Krauss and Plant in Perfect Harmony

June 13
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland

recommended beverage:
they have Hoegaarden. 'Nough said.

One has to marvel at how these two cats, from opposite ends of the musical universe, came together but it's a wondrous joy they did. Bluegrass queen Alison Krauss and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant put on a stunning show at Merriweather.

They played some songs from their debut album as a duo, Raising Sand, and an array of covers in a repertoire that touched on a range of musical genres: bluegrass, folk, rock, and gospel. Of course, they threw in some Zep, rearranged quite a bit, likely the work of T-Bone Burnett who plays in their band. The three Zeppelin tunes were "Black Dog" (turned into a ballad!), "Black Country Woman," and "The Battle of Evermore."

The harmonies were gorgeous and Plant often yielded to Krauss to spotlight her violin playing or voice. Krauss sings like an angel, but seemed uncomfortable with all the attention. Her singing on "Trampled Rose" was nothing short of majestic.

Before their three-song encore, they ended the set with the Everly Brothers cover "Gone, Gone, Gone," currently tearing up the airwaves.

Photos by ClubD.

REM, Modest Mouse, The National Rock Merriweather

Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland
June 11

recommended beverage

to go with this show:

Hoegaarden, a refreshing Belgian white beer.

Kudos to Merriweather for selling it.

Rock music's favorite Georgia peach played Merriweather last night, whipping out lots of oldies and rarities to make us older fans swoon. The new stuff sounded pretty fantastic too.

The show featured two rock legends: one, naturally, was REM singer Michael Stipe. The other was Modest Mouse guitarist, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who Stipe invited out to jam with them on REM's last two songs.

pictured here: Johnny Marr

More soon. Photos by ClubD.