Robert Plant Goes ‘Un-Ledded’

Robert Plant may have balked at a full-scale Led Zeppelin tour, but apparently, he has no problem rocking the occasional Zeplin classic live.

On Saturday night, Plant joined Jack White on stage for a blistering take of Led Zeppelin’s “The Lemon Song” during the former White Stripes singer’s headlining set at Lollapalooza Argentina. White has made a career of delivering his hard-rockin’ take on the blues, first in the White Stripes and now as a solo artist, and has covered the Led Zeppelin II album track in the past — last year when he topped the bill at Bonnaroo and also on his tour backing his second solo set, Lazaretto.

For Plant, it was more of a rarity. It’s the first time he’s played the track since he and Zep guitarist Jimmy Page did it in 1995 in Norway on their tour to support No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, even though that track was not included on that album.

The fact that Plant, who still can belt it out with the best of them, dug into the Zep catalog with White was probably a minor annoyance for Page, Zep bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer Jason Bonham, the son of Zepplin's drummer, John Bonham, all of whom were pushing hard for a full-scale Led Zeppelin tour following the 2007 reunion. Plant has reportedly balked at huge sums of money thrown at the band. The Mirror once reported that Richard Branson had offered the band $800 million to tour, although Plant called the report “rubbish” and Branson said there was “no truth to the story.”

What is true is that Plant would rather follow his own muse than revive Led Zeppelin. In Novemeber Plant released his 10th solo album, the rootsy Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, is currently touring with his band, the Sensational Space Shifters, while Page continues to remaster and promote reissues of the Led Zeppelin catalog.