When Robert Plant and Brian Johnson Joined Paul Rodgers on Stage
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Brian Johnson, Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers together onstage in Oxford England on May 14, 2017 (via Rodgers’ Facebook)
In 2017, Paul Rodgers was in the midst of his U.K. “Free Spirit” tour. The former lead vocalist of Free (as well as Bad Company, and now also a solo artist) was performing songs strictly from the Free catalog. On May 14, 2017, the audience at Oxford, England’s New Theatre got more than they bargained for when two other legendary vocalists showed up. Former AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson and Robert Plant joined Rodgers for the encore and performed the Barrett Strong classic rock hit “Money (That’s What I Want).”
The venue in the British university town holds 1800. The set list for that Sunday night performance was similar to the brief tour’s opening set as it featured such Free staples as “Mr. Big,” “All Right Now” (a Top 5 classic rock anthem from 1970), and “Fire and Water.” But the biggest difference, certainly, was the presence of the two guest stars.
Watch the trio trade lead vocals on “Money (That’s What I Want).” Our Classic Video
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The tour culminated with a show at the famed Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 2023, while promoting his first solo studio album of new material in decades, Rodgers shared details of a significant health battle that prevented him from being able to speak. The beloved singer, in an interview that aired on CBS This Morning, revealed that he had suffered two major strokes and 11 minor strokes in the past seven years. He told the program’s Anthony Mason, “I couldn’t do anything to be honest. I couldn’t speak. That was the very strange thing. You know, I’d prepare something in my mind and I’d say it, but that isn’t what came out and I’d go, ‘What the heck did I just say?'” Rodgers’ first of two major strokes occurred in 2016. When the latter happened in 2019, it led to a risky surgical procedure known as an endarterectomy, which the network noted in its report is “a procedure to remove plaque clogging a carotid artery, which posed a considerable risk to Rodgers’ vocal cords.”
The legendary frontman for Bad Company and Free said to Mason, “They told me, they’re very clear, ‘You may not come out of this alive.’ And I said, ‘Oh, well, that’s a plus, isn’t it?'”
In the interview, Rodgers’ wife, Cynthia, said, “I was just praying,” she said. “All I wanted to be able to do was walk and talk with him again. That’s all I asked for.”
Rodgers was born on Dec. 17, 1949, in Yorkshire, U.K. Neither Bad Company nor Free have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Plant is touring in 2024 with Alison Krauss. Tickets are available here and on StubHub. And AC/DC are making up for lost time with their “Power Up” tour. Tickets are available here and here.
Related: Our Album Rewind of Free’s Fire and Water
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThree of my biggest heroes all at once!!
Marvellous stuff!
Only complaint is that it didn’t go on long enough!
How is it possible that Paul Rodgers is not in the R+R Hall of Fame? Well over a 120 million in album sales with his bands. And the no talent Eminem gets in on his first year of eligibility. Something is way wrong in Cleveland. Paul is one the greatest front men, songwriter, singer of all time. Shameful!
I agree completely!! Something is very wrong.