Robert Plant appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien last evening, and Late Show with David Letterman on Monday night. Friday night's performance was definitely superior - the band produced a very funked-up arrangement of "Shine It All Around." The Strange Sensation is not quite intact for these television appearances however; guitarist Skin Tyson is in the UK, awaiting a new addition to his family. David Rhodes is substituting. Rhodes has worked with Peter Gabriel and Roy Orbison. I'm sure he's better on material he's written and practiced, but his solo on Monday was most disappointing. Friday's was a bit better, but they were both somewhat jagged and stilted - not smooth or fluid.
The Letterman performance came after a mere nineteen commercial breaks (okay - it was only four). Robert seemed to be a bit unnerved. The show returned after yet another commercial and there was Robert, jamming with friend Paul Shaffer and the CBS orchestra on a rendition of "Treat Her Right." Did the cameras catch this great impromptu moment? Sure - about 15 seconds of it. Thanks so much for that.
James Spader was not the featured guest, as scheduled, for Friday's show. Instead, Quentin Tarantino took up a big chunk of time talking about directing an episode of CSI. Fascinating! Not.
So there was only time for Plant to do the song and then the show was over. Apparently the lyrics to "Tin Pan Valley" hold somewhat true: "I'm turning down the talk shows, the humour, and the couch..." Maybe he's using them to showcase the new single but is not consenting to dumb questions about what it was like to dump televisions out of windows thirty years ago.
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