Errol Colandro

Earlier this year I was given the once in a lifetime opportunity to tag along with the one and only @robertplantofficial and Saving Grace.

For four days I got to spend time with some of the kindest, most genuine and beyond-talented humans I have ever met.

When you first meet someone you’ve idolized since you were introduced to music, words have a funny way of becoming scarce. But what stayed with me most wasn’t the mythology of any of it.

It was the kindness.

@robertplantofficial @suzi.dian @matt_worley_musician79 @duotonecellist @olijeffersondrums and @tonykelseymusician welcomed me with a warmth and generosity I’ll never forget. They made space for me, trusted me to be there and allowed me to photograph something that clearly means a great deal to all of them. I’ll forever be grateful to each of them for making those four days what they were

Then I found out they wanted to use one of my photographs for a show flyer.

Seeing an image I made become even a small part of the world surrounding an artist whose music has followed me for most of my life was completely surreal.

And then came San Francisco.

Long before I ever met Robert, my mother had her own Robert Plant story. She met him in San Francisco back in the ’70s. Decades later, she was supposed to return to that same city with me to see him again this time through this chapter of my own life.
She was so excited for that show. She never made it there in the way we had planned, but I felt her there with me all the same.
After the show, one by one, everyone came over to @carriekeagan and I with open arms.

Not like acquaintances. Like family.

On a night that already carried so much, that meant more to me than they could possibly know.

I thought I was going to photograph a band for four days.

Somehow, I came away lucky enough to call these people friends.

And that still feels a little unreal to say.