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Robert Plant and The Sensational Space shifters:

The headliner on the second day was of course, Robert Plant and his band The Sensational Space shifters. Plant revisited  surprisingly many songs from the Led Zeppelin catalog (and an appreciative audience loved it) plus some new songs and tunes from his post-Zeppelin career. The emphasis was on blues put in a historic context, very modern sounding but also very true to it’s roots. He drew the lines from England to Memphis to Africa. This wasn’t a dry history lesson, but a joyful celebration of the blues artform.

Also check out:

• JV reporting from Bergenfest 2014: Day 1

Mr. Plant was in a splendid mood, joking and clearly having fun. When he did Whole Lotta Love the audience went wild, he started it as a slow call and response blues before the band kicked in into a full-blown rock’n roll anthem. He then slowed it down again and had a middle act where he incorporated a “Who do you love” segment before finishing the song in Rock heaven. So fresh, but still so true to the original song!

This gentleman of Rock delivered way beyond our expectations, the concert was amazing!

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North Mississippi Allstars:

We knew North Mississippi Allstars was a good band, but we had no idea! It was mindblowing! What a fantastic start to the second day at this years Bergenfest. They threw a party, a southern blues revival, they preach the gospel of blues, rock’n roll and soul. North Mississippi Allstars are great musicians, but what we’ll remember from this fantastic show is the joy and celebration of music. They marched off of the Bastionen stage, they stomped through an adoring and very happy  audience beating on drums in a magical, hypnotic display. The band made many new fans this day in Norway.

It was a thrill!

North Mississippi Allstars is an American southern rock/blues band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson (guitar, vocals) and Cody Dickinson (drums, keyboards, electric washboard), and Chris Chew (electric bass guitar). In addition to the guitar, Dickinson also played a cigar box guitar called the “lowebow”, fascinating stuff with an exciting sound.

Luther and Cody Dickinson’s father was the Memphis musician and record producer, Jim Dickinson. He, besides releasing music in his own name, worked with Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Primal Scream. Jim Dickinson also set up the Zebra Ranch recording studio complex during the 1990s in Hernando, Mississippi. His boys have clearly drunk from a rich well of wisdom and musicianship.

“(Jim Dickinson is)…. that magical musical maestro from Memphis…. he was the kind of guy you could call to play piano, fix a tractor, or make red cole slaw from scratch.”
-Bob Dylan

– Egil & Hallgeir