It was a sultry evening in early July when I made my way to the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre in Harbiye, Istanbul to attend a concert by Robert Plant – the former lead singer of Led Zeppelin, one of the longest-lasting outfits in the history of rock music – and his new group ‘Saving Grace’. While waiting in our none-too-comfortable plastic seats for the performance, one of the events of the 33rd İKSV Istanbul Jazz Festival, to begin, we were regaled with recordings of golden oldies such as Find the Cost of Freedom by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Do You Want Somebody to Love? by Jefferson Airplane, both these groups having enlivened many an evening’s socialising during my student years.

Things ‘kicked off‘ (as they say) with a cello solo that featured modal harmonies – a novel departure from pop concert tradition, I thought, but a most pleasing one. (There has always been a folk element in Mr Plant’s music, perhaps prompted by his love of the Welsh countryside, but this element has recently come to greater prominence: Saving Grace, his latest album, has been described as having ‘a roots-oriented sound inspired by folk and traditional blues’.)

Eventually, the man himself appeared on stage – to wild applause. He was accompanied by a young lady (Suzy Dian, with whom he recorded Saving Grace), and during their first duet (‘Win My Train Fare Home’) she left off singing to play a most impressive solo on the accordion. This lady is obviously a multi-talented musician, and her tasteful contributions both as a singer and as an instrumentalist played a large part in the evening’s success.

The second number (‘Down to the Sea’), in which the focus of the music shifted further East, had a palpable world music vibe. In the third (‘Higher Rock’), Mr Plant brought out his mouth organ, adding yet another – this time decidedly Western, and deliciously funky – flavour to the mix. At the end of this piece he addressed the audience, telling us “Just how magical it is [to be here], coming from England. I don’t know how much saving we can do tonight.” No doubt this was a reference to the title of his recent album, but saving from what? Better not ask the question, and definitely better not to answer it. Themes of doubtful political correctness continued with lyrics such as ‘My freedom I hold dear’, and I wondered whether Mr Plant was able to express such sentiments in every country in which he performs.

One of this concert’s outstanding features was its variety: at one point guitarist Tony Kelsey launched – very creditably – into song; later on, the versatile Suzy Dian laid down her accordion and took up a guitar; and Matt Worley, who had been providing backing vocals, gave us a moody banjo solo. Indeed, it was wistfulness – derived maybe from the Celtic element in the music – that came across most strongly in many of the numbers. In others, the overall tone was one of defiance. Some of this was undoubtedly political in nature, but it also had to do with thumbing a nose at Father Time: on one occasion Robert Plant (born in 1948) said: “I’m enjoying myself at this time in my life because I’m singin’ my ass off.”

The music, too, had its defiant aspect in that it eluded genre categorisation. In fact, Plant confirmed this, saying: “We thought we were a folk group, then a jazz group. In fact, we’re a psychedelic folk jazz group.” One thing I especially appreciated about this concert was the excellence of the arrangements: many of the songs featured at least one specific instrument, and each of these instruments was allowed to come out of the shadows and show itself in its true colours. (Listen to the cello solo in ‘For the Turnstiles’ at 56:17 in the recording below, and you will see what I mean.) Drummer Oli Jefferson, meanwhile, was the perfect diplomat, never overdoing the decibels except when a ratching up of the rhythm section was called for.

Videos exist both of this concert and of the one that took place in Ankara the following day (Google ‘Robert Plant with Saving Grace & Suzi Dian / Bilkent Odeon / Ankara / July 2016’.) Here is the video of the Istanbul gig: