All-time rock great Robert Plant is returning to Courier Country next week.
That may not necessarily be a cue to lock up your daughters in the way it might have been back in the day. But the voice of Led Zeppelin retains a cocksure belief in his own abilities that’s ensured a rapid-fire sell-out at Perth Concert Hall on Wednesday.
From far and wide
Plant. 74, has just completed a run of shows in Ireland with his Saving Grace combo and kicks off four Scottish gigs in Glasgow tomorrow, with punters travelling from as far as the USA, Europe and the Orkneys.
The Brummie’s Americana “co-operative” also features his fast-rising Portuguese singing protégé Suzi Dian, along with a trio of time-served musos in the shape of percussionist Oli Jefferson and stringers Tony Kelsey and Matt Worley.
American bass idol
Separately, Beat Generator has a big name of its own stopping by on Thursday, when American bass idol Marco Mendoza hits North Lindsay Street.
Best known for his time in Aussie-American supergroup The Dead Daisies, along with the reformed Thin Lizzy from the late ’90s and its later spin-off Black Star Riders, the Californian has also toured with the likes of Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, late Cranberries star Dolores O’Riordan and arena rockers Journey, who he teamed up with last year.
Now aged 59, Mendoza is currently out plugging his fourth solo album New Direction and will be supported on Thursday by Moray-based glam rockers Bad Actress and Inverness outfit Silent Thieves.
It’ll be a hectic 24 hours at Beat G, which also has East Neuk folk songsmith James Yorkston heading north for a night of beguilingly esoteric mumbo jumbo next Friday.
Feminist punks for Dundee
Over at Conroy’s Basement, it’s metalheads Oceans On Fire tonight with support from H8teball and Waves.
The action continues tomorrow with sets from breaking troubadours Matthew Gallon, Dan Richardson, Footloose Bruce and Translation.
Leeds feminist punks Nervous Twitch get ready to blitz Meadowside next Friday with cuts from their new fifth album Some People Never Change.
They’ll be joined at their Conroy’s debut by emo noiseniks Arsenic Annie and Crocodile Tears. Elsewhere in Dundee, Church has a clubland anthems tribute from Dionne Hickey tomorrow.
Teenage Fanclub for Fife
In Fife, familiar faces abound at PJ Molloys with Skids legend Richard Jobson and Bellshill Sound legends Teenage Fanclub on the way.
The firebrand frontman is back on home turf at the Dunfermline venue tonight with his other band The Armory Show.
It’s something of a revival for the slight material recorded by Jobbo and his erstwhile cohorts Russell Webb, John McGeoch and John Doyle from 1984-87.
Regarded as a gloriously messy failure following Jobson’s Skids departure, the post-punk combo now includes members of Fife outfits Sunstinger, Domiciles and Foreignfox.
Besides the music, fans can also look forward to an intimate Q and A session with the renowned orator tonight.
Teenage Fanclub are playing a sold-out show at Molloy’s on Thursday, when they’ll be supported by massively promising dream pop duo Poster Paints, namely ex-Frightened Rabbit guitarist Simon Liddell and TeenCanteen frontwoman Carla J Easton.
Rocking in Kirkcaldy
And there’s a diverse session in store at King’s Live Lounge in Kirkcaldy tonight, courtesy of Fife heavy rockers Bastyon, funksters Amateur Spacemen and a Methil-based metal, grunge and ambient mash-up.
Meanwhile, it’s another busy spell at the Green Hotel, with both tribute acts and original artists booked in the coming days.
The Kinross venue, which staged a blistering double header featuring ex-Jason And The Scorchers cowpunk legend Warner Hodges and laconic Texan rocker Ryan Hamilton last Sunday, welcomes Eric Clapton acolytes Mike Hall and Adam Howells tonight.
Toronto bluesman
Making their ninth Backstage appearance at the Green, the duo formed Classic Clapton in 1985 and will be performing an acoustic set comprising all of Slowhand’s biggest numbers.
Further ahead, it’s Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel homage Sounds Of Simon tomorrow, before Toronto-based bluesman Chris Antonik visits Kinross on Thursday.
Nominated for the best new artist prize at Canada’s Maple Blues Awards in 2011 following the release of his self-titled debut album the previous year, he’s since become one of his country’s most acclaimed guitarists.
Antonik subsequently released the albums Better For You (2013) and Monarch (2017) to critical acclaim, and his latest opus Morning Star dropped last month.