ZEP BOYS BARMERA 6/2/15
Dim lights show a mysterious drum kit. People buying pre-show drinks, talking about the day at work, and overall getting excited for the show. Meanwhile, I’m backstage talking to the band a couple minutes before they go on. I walk out to let the boys finalize everything, I walk up to the door and see my best friend so we go and stand in the front row, right in front of Tzan, the guitar player.
The lights stay the same and four silhouettes enter the stage, a couple seconds later, the loud, brash, hard intro to Led Zeppelin’s 1971 hit ‘Rock N Roll’ blasts through the PA. The band kicks and the lights flash in time with the drum beat. Vince Contarino the singer starts belting out the starting line “It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled’, to an enthusiastic crowd. For the next two and a half hours we hear song after song with no mistakes, sounding exactly like a Led Zeppelin show in 1975, at the prime of the fame of the band.
With no stopping in between the songs, Tzan starts off ‘Celebration Day’ and the crowd starts dancing and doesn't leave for the remainder of the show. The band then plays the Song Remains the Same with Tzan switching guitars to a Gibson EDS-1275 (double neck SG). For the next song ‘The Rain Song’, I am holding bass player Warwick’s bass backstage so he can play keyboards (just like Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones). I do this for a few songs around the set list.
‘Good Times Bad Times’ pleases the crowd with drummer Brad doing a double kick (with one foot) and cowbell beat, just like Bonham did in 1969. The band sounds like Led Zeppelin live in the 1970's and has a very similar set list.
‘What Is and What Should Never Be’ follows this song and is played very delicately for the intro/verse and then goes full bolt during the chorus, just like ‘Ramble On’
‘Over The Hills and Far Away’ follows and more and more people start pushing to the front, ‘Nobody's Fault But Mine’ follows and Tzan finds a guitar slide and plays the intro (he uses the slide for the next song as well called ‘In My Time Of Dying’.
Vince pulls out a harmonica and Tzan plays the intro to ‘Bring It on Home’ which goes into ‘Moby Dick’ and drummer Brad kicks ass doing an amazing drum solo, one of which Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham would be proud of. During this song, I controlled the lighting.
The next thing is an acoustic set in which Tzan, Vince and Warick all play guitar on ‘Going To California’ and once again I’m holding bass so Warick can very quickly grab his bass for the next song ‘Black Country Woman’, a favorite of mine. ‘Bron Y Aur Stomp’ goes next and shows off Tzan’s acoustic playing. ‘Ramble On’ is the next song and the crowd goes nuts.
The next three songs I hold a bass for ‘Kashmir’, ‘No Quarter’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven’. During the latter, there were so many people on the dance floor, you could hardly move. As soon as Tzan played the opening notes on the double neck Gibson everyone knew exactly what was going on.
The rest of the songs were hard rockers and they were perfectly placed in the set list.
‘Immigrant Song’ came next and it included the whole crowd going doing the scream at once, all sounding terrible. Heartbreaker went down great as did the final song ‘Black Dog’.
Or so everyone thought. Execpt me. Although, I shouted a chant and someone came up to me and said “What, they ain’t gonna play ‘Whole Lotta Love’. I replied with a “Wait and See Mate”.
The band came back on and did the song I requested ‘The Rover’ with Brad nailing the starting drum intro and Tzan holding down all guitar parts perfectly.
‘Whole Lotta Love’ came around finally and it was the perfect climax to a perfect show.
I recommend this show to anyone at all who is just a music fan as they are the modern ‘LED ZEPPELIN’. And just like the real Led Zeppelin, they are the best at what the do, and you will never see anything as close as Led Zeppelin were during their prime.
Vince, Tzan, Brad and Warwick, I would like to congratulate you on your top effort and show boys. I had high expectations and you guys just went even higher. I would love to see you guys again.
The honest truth is that when I’m older my dream job is to be in this band called the ‘Zep Boys’.
Also congratulations to the crew ‘Concert Sound & Lighting Hire’, Dom the guitar tech and everyone else who made it a top night.
100/100.
Text Copyright Jakam Kourasanis 2015
