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A Traveler

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  1. Been awhile since I've been on this site, but I'm pretty sure what Zeppelin's musicians would say about the Stones "winning" because they had a higher profile, or some other non-music-related distinction. They'd say something like "we didn't, and don't, give a damn about the Jagger/Richards profile crap. The music is what matters. We stayed out of the limelight on purpose, and let our tours and albums do the talking. We preferred it that way."
  2. Went to the Seattle show. The earlier comment about WAMU is right. It's a big venue--basically a big concrete box with acoustic curtains hung around the place, not ideal for music. Fortunately, I sat close enough that acoustics didn't bother us. I went with my 13 year old son, who has been listening to Zep since he could sit up in a car seat. Jason mentioned that he has seen a lot of father-son combos at these shows, and there were no shortage of them that night, either. It was very cool to air guitar and lip sync and basically rock out with my boy to a band that meant a whole lot to me when I was a kid. And he got started way before I did--my folks didn't exactly flood our house or car with Led Zeppelin tunes back in the day. The show started pretty slow, not because the band wasn't on but because the venue was big and not filled to capacity, and people did not really know how to react to the experience. As the gig went on, though, we all warmed up. By the second set, we were up and jamming. My sense was that the show is pretty heavily weighted toward the first two albums--which is nothing to complain about. Highlights for me included Killing Floor/The Lemon Song, How Many More Times (although I was surprised and a little bummed that Jason did not play that sexy, swinging bridge his father used to play going into The Hunter--Oh Rosie, Oh Girl, O Rosie, O Girl...Steal away now, Steal away, little Robert Anthony wants to..come and play...." Bonzo could bang the skins like nobody else, but he also could swing like a mother....), Dazed, Your Time is Gonna Come, Over the Hills. Actually, there wasn't one song I thought they didn't do at least well. In the second set, they did a superb Levee--that song kicks ass, and they did it justice. The Moby Dick thing Jason does with his dad is enough to make anybody with a heart and a memory get emotional. I thought I'm Gonna Crawl was really well done. Underrated song. A little disappointed, but not surprised, that they didn't try Achillles--that tune is not for the faint of heart. As for the band, the guitarist grew on me as the show progressed--he even started looking like Page if I squinted, and he knows the riffs. Devlin was definitely good. He doesn't have the range or power of Plant circa 69-71, but who does? That's one thing I notice at every Zep cover band show I've ever been to--Robert Plant had the huge voice, and pure balls, that the band needed to really take off. Nobody else I've seen comes close. And that doesn't even count the Golden God swagger, the Plantations, etc. Bass player was also good (although he missed at least one run during Good Times Bad Times). And Jason was rock steady. He mentioned he's had a lot of therapy, and it shows--the dude wears his heart on his sleeve. But he was safe with us. The mix was classic Zeppelin--drums and bass way up, for a bottom end that defined the sound. Sound system was excellent, as was the video--they definitely did not go cheap on the equipment. What was missing, of course, was the intense vibe of a real Zep concert--the sheer, thrilling anticipation of it all, and then the true hammer of the gods when they took the stage. But that was for a time now gone. This show was sort of Led Zep Lite, in that way. But Lite, done well like these guys do it, is still great. If they come around again, I'd go again, in a heartbeat.
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