Robert Plant 29/8/13

It was unfortunate to have this gig sitting in the balcony the day after the superlative David Byrne/St Vincent gig front row central as anything would suffer by comparison. Robert Plant to his credit is always changing the musical offering and this is the fourth time we have seen him in recent years. On this occasion the band included Justin Adams on guitar and Juldeh Camara on riti and last time we saw him they were the support band so he must have liked what he heard. The support act here were 'The Wild Flowers' who had some nice songs which appeared to have been mostly written by the lead vocalist. I felt that her voice was a bit harsh and not up to the level of the songs but overall it was a pleasant enough band who were obviously enjoying the gig themselves. Robert Plant came on with two guitarists, Justin Adams and Liam Tyson and the usual set up of bass, drums and keyboards. From the start the feeling was 70s blues/rock and Justin Adams surprised me as he was fully in the dynamic-rock-guitarist mode whereas I have seen him previously mostly in world music mode. Having said that the songs chosen included some classic blues numbers and one of the highlights was early on when they did 'Spoonful'. Juldeh Camara came on a towards the end of the track and the vibe altered when he was in the band although his presence on stage was sporadic throughout the gig. The magic he can conjure up on a one-stringed instrument always amazes me and I never tire of hearing him play. Perhaps the best track of the night was another old blues song by Bukka White, 'Fixin' to Die' on which the guitar of Justin Adams was exceptional. So the gig consisted of a mixture of blues tracks, african-influenced tracks and old Led Zep or Robert Plant solo tracks. On the night I preferred the first two elements but it was all done very well as Robert Plant is a fine vocalist and all the band were up to the job. I might have had more to say and appreciated the gig more if 'Wild Wild Life' was not still running through my head from the David Byrne gig the day before.