Plant doesn’t even look that different from the glory days of Led Zeppelin. The ringlets cascading around his weathered face are tinged with grey, and a cavalier goatee beard sprouts from his chin, but his whole bearing retains something proud and fearless. “There are only three or four frontmen left, from our time, who actually just kick the mic stand up and do it, and that’s me, Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger,” he says, thoughtfully rather than with arrogance. “But the only important thing is, can you contemporise your gift? Can I knock myself out, or am I just going through the motions? Because if I’m going through the motions, I’m f***ed.”