plant kept flipping between now and then, landing somewhere in between with an entirely deconstructed “In The Mood,” resolutely recalling his previous group’s “Going To California” and “Gallows Pole,” while mesmerizing with the intriguing tribal beats, eerie atmosphere and like-minded visual projections of “Carry Fire.” The legend kept right on wailing with “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You,” while The Sensational Space Shifters earned their keep come the roots rockin’ redo of the old timer “Little Maggie” and Bukka White’s bluesy “Fixin’ To Die.”

Practically every smartphone shot up in the air when Plant and company returned for a mega-medley starring “Bring It On Home,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Santianna” and a reprise of what turned out to be the only super obvious Zeppelin recollection. No, he didn’t come anywhere close to taking a “Stairway To Heaven,” but core appreciators looking to hear a meatier helping of the overlooked were surely in their own version of the afterlife.

Beyond wish-lists being denied or granted, the one collective observation was probably how short the mere 90-minute show seemed. Granted, Plant was at his optimal performance level the entire time and the quality of his range may have suffered the longer it went, so just the fact that everyone was in the presence of a man whose band means arguably as much as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones was enough to turn every second into an all-out “Celebration Day.”