gcczep
Ever Onward...
So I never saw THE ORIGINAL live...bad case of food poisoning the 21st of June 1977. I leaned on my cache of tapes instead over the years. Have I ever seen a tribute band? Not until this past Saturday. I’ve been told by acquaintances to see LedZepagain. Saw their ad for an upcoming gig at The Grove in Anaheim 6/16/12 so what the heck I thought I’d suss them out.
The crowd were a good mix of middies, 30-somethings and young ins’. Quite a few were sporting Zeppelin tees and whatnot. Only things missing in the parking lot were a fleet of Cutlasses, Pontiacs and the familiar waft of the you know what. The opening acts were L.A.vation and Bonfire both tributes to U2 and AC/DC respectively. I chatted up this friendly Brit named Billy who was familiar with L.A.vation and told me that they used to be called Joshua Tree. He really liked them adding that they do the band justice. According to him, they also performed at a Facebook inaugural or something of that sort as Bono happened to be a huge shareholder. Interesting tidbit.
As soon as the first strains of Bowie’s "A Space Oddity" the houselights dim and the L.A.vation comes on doing "It’s A Beautiful Day". Prior to the show, they were heard doing a soundcheck of it as everyone stood in line outside. Billy with his pal Jan bid me adieu and went on the first section dark ales in hand. The singer Jason looks like Bono down to the trademark shades. More importantly, he sang just like him with the same movements. The others were dead ringers for the band especially Adam Clayton. By then me and my other half had staked out seats third section with a great full view of the stage and the house video hi def screens on both sides. At first I thought the house mix was too compressed like the bass was dominating the spectrum while the guitar was buried in the mix. I found it odd too that they slotted the well known numbers in the early part of the set. The sound did not clear up until midway through their act. It was a well done show by them ending with "Where The Streets Have No Name". Oh and I have to add that their cover of Ben E. King’s "Stand By Me" at the outset of "Pride" was a very nice touch.
After the emcee [who looks like Graham Bonnet] introduces them Bonfire comes on and all hell breaks loose! Criminy, these guys were fabulous. I had to laugh and smile as to how much I enjoyed their set. They started their show with "Sin City" from where it was a non stop 60 plus minute show of full on energy and fun. The house mix by this time has totally cleared up, sharp as a razor with nice bottom end. The singer was able to mimic the late Bon Scott with that loopy grin along with that crazy Exorcist singing of his. He was even taking drinks from the paying audience. Their guitarist who played Angus Young was a non stop figure on stage running around in his school boy outfit. By the third number, he was down to his shorts. At one point he disappeared and next thing I know he was running past me among the surprised audience. He even took a ride on the shoulders of a burly sideman while some girl tried to pull his skivvies down. The part of Malcolm Young was played by a very attractive female who rocked on her own right. She resembled this hot b-movie actress but that's another story. I have no complaints whatsoever both visually and musically as she more than held her own. Their last number was "Highway To Hell" which brought a close to the raucous proceedings. I got this wide grin typing this as I reminisce about their show. I would DEFINITELY see these crazy effers again. Great musicianship...a riot to boot!
Now to the main event... On the house screens, an opening montage of the local and national news recounting the theft of their equipment during a show in Northern Cali. I could tell in the darkness who was who. Only one band member wears white stage right. Then boom...the riffs...dah, dah, dah, dah..the opener was Good Times Bad Times followed by Ramble On then Celebration Day with the guitar solo modeled after the movie soundtrack TSRTS. Black Dog was the fourth number. I was amazed by how the audience knew the last part of each line when the singer goaded them to sing it. The guitarist did the solo note for note from the record. Out comes a Strat. "Hot Dog"? Wrong as it was All My Love faithfully reproduced like it was from their 1980 Tour of Europe. This quartet certainly knows their stuff with the requisite chops to pull them off. Then the chairs come out up front. Aaahh, an acoustic set. Is that a mandolin? I was able to guess that it would be The Battle Of Evermore. Great three part harmonies by the front trio. The drummer did not join them at the foot of the stage with a tambourine like Bonham did but augmented the song with his kit. The musician who played the part of Jones was chided about having to get in touch with his feminine side musically ala Sandy Denny. Now we have a switch with the instruments with guitarist giving up the mandolin for an acoustic guitar. Next up was a story of Joni Mitchell so it was naturally Going To California. 2-1 my favor guessing the number. The double neck Gibson SG makes its first appearance. Yep it was The Song Remains The Same which dovetailed neatly into The Rain Song. My nit with the sound system was that the keyboards were not on equal par with the guitar so the solos were not as prominent. It seemed two notches down.
The keyboardist stays seated while the black and white Danelectro comes out so it has to Kashmir, no? Sure enough it was. They played it like the 1977 version though it did not have the guitar solos at the end. The audience was now in a frenzy with a good climax. Then some were shouting Moby Dick and were rewarded. It was a nice compact little solo starting with the sticks the hands then back to the sticks. Everybody was whopping and hollerin'. OK now the guitarist has a violin bow in hand. How Many More Times? Not Dazed And Confused as it is only a 90 minute show. As the guitar player slides it across the strings, the sound pans all over the place until the bow was in tatters. A tympani solo follows so it has to be In The Evening and it was. Shades of Knebworth! Score is 4-1 my favor. The doubleneck makes its second appearance as one member does not leave the keyboard. It has to be THAT song. Stairway To Heaven. Nice buildup with a very good solo by the guitarist parts 1973 and 1975. The singer lets the audience sing the last line. Heck he even asked if anyone remembers laughter. Up next was Achilles Last Stand. I’ve always loved the rhythm of the track which the battery section more than ably handled. Both the singer and the guitarist even bobbed their heads in the middle section chorus like wind up dolls. The last two numbers of the set were a medley of sorts. It started with Heartbreaker. The guitar player stalked the stage during the improvised solo holding the Les Paul aloft while unleashing the notes. It then segued via a funky drum intro into Whole Lotta Love with the audience singing along. It also included a theremin section that filled the place with its sonic wails pinging around here and there and everywhere. The singer kept pace screaming in unison. I did notice that he flubbed lines in Achilles and Heartbreaker but whatever he was really into it.
That was it. Or was it? The house emcee comes on thanking the patrons in attendance while discussing the band’s state of affairs after the theft encouraging us to donate. The last number as an encore? Rock And Roll. It was just like how it was in the flick even with Page’s jump at the coda. Just like that it was over. I was a very nice show that captured the live essence of the band. The guitar player circa 1977 with the white poppy suit and the drummer circa 1973 certainly looked and played the part especially the latter. The bassist/keyboardist looked more like Dennis DeYoung of Styx but was well rounded in playing the multi faceted Jones. Girlfriend thought he looked like a blond incarnation of Yanni which struck me as funny. The singer who played Plant? Well, this is where it gets dodgy. He resembles the current Plant. His singing most of the time was either like Cyndi Lauper or the speeded up vocals on the studio version of The Song Remains The Same from Houses. When he toned it down a bit, he was fine. Otherwise it took some getting used to.
Afterwards, there was a meet and greet at the foyer which we chose not to stick around for. I plunked my $20 in their till for donations in helping to replace their instruments and left for the evening satisfied. Considering that they performed with loaner equipment not their custom ones that were stolen, I thought they did well. I’ll probably watch another show should they come around at the same venue unless a time machine is invented between now and then.
The crowd were a good mix of middies, 30-somethings and young ins’. Quite a few were sporting Zeppelin tees and whatnot. Only things missing in the parking lot were a fleet of Cutlasses, Pontiacs and the familiar waft of the you know what. The opening acts were L.A.vation and Bonfire both tributes to U2 and AC/DC respectively. I chatted up this friendly Brit named Billy who was familiar with L.A.vation and told me that they used to be called Joshua Tree. He really liked them adding that they do the band justice. According to him, they also performed at a Facebook inaugural or something of that sort as Bono happened to be a huge shareholder. Interesting tidbit.
As soon as the first strains of Bowie’s "A Space Oddity" the houselights dim and the L.A.vation comes on doing "It’s A Beautiful Day". Prior to the show, they were heard doing a soundcheck of it as everyone stood in line outside. Billy with his pal Jan bid me adieu and went on the first section dark ales in hand. The singer Jason looks like Bono down to the trademark shades. More importantly, he sang just like him with the same movements. The others were dead ringers for the band especially Adam Clayton. By then me and my other half had staked out seats third section with a great full view of the stage and the house video hi def screens on both sides. At first I thought the house mix was too compressed like the bass was dominating the spectrum while the guitar was buried in the mix. I found it odd too that they slotted the well known numbers in the early part of the set. The sound did not clear up until midway through their act. It was a well done show by them ending with "Where The Streets Have No Name". Oh and I have to add that their cover of Ben E. King’s "Stand By Me" at the outset of "Pride" was a very nice touch.
After the emcee [who looks like Graham Bonnet] introduces them Bonfire comes on and all hell breaks loose! Criminy, these guys were fabulous. I had to laugh and smile as to how much I enjoyed their set. They started their show with "Sin City" from where it was a non stop 60 plus minute show of full on energy and fun. The house mix by this time has totally cleared up, sharp as a razor with nice bottom end. The singer was able to mimic the late Bon Scott with that loopy grin along with that crazy Exorcist singing of his. He was even taking drinks from the paying audience. Their guitarist who played Angus Young was a non stop figure on stage running around in his school boy outfit. By the third number, he was down to his shorts. At one point he disappeared and next thing I know he was running past me among the surprised audience. He even took a ride on the shoulders of a burly sideman while some girl tried to pull his skivvies down. The part of Malcolm Young was played by a very attractive female who rocked on her own right. She resembled this hot b-movie actress but that's another story. I have no complaints whatsoever both visually and musically as she more than held her own. Their last number was "Highway To Hell" which brought a close to the raucous proceedings. I got this wide grin typing this as I reminisce about their show. I would DEFINITELY see these crazy effers again. Great musicianship...a riot to boot!
Now to the main event... On the house screens, an opening montage of the local and national news recounting the theft of their equipment during a show in Northern Cali. I could tell in the darkness who was who. Only one band member wears white stage right. Then boom...the riffs...dah, dah, dah, dah..the opener was Good Times Bad Times followed by Ramble On then Celebration Day with the guitar solo modeled after the movie soundtrack TSRTS. Black Dog was the fourth number. I was amazed by how the audience knew the last part of each line when the singer goaded them to sing it. The guitarist did the solo note for note from the record. Out comes a Strat. "Hot Dog"? Wrong as it was All My Love faithfully reproduced like it was from their 1980 Tour of Europe. This quartet certainly knows their stuff with the requisite chops to pull them off. Then the chairs come out up front. Aaahh, an acoustic set. Is that a mandolin? I was able to guess that it would be The Battle Of Evermore. Great three part harmonies by the front trio. The drummer did not join them at the foot of the stage with a tambourine like Bonham did but augmented the song with his kit. The musician who played the part of Jones was chided about having to get in touch with his feminine side musically ala Sandy Denny. Now we have a switch with the instruments with guitarist giving up the mandolin for an acoustic guitar. Next up was a story of Joni Mitchell so it was naturally Going To California. 2-1 my favor guessing the number. The double neck Gibson SG makes its first appearance. Yep it was The Song Remains The Same which dovetailed neatly into The Rain Song. My nit with the sound system was that the keyboards were not on equal par with the guitar so the solos were not as prominent. It seemed two notches down.
The keyboardist stays seated while the black and white Danelectro comes out so it has to Kashmir, no? Sure enough it was. They played it like the 1977 version though it did not have the guitar solos at the end. The audience was now in a frenzy with a good climax. Then some were shouting Moby Dick and were rewarded. It was a nice compact little solo starting with the sticks the hands then back to the sticks. Everybody was whopping and hollerin'. OK now the guitarist has a violin bow in hand. How Many More Times? Not Dazed And Confused as it is only a 90 minute show. As the guitar player slides it across the strings, the sound pans all over the place until the bow was in tatters. A tympani solo follows so it has to be In The Evening and it was. Shades of Knebworth! Score is 4-1 my favor. The doubleneck makes its second appearance as one member does not leave the keyboard. It has to be THAT song. Stairway To Heaven. Nice buildup with a very good solo by the guitarist parts 1973 and 1975. The singer lets the audience sing the last line. Heck he even asked if anyone remembers laughter. Up next was Achilles Last Stand. I’ve always loved the rhythm of the track which the battery section more than ably handled. Both the singer and the guitarist even bobbed their heads in the middle section chorus like wind up dolls. The last two numbers of the set were a medley of sorts. It started with Heartbreaker. The guitar player stalked the stage during the improvised solo holding the Les Paul aloft while unleashing the notes. It then segued via a funky drum intro into Whole Lotta Love with the audience singing along. It also included a theremin section that filled the place with its sonic wails pinging around here and there and everywhere. The singer kept pace screaming in unison. I did notice that he flubbed lines in Achilles and Heartbreaker but whatever he was really into it.
That was it. Or was it? The house emcee comes on thanking the patrons in attendance while discussing the band’s state of affairs after the theft encouraging us to donate. The last number as an encore? Rock And Roll. It was just like how it was in the flick even with Page’s jump at the coda. Just like that it was over. I was a very nice show that captured the live essence of the band. The guitar player circa 1977 with the white poppy suit and the drummer circa 1973 certainly looked and played the part especially the latter. The bassist/keyboardist looked more like Dennis DeYoung of Styx but was well rounded in playing the multi faceted Jones. Girlfriend thought he looked like a blond incarnation of Yanni which struck me as funny. The singer who played Plant? Well, this is where it gets dodgy. He resembles the current Plant. His singing most of the time was either like Cyndi Lauper or the speeded up vocals on the studio version of The Song Remains The Same from Houses. When he toned it down a bit, he was fine. Otherwise it took some getting used to.
Afterwards, there was a meet and greet at the foyer which we chose not to stick around for. I plunked my $20 in their till for donations in helping to replace their instruments and left for the evening satisfied. Considering that they performed with loaner equipment not their custom ones that were stolen, I thought they did well. I’ll probably watch another show should they come around at the same venue unless a time machine is invented between now and then.
Last edited:
