PASO ROBLES, CA | On a beautiful late September evening in a beautiful setting, some of the most, you guessed it, beautiful music was heard. Robert Plant and Saving Grace came to Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles, California, an open-air venue set in the heart of Central Coast wine country, where vineyards and oak-studded hills make for a backdrop few concert halls can match.
As the sun went down over those hills, a crowd that spanned generations, from longtime fans in faded Led Zeppelin shirts to younger listeners drawn in by Plant’s more recent roots work, settled in for something that was neither a nostalgia act nor a greatest-hits revue. In that earthy setting, Plant and company delivered a night of otherworldly music, drawing on British folk, American gospel and blues, and, yes, the Zeppelin songbook, all of it filtered through a singer who has spent more than five decades refusing to stand still.
As part of a West Coast swing supporting their 2025 album, Saving Grace, Plant, along with Saving Grace, the band, a group he has been touring with since 2019, played to a packed house, or rather a packed backyard, since the venue is outdoors. Front and center with Plant for most of the show was Suzi Dian on vocals, accordion, and a bit of bass guitar. The rest of the band features drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, and cellist Barney Morse-Brown.
A legend like Robert Plant could have pulled musicians from anywhere in the world, but Plant’s current musical journey brought him as close as his local pub to start this new venture. While Plant has explored folk and roots music before, most notably with Alison Krauss, this group is entirely English and Welsh, and Dian is his first English singing partner. That alone gives a unique take on the covers that Plant chose to explore and reinterpret.
Leading off with “Down to the Sea” off his Fate of Nations album and followed by “Win My Train Fare Home (If I Ever Get Lucky)” from Dreamland, Plant showed he can reimagine his own music as well as the music of others. Sharing the front of the stage, Plant and Dian harmonized, sang together, and also sang to each other, each singer pushing and pulling the best out of the partner next to them.
For those wearing Led Zeppelin shirts in the audience, what came next was absolutely breathtaking. While he may no longer be the howling banshee from the English Black Country, Plant’s take on the Zeppelin classic “Ramble On” was done to perfection in a mature, but still heavy, fashion. (As a side note, the ability to morph such a tune shows the “Light and Shade” of Led Zeppelin that Jimmy Page always spoke about.) After the song finished, he announced, “We’re Saving Grace, and we’re really fucking good.”
He should have said great. Because that’s what the rest of the night was. “As I Roved Out” from the Saving Grace album came next. Plant’s musical curiosity knows no bounds, as songs like “There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down,” by Brother Claude Ely, “Angel Dance,” by Los Lobos, and “Orphan Girl” by Gillian Welch proved. The tunes also provided a chance to show just what the backline of Kelsey, Worley, Morse-Brown, and Jefferson could do. They may have all been sitting. They may not have been striking the typical guitar-hero or heavy-metal poses, but any time they took on a Zeppelin song, like “Friends,” they not only rose to the occasion but also made it their own.
It was obvious that Plant was having a great time. He talked about playing the venue many times, about f-ing up a song (the audience didn’t notice), and about being teased over the age of his band (“having the kids with you”), and he called one tune “a heavy metal folk song.” Plant recently celebrated his 78th birthday, and his days of being a “Golden God” are gone. He’s become a different deity. One of wisdom and power gained from experience. When it came time for the final song of the main set, “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You,” Dian moved off to the side, and Plant stepped away from the mic stand, took a few extra steps toward the audience, and reminded everyone that he was Robert Plant and he could sing any damn thing he wants.
The three-song encore started with “It’s a Beautiful Day Today” by Moby Grape, which Plant introduced as a song he loved as a teenager. He spoke with tenderness in his voice, remembering what inspired him to do what he has never stopped doing. Next, in keeping with the beautiful theme, came Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song.” This was a mesmerizing version that finished with Plant saying that he loves singing that song. (It honestly showed.) The final song of the evening came from the Saving Grace album. Low’s “Everybody’s Song” was introduced by Plant as “The best thing you’ve ever heard.” And it pretty much was. Based on the evening, it could have been folk. It could have been roots. But it rocked. It rolled. As Plant said, they were “the new hard rock.”
Robert Plant’s storied past has been well documented. But he isn’t chasing that past. He does, however, look back, exploring roots music and his own roots along the way. In doing so, he finds his future. That is truly a beautiful thing. At the very least, a beautiful evening.
