Land of the Ice and Snow Indeed……

I’m going to guess 1977 was the first time I heard Robert Plant’s voice; at least intentionally. I remember walking from our house to a Cook’s department store (Cooks was a northeast US chain that didn’t survive much past the ‘70’s I don’t think)with the express purpose of buying a rock ‘n roll record. I had no idea what I was looking for, had no real idea of any band names, I was just an 11-year-old on a mission. I was tired of my parent’s music, and angsty pre-teen that I was, I wanted to rock.

I got to the record section and was overwhelmed. It was magical; I was flipping thru albums, looking for MY music. In all the color and splashy album art, my attention was caught by a framed picture of a stooped over old guy with a giant load of sticks on his back. The picture hung on a rough finished wall. I picked the album up and there was nothing else on it. Maybe something that said Atlantic Records; no title, no band name. That struck my 11-year-old mind as totally fuckin rock n roll, so I handed over my paper route profits, and took it home.

The stereo was in the living room. It was a 3 in one; AM-FM tuner, a turntable, and an 8-track player. I put the record on and plugged in the headphones; I was pretty sure my mom would be horrified by whatever was about to happen.

Of course, the album was Led Zeppelin IV. What happened, was Robert Plant opening the album by belting out “Black Dog.” I was blown away. I had no idea that music could be like that. As Black Dog faded out and after a few scratchy seconds of silence, John Bonhams immortal intro to “Rock N Roll” started, and I was done. My world changed, and a lifelong love of Led Zeppelin began.

My age is kindof a tease. I’m old enough to remember new Zeppelin music; pretty sure I bought “In Thru The Out Door” on release day. I was too young to have had the chance to see them tho. Fast forward over the decades and I missed Plant and Page when they toured, as well as all the solo tours. I was in the Army for much of this era, and between living overseas for years, and lots of deployments, it just never happened. I did get to see Jimmy Page when he did the tour with The Black Crowes, and that was awesome.

In the summer of 2019, I found myself crossing the Atlantic for the probably 50th -ish time, headed to Svalbard. Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago that’s to the north of mainland Norway. The biggest settlement is a place called Longyearbyen; population in 2019 was 2,368. It’s about a 4-hour flight from Oslo, more or less due north. It’s up there for sure, well above the Arctic Circle.

I was going up there for work, set to be there for a little more than a month. Suffice to say I wasn’t expecting much by way of excitement or entertainment.

Traveling east across the Atlantic can suck the life out of ya depending on where you’re going. By the time I made to it to the Longyearbyen Airport car rental “office”, I had been traveling for, I don’t know, 97 hours it felt like. Getting on the plane in Newark seemed a lifetime ago.

When I saw the poster in the car rental “office” I was decidedly confused. I couldn’t quite grasp what I was seeing. Robert Plant it said. Longyearbyen. Dates that were a week in the future.

I asked the guy behind the counter what that was all about, and the clerk confirmed that Plant was playing a couple gigs in town. My reaction was about what it was when 11 year old me first heard Robert’s voice; I was stunned.

(A few days later, I was able to acquire (I asked first) a copy of that poster from my hostel. Kate had it framed and gave it to me for my birthday. It’s this stories top pic.)

I was able to get a ticket, as was most of the group I was traveling with; one guy decided he didn’t want to go as I recall.

Svalbard is absolutely one of the most unique and interesting places I’ve been. I’m not a poet, and generally don’t describe mother nature’s beauty very adequately. Svalbard is one of those places that make me wish I was a poet. I’m not a great photographer either, hopefully a sense is conveyed by these pics.

After a weeks worth of learning the lay of the land, the night of the show arrived. Well, given the latitude, and the time of the year “night” is strictly a figure of speech. The venue for the show was tiny. I don’t know what the head count was, but I’d guess 300 max. We walked into the room and quickly realized that we’d be seeing ROBERT FUCKING PLANT at just slightly beyond bad breath range.

Plant and the band took the stage without much fanfare. They played a couple of old Zeppelin songs, some old rockabilly like covers, and most of the music was Roberts gritter solo stuff. His voice lacked some of the top end of the range he had in Zeppelin’s heyday, but it didn’t matter. He was unmistakably Robert Plant, and he sounded fantastic. The band was the perfect live mix of tight and loose, they had a great groove and worked seamlessly with Robert.

The show had two highlights for me. First, was a totally unique and original re-voicing of “Black Dog”. This version had, if possible, a better groove than the original. It was great!! Plants solo song “Carry Fire” stole the show for me. It’s a very dynamic song with a “Kasmir” vibe to it. It’s crescendo was crushing in the intimate venue. This was hands down one of the most powerful live songs I’ve seen.

There’s always a risk when seeing a huge childhood influencer and impact haver later in life. Seeing Plant at that point in both of our life journeys, and at that location, was just a really cool experience for me. He didn’t disappoint at all.

Thanks for reading!!! Be kind to yourself and everyone!!

Sam & Kate