Review: Robert Plant returns to Chicago in intimate theater show with latest project Saving Grace

Robert Plant once said, “The way I see it, rock ’n’ roll is folk music.” And the 77-year-old has spent most of his career proving his thesis.

In the beginning, it was Plant bringing the heart and soul of Delta blues into Led Zeppelin and then digging deeper into the origins in “Walking into Clarksdale” with Jimmy Page. But in recent years, Plant’s curiosity has manifested in deeper archaeological quests to unearth the buried roots of country, gospel and Americana, first with Alison Krauss, then reviving The Band of Joy with Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller. Now comes his latest music mining project, Saving Grace, with vocalist Suzi Dian and a score of like-minded musicians.

The collaborative ensemble has been hellbent on poring through “a song book of the lost and found,” according to press materials, and they shared these discoveries in a wide-ranging set at the Vic Theatre Wednesday night. Yes, that’s right: the Vic Theatre where 1,000 lucky people had the chance to see the music luminary up close. On Thursday, the project heads to the even more intimate confines of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square.

Much like the carefully orchestrated tours with Krauss, Plant’s Saving Grace tour is no place for a stadium rock show (and it encouraged anyone still holding their breath for that Zeppelin reunion to start taking in some oxygen). Rather it’s a performance best served in the kind of quiet listening rooms — with guests seated — and where the time and space is adequate for 14 songs to be carefully delivered across 90 minutes.

Among the picks were African spirituals (“Gospel Plough”), passed-down folk traditionals (“As I Roved Out”) and contemporary re-compositions (like a Celtic take on Neil Young’s “For the Turnstiles”) that presented a wild diorama of musical’s evolutionary lineage. And yes, of course, there were a slew of Zeppelin stalwarts like “Ramble On” and “The Rain Song” and a mashup of “Gallows Pole” and “Black Dog.” Though the arrangements of the legendary Brit rock band’s Bible were lovingly rewritten via accordion, banjo, cello and ample percussion. As the image of the stoic buffalo on Saving Grace’s album cover alludes to, Plant wants the music to roam freely, purists be damned.

The project wasn’t really supposed to even go this far. As Plant has explained, the idea was hatched where all great ideas are born — in a bar — on the Welsh borders in 2018 when he met banjo and string maestro Matt Worley and found a surprise kinship in their shared musical heritage.

“We never intended to be here. I didn’t intend to be doing much … but I’m so pleased to be a part of this unit,” Plant told the Vic crowd, cheekily referring to himself as a “crochety old bastard” who luckily found himself in very good company. The band name, he explained to Stephen Colbert in a late-night appearance this month, refers to how the league of musicians became his “saving grace,” giving him a new purpose to keep creating and exploring rather than check out or rest on his laurels.

Similar to how Plant was often at his best with Page, in this new union he has found exceptional comradery with Worley, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey and cellist Barney Morse-Brown. The frontman often found a seat on a stool or behind a spotlight to give his better halves their turn. While Plant’s vocals sound exceptionally crisp at this stage (even if they can’t hit all the same yodel-y high notes), when layered with Dian’s evocative siren calls, it was on a divine level that harnessed the power of a strong duet. Worley too offered a considerable husk on a cover of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Soul of a Man” that bled out the passion with which the song was intended, as Plant added a knee-slapping harmonica to amp up the desperation. The group was not only born in a bar, but hearing works like this felt like being in the throes of a pub on a Sunday night when everyone’s spirits are high and sing-alongs abound.

“What a terrible job this is,” Plant sarcastically commented as the volume of hoots and hollers and number of standing ovations grew as the night went on. “It’s so good to be back in this city. I had so many great adventures you can’t even imagine,” he added, humbly recalling the time when he was a “little boy” (really, 21) and Led Zeppelin played the hallowed grounds of the old Kinetic Playground in 1969, and talking about following in the footsteps of so many greats who came before. No matter how much Plant has experienced and continues to create, it always comes back to honoring the past.

Robert Plant and Saving Grace set list at the Vic Theatre Nov. 12, 2025

Gospel Plough (traditional song)

Higher Rock (Martha Scanlan cover)

Ramble On (Led Zeppelin cover)

Soul of a Man (Blind Willie Johnson cover)

Let the Four Winds Blow (Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation cover)

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 song)

Everybody's Song (Low cover)

For the Turnstiles (Neil Young cover)

Friends (Led Zeppelin cover)

Encore:

The Rain Song (Led Zeppelin cover)

Gallows Pole / Black Dog (Led Zeppelin cover)