Saving Grace

I was nearly blown off the cliffs at Southend-on-Sea climbing the (many) steps from the Western Esplanade on the seafront up to the Cliffs Pavilion. The last blast of Storm Bert. I was there to see one of my long-standing music heroes, Robert Plant, performing with his fabulous band Saving Grace. What a treat! I had a pretty good seat not too far back in the centre of the stalls. The sound balance was great, just the right level and nicely mixed.

I’ve been lucky enough to have met Robert twice, way back in 1982 when I was helping out in the Pop Quiz hospitality room at Telly Centre (along with several other music stars of the day), and then in 2007 together with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss when I recorded an interview with them for BBC World Service Radio. He’s very tall and has a real presence about him, and yet is pretty down to earth and without any airs at all. I find him rather enigmatic in interviews, and he’s always been like that going right back to the early days of Led Zeppelin. I’ve also seen Robert in concert in his many guises - twice with Led Zep, with the superb Alison Krauss, with his Band of Joy, at very close quarters with the Sensational Space Shifters on the BBC’s One Show, and now twice with the exquisite Suzi Dian and Saving Grace. His choice of support act, Robert Vincent, was also an excellent one and I really enjoyed the half hour that he played with his own little band, beautifully done. Lots of people grumble that Robert doesn’t want to sing with a re-formed Led Zeppelin, but as a musician he’s constantly moving forward and finding new sounds and textures and styles to suit his voice as it is now. Never dull, always exploring, long may he continue his musical odyssey.