Robert Plant stands in the bright sunshine, eyes scanning a sunlit pedestrian square in Birmingham, while people pass on by, oblivious to the presence of one of rock and roll’s great frontmen, reports The Telegraph's Neil McCormick.

“I’ve been around so long I can be easily ignored,” he notes, with twinkly amusement. “Even people who know who I am think I’m dead.”

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.”

With eloquence, humour and considerable pride, Plant has been eulogising his current seven-piece ensemble The Sensational Space Shifters, and their fantastically inventive and emotive new album, Lullaby … And The Ceaseless Roar. “It’s paradise to be on the middle of the stage between those guys”, he says, lauding the diverse strengths of a band who synthesise many strands of Plant’s maverick career, forging connections between pastoral English and Celtic folk, roots Americana, African blues and heavy rock.

“Is there anything new under the sun, or are all things just borne from the previous million ideas? What we’ve done is consolidate our strengths, they’ve gone into the cauldron, spun around and come out with absolute ease. I guess the only thing missing are the words hocus pocus.”

Plant chooses words carefully, with a playful sense of the possibilities of language, weaving around subjects with a quality of private delight. He talks of trying to conjure “amazing curves and twists”, exults in the music’s “loop and sample and crunch,” and celebrates the “passion, endeavour, humour and kinship” of a band he describes as “a kind of commonwealth”. His absolute pleasure in the music that he is making, and the people he is making it with, is apparent. “I want this. The brotherhood is magnificent.”

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Plant has uploaded video taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (see below). Plant nominates Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Tom Jones, Sir Elton John and Peter Gabriel!

As of August 26th, The ALS Association has received $88.5 million in donations compared to $2.4 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 26). These donations have come from existing donors and 1.2 million new donors to The Association. The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front.  By leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through Certified Treatment Centers of Excellence, and fostering government partnerships, The Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure.

Take the challenge, donate and help create a world without ALS! For more information visit Alsa.org.