Robert Plant gives Malta a Whole Lotta Love

The Valletta Waterfront was swarming with middle-aged, paunchy men, wearing faded Led Zeppelin T-shirts on Wednesday night as they gathered to watch Robert Plant give a first-class performance.

Shaking his customary locks to his trademark twirl and sway, Robert Plant walked onto the stage at 10.30 p.m. for a rendition of Tin Pan Valley, spawned from his critically-acclaimed Mighty Rearranger album. Within seconds, he had the audience of some 4,000 people eating from the palm of his hand.

Much to the surprise of many of those present, Robert Plant and his impeccable band The Strange Sensation treated the audience to several Led Zeppelin classics, from Black Dog to Babe I'm Gonna Leave You to Gallows Pole. Despite the requests by some, there was no Stairway To Heaven, long missing from his live repertoire. His decibel-breaking wail was surely nowhere as close to his heyday, but he still treated the audience to a fine rock concert like the good old days.

The concert came to a fitting end with an extended rendition of the Led Zeppelin anthem Whole Lotta Love.

For XFM DJ and Led Zeppelin fan Jason Zammit it was a dream come true. "Sometimes I was closing my eyes and I thought I was listening to the album Led Zeppelin 3. He held his voice practically throughout," he said.

While sticking to his blues roots, Robert Plant managed to fuse in an ethnic sound into his songs, Mr Zammit said, adding that even his solo songs hit home.

There were some contrasting views, though. Winston Azzopardi, who watched Robert Plant play 12 years ago, thought the set-list was too psychedelic to his liking. The audience was earlier treated to a performance by Maltese rock band Frenzy Mono and then by Debbie Bonham - sister of John, the legendary deceased Led Zeppelin drummer.

She dedicated one track to her brother and mother, who was present in the audience.