Robert Plant - Stimmen-Festival - 29 July 2018

What. A. Legend.

Robert Plant: lion-maned lead singer of Led Zeppelin; successful musical collaborator; Sensational Space Shifter; all-round rock god.

This is a man who is beyond caring what anyone thinks; who makes music exactly as he pleases; someone who weaves a multitude of sounds into his songs - from blues rock to bluegrass, from Middle Eastern influences to electronica to folk.

This is a man who can still pull off wearing leather trousers; who continues to have that swagger of old; who can still belt out that earsplitting howl.

This is a man who is clearly having the time of his life.

At his Stimmen-Festival concert, Plant lit a figurative fuse on Lörrach's Marktplatz, sparking mass call-and-response chants. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, 17-year-olds and 70-year-olds clapped and cheered as Plant and his excellent Sensational Space Shifters ripped through Led Zeppelin classics "The Lemon Song", "Black Dog" and "Going To California".

"The May Queen" and "Carry Fire" from his latest album proved that Plant continues to experiment musically, that he refuses to rest on his laurels.

Mixing new and old, the band went back in time with a rousing cover of Lead Belly's "Gallows Pole" and an up-to-date version of "Little Maggie".

A proper goosebumps moment came courtesy of the peerless "Whole Lotta Love" - The English Show may have let out a delighted scream when that iconic riff kicked in.

To see someone of Robert Plant's stature still relishing what he does was possibly the greatest joy of this concert. Of all the legendary frontmen of the 60s and 70s, he seems to be the one least interested in revisiting the past and most interested in focusing on the future.

Echoes of his prime Led Zeppelin poses remained, of course. Once a rock god, always a rock god.

- Anna Wirz

Setlist:

The Lemon Song

Turn It Up

The May Queen

Black Dog

Going To California

Please Read The Letter

Gallows Pole

Carry Fire

Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

Little Maggie

Fixin' To Die

Rainbow

Bring It On Home / Whole Lotta Love / Santianna