Opening with a mightily rearranged take on "No Quarter," Robert Plant simultaneously reminded the crowd of his legendary past while showing he was not going to be a slave to it. That is just as well, because if ever there was a band whose cacophony and power are inseparable from youth, it was Led Zeppelin, whose songs spewed forth tales of mystical fantasies and dreams of invulnerability. Still, while an African bendir frame-drum added a space and sophistication to "No Quarter," it was hard to keep a straight face listening to the now-56-year-old Plant offer lyrics like: "The winds of Thor are blowing cold" or "The dogs of doom are howling more!" Of course, Plant is totally aware of this, and during the encore of "Whole Lot of Love," even he had a bit of a giggle attack.
Also reminiscent of days of yore was Plant's arena-rock microphone-tossing, dramatic hand gestures, slow-motion swivels and posing. Throughout the show, he kept asking, "Is there anybody out there?" And by the third time, as the crowd roared back, one had the urge to suggest that someone get the old guy a hearing aid.
Despite these occasional awkward moments, Plant has become that rare classic-rock star who can deftly sidestep the Spinal Tap jokes by making new music that is anything but nostalgic. Having spent the '80s churning out creatively moribund pop hits and the '90s dicking around, he finally has a new disc, Mighty Rearranger, which is the best thing he has done since Zep (and way better than swan song In Through the Out Door). Rearranger completes the creative rebirth that began with Plant's 2002 Dreamland. On that, he integrated his omnivorous musical palette of influences (everything from reggae to traditional Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn) into his own distinctive sound. On Rearranger, he finally applies that sound to original songs.
Plant seems to realize that 25 years into his solo career, he has found an artistic footing worthy of Zeppelin's legacy. He played five songs from Rearranger, and with the significant exception of Dreamland, ignored the rest of his solo career. Of course, Rearranger is not the commercial monster Zeppelin was, and as Plant joked to the audience, he now has accomplishments like being No. 1 in Iceland. But he can afford a sense of humor about these things, as this Vegas show proved that fans from the old days can still fill an arena.