Robert Plant

Robert Plant & co were on extraordinary form at the Roundhouse last night, mixing reinventions of old Zeppelin songs with the new classics from the current album.

You can currently listen to the show on the Radio 2 website (here) and it will be on TV next weekend. Not to be missed.

It was a great band performance with Plant taking obvious pleasure in the vocal and instrumental contributions of his colleagues.  He, meanwhile, can wield a mic stand - and of course a vocal cord - like few others...The songs I expected to hear - the killers from the Band of Joy record like 'Harm's Swift Way' (yes!) and 'House of Cards' and the more familiar oldies like 'Gallows Pole' - were all present and more than correct.  But I was knocked out also to hear 'Tangerine' from Led Zep III and 'Rock and Roll' from IV.  

The last song of a 2 hour set, featuring the Oriana Choir, was the old gospel song 'I Bid You Goodnight'.  Lovely - but a safe, traditional choice you might say.  I, on the other hand, feel fairly sure that Robert Plant was revisiting its central role in the Incredible String Band's 'A Very Cellular Song' and really appreciated that resonance.  It's an apposite one, too:  Plant, like the Incredibles, and remarkably for a rock god in his position, remains ready to take risks and go where the music takes him. He uses the voice like the driver of a very powerful car, choosing to cruise and take in the view, but every so often pressing his foot on the pedal and reminding us of what's lurking beneath the bonnet...

I don't think I'll be pursuing a career in photography, but this shot of RP and the excellent Patty Griffin is reasonably atmospheric...