Led Zeppelin front–man, Robert Plant, described the music of Band Of Joy — his latest line–up — as "moving backwards, forwards and sideways" in style.

The remarks were made at a stunning gig in London last night. The lion–maned 62–year–old Midlander, backed by some brilliant, mainly American musicians, played Rock and Roll (quite literally, for the encore) in a manner that was neither 'tribute band' nor blatant pension–lining. In many other artists' hands, such an event would have gone 'corporate', and all the usual suspects would have piled in to support the event.

You know: sponsored limos, brand ambassadors, etc, etc.

The phrase 'moving backwards, forwards and sideways' had extra meaning for me when driving home. Cheerfully replaying the finer point of the evening in my mind, my journey was interrupted by flashing blue lights ahead signifying an accident on the other side of the road.

A decidedly bent Ford GT was half–on, half–off the pavement. While the designers had clearly followed the great man's mantra when picking design cues from the mid–60s original, someone should have told the driver to simply stick to the 'forward' bit.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

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