Concert Reviews

The Boston stop for “Robert Plant’s Saving Grace featuring Suzi Dian” continued the former Led Zeppelin frontman’s journey toward pan-global omni-folk music.

By Marc Hirsh

November 7, 2025 | 1:15 PM

3 minutes to read

Robert Plant’s Saving Grace feat. Suzi Dian, with Rosie Flores, at Shubert Theatre, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025.

Robert Plant is a seeker. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who paid attention to the Led Zeppelin songs that lie just beyond the monoliths. But as one of the great frontmen of rock history, someone who conquered worlds unimaginable to mere mortals, he could have easily (and forgivably) opted to coast on his world-conquering bona fides for the last four decades and change.

But not happily, it seems. So the fact that he hasn’t gone that route is laudable. The fact that he’s continued, to this day, to produce compelling music that continues to speak to a sort of restlessness on his part is nothing short of astonishing. Bringing his new outfit to a sold-out Shubert Theatre on Thursday, Plant continued his quest for a sort of pan-global omni-folk music, and if such a thing is impossible, his striving proved to be thrilling and satisfying nonetheless.

Strictly speaking, the act on the marquee wasn’t a solo act but a band, or at least a collective. “Robert Plant’s Saving Grace featuring Suzi Dian,” read the billing (mirroring that of their new album), and the five musicians by his side weren’t mere backups there to serve one man’s vision. Barney Morse-Brown’s cello ran the gamut from serving as a bass substitute to conjuring up a slow moaning that sustained like whale songs, while Matt Worley’s banjo droned like a sitar when it wasn’t offering the bitter curl of English folk. He and mandolinist Tony Kelsey helped imbue the songs with non-Western tonality whether on those instruments or more traditional guitars.

Meanwhile, it was Oli Jefferson who was doing the Lord’s work on the drums. Supple and subtle, he was always driving the music forward but only nudging it, never pushing. He helped make the chorus of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” about as thunderous as brushed drums and acoustic instruments could possibly make it, which was a bracing shock after the light touch of the band’s rhythmic-folk treatment of the verses.

And Plant continued to explore a recurring theme in his career, which was how well his voice blends with that of a female singing partner, going all the way back to Sandy Denny’s guest spot on Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle Of Evermore” and extending through his Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss. So Dian easily justified her near-top billing with a clear voice that had a knowing ache at its core.

On the warm and hazy stomp of “Higher Rock,” she and Plant traded off verses before joining together, and their harmonies served the soft folk-pop of “It’s A Beautiful Day Today” beautifully. And Plant largely stepped back and ceded the spotlight to Dian as a groaning surge swelled behind her take on Neil Young’s “For The Turnstiles” and on the devastatingly lovely “Too Far From You,” where she commanded the verse’s gentle rise before the sad descent of the refrain revealed the depths of her loneliness.

Crucially, Plant avoided the trap of simply slotting Dian into songs he’d worked on with Krauss, keeping the two projects separate and setting the focus largely on the band’s new album. (He similarly handed the lead of Blind Willie Johnson’s probing and spiritual “Soul Of A Man” to Worley, who proved quite capable with its existential pleading.)

And even the handful of songs from Plant’s old band were thoughtfully chosen and arranged with this band’s strengths in mind. The clomping “Friends” may be the dippiest thing Led Zeppelin ever did, but the self-proclaimed “old hippie” sold the sentiment that sharing a smile is the greatest gift anyway, and the glaring “Four Sticks” could almost have played at a dance social if only it didn’t have an uneven time signature that would require an uneven number of legs.

The band closed with “Gallows Pole,” Plant’s hopeless condemned man begging for his life against a galloping chug augmented by Dian’s accordion, already playful somehow before the singer started singing the sex-fired come-on of “Black Dog” in between measures. In Plant’s view, it was all part of the same tradition, one that he’s determined to explore as long as he’s able.

Rockabilly queen Rosie Flores opened with a spirited set fueled by upright bass, brush-slap drums, and her own twangy guitar that traded fire for easygoing, unfussed mastery.

Setlist for Robert Plant’s Saving Grace featuring Suzi Dian at Shubert Theatre, Nov. 6, 2025

• The Cuckoo (traditional)
• Higher Rock (Martha Scanlan cover)
• Ramble On (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Soul Of A Man (Blind Willie Johnson cover)
• Let The Four Winds Blow
• Too Far From You (Sarah Siskind cover)
• Four Sticks (Led Zeppelin cover)
• It’s A Beautiful Day Today (Moby Grape cover)
• As I Roved Out (traditional)
• Everybody’s Song (Low cover)
• For The Turnstiles (Neil Young cover)
• Friends (Led Zeppelin cover)

ENCORE:

• Down To The Sea
• Gallows Pole/Black Dog (Led Zeppelin covers)

Marc Hirsh

Music Critic

Marc Hirsh is a music critic who covers a wide variety of genres, including pop, rock, hip-hop, country and jazz.

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