Thursday 02/09/10 Robert Plant @ The Forum, London

For a man who so vigorously defended his right to tour under his own name rather than that of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant’s decision to revive his late 60s outfit the Band Of Joy strikes an initially odd tone with a sold out HMV Forum.

Billed by the former Led Zep frontman as “a journey through time: backwards, forwards, sideways”, those devotees who came in search purely for an evening of hard rockin’ will have most likely left disappointed. Those who expected a soul and blues experience of the kind which Plant and fellow Zep John Bonham once touted to Mods in dingy Birmingham clubs though, could not have departed without a deep sense of satisfaction.

Protest as Plant did to the virtues of his accomplished collective of Nashville musicians, “a band of six voices”, the Band Of Joy is primarily his vehicle to fulfil an ambition of rustic Americana.

As such each track performed from a considerable back catalogue is aired in a fresh guise, beginning with the delightfully caustic twang lent to opener ‘Down To The Sea’.

The attention to detail with which Plant has treated this process is made elegantly evident over the course of the 21 song set with tender tributes paid via a variety of covers. Uncle Tupelo’s ‘Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down’ and Richard & Linda Thompson’s ‘House Of Cards’ stand out as particular highlights even when sandwiched between an interpretation of ‘Misty Mountain Dew’ sung as a duet with fellow chanteuse foil Patty Griffin.

This moment doesn’t form the only time the less feted Band Of Joy members will grab the spotlight. Griffin, gruff voiced guitarist Buddy Miller and banjo virtuoso Darrell Scott all take up vocal duties during the evening leaving Plant to wistfully toot into a harmonica by the side of stage.

Perhaps disappointingly for the lithe front man however, it was the more straight laced country rock performances of ‘Houses Of The Holy’, ‘Tall Cool One’ and ‘Rock and Roll’ that grabbed the attention of the sold out audience. Yet if that was the case, his well worn showman’s tricks of a hair toss here and a vigorous thrust into the microphone stand there did well to hide such feelings.

Accordingly the Band Of Joy never veered off into vanity, revelling in their allotted two hour stage time as a caringly constructed labour of love. Effectively, Plant managed to satiate an appetite for his past without compromising his own artistic vision for the future. That’s no mean feat for a man of 62.