Wednesday night I headed down to The Riverside Theater to see The Led Zeppelin Experience, here is my review. Jason Bonham, son of legendary Led Zeppelin Drummer, Jon Bonahm, has put together a Led Zeppelin tribute band. 
Next to The Beatles, I think that Led Zeppelin is the greatest and more influential band in the modern era of music. Would you like to debate that? Bring it on. Seriously, just put in the Zeppelin Box set, 4 discs, and not one bad song. However, I highly recommend listening to it with head phones on to get the full effect. But back to the show, the band was as good as can be expected. No one will ever compare to the original band. Jason would grab the microphone about every 3 or 4 songs to talk about his father and the original band. But I thought Jason was very humble. He even said, “We are just a group of guys who really love Led Zeppelin music, but it just so happens that my dad was in the band. And because he was, I can put on a show like this.”
Next to The Beatles, I think that Led Zeppelin is the greatest and more influential band in the modern era of music. Would you like to debate that? Bring it on. Seriously, just put in the Zeppelin Box set, 4 discs, and not one bad song. However, I highly recommend listening to it with head phones on to get the full effect. But back to the show, the band was as good as can be expected. No one will ever compare to the original band. Jason would grab the microphone about every 3 or 4 songs to talk about his father and the original band. But I thought Jason was very humble. He even said, “We are just a group of guys who really love Led Zeppelin music, but it just so happens that my dad was in the band. And because he was, I can put on a show like this.” Bonham's band included singer James Dylan, guitarist Tony Catania, bassist Michael Devin and keyboardist Stephen LeBlanc.
I can’t recall the entire setlist, but here is what I do remember:
Your Time is Gonna Come (Jason Bonham told the story of how one day at a very young age he heard this church organ music in the house as the band was working on this song. He said it was one of his first memories of the band. “Lying, cheating, hurtin’, that all you seem to do.”)
Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You
Dazed and Confused (Tony Catania comes out with a violin bow to play the guitar. The first time Jimmy Page came out with the violin bow, that had to be just surreal.) (And the bass at the beginning of this song just sets the tone for the entire song.)
The Lemon Song (I have always loved this song, I can remember listening to it in my parent’s basement on my brother’s stereo.)
What Is and What Should Never Be (My only complaint here is that they didn’t switch the guitar sound back and forth between the left and right speaker like in the studio version.) Like I said before, this is a song to listen to with headphones.
Thank You
Moby Dick (with an incredible drum solo) They had video and audio from an old Zeppelin show from the 70’s where Jon Bonham was performing his drum solo, and then Jason joined in live on stage. I guess technically that would make it an incredible drum duet. I would say easily the highlight of the entire show. To quote Slater from Dazed and Confused: “I’m not believing that about Bonham’s 3 hour drum solo. You couldn’t handle that on acid.” Here it is in almost its entirety.
The Ocean
Black Dog (I love this song, actually the whole Led Zeppelin Four Album is great. As Demone says in Fast Times at Ridgemont High “And if you really want to score with the ladies make sure you put in side 2 of Led Zeppelin Four.” Even though in the movie when Rat picks up Stacey, the song is Kashmir which wasn’t on Zeppelin Four)
When the Levee Breaks (I never thought this was their best song. However, after seeing it live, it has moved up the charts for me. I think this was my favorite song of the night)
Over the Hills and Far Away (This was a bit of a crowd sing-a-long song. “Hey lady, you got the love I need, Maybe or is that enough, Oh Darling Darling Darling, Walk a while with me, Oh you got so much, so much, so much. Many have I loved, many times been bitten, many times I’ve gazed along the open road. Many times I’ve lied, many times I’ve listened, many times I’ve wonder how much there is to know. Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings, I live for my dreams and a pocket full of gold.”)
Stairway to Heaven (For some reason I didn’t think they would play this song either) By many, it is considered one of the greatest Rock and Roll songs of all-time. The only problem is that Dave Grohl has wrecked this song for me. Here is the link to the YouTube to his performance. I don’t think Dave Grohl is mocking the song, but for some reason I like his version better and it makes me laugh. That being said, I was laughing at the concert last night when they started playing “Stairway”.
I just love the part where it goes into “…And as we wind on down the road, Our shadows taller than our soul, There walks a lady we all know, Who shines white light and wants to show, How everything still turns to gold, And if you listen very hard, The truth will come to you at last, When all are one and one is all, To be a rock and not to roll.” I have no idea what all of that means. But I like it.
I can’t recall the entire setlist, but here is what I do remember:
Your Time is Gonna Come (Jason Bonham told the story of how one day at a very young age he heard this church organ music in the house as the band was working on this song. He said it was one of his first memories of the band. “Lying, cheating, hurtin’, that all you seem to do.”)
Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You
Dazed and Confused (Tony Catania comes out with a violin bow to play the guitar. The first time Jimmy Page came out with the violin bow, that had to be just surreal.) (And the bass at the beginning of this song just sets the tone for the entire song.)
The Lemon Song (I have always loved this song, I can remember listening to it in my parent’s basement on my brother’s stereo.)
What Is and What Should Never Be (My only complaint here is that they didn’t switch the guitar sound back and forth between the left and right speaker like in the studio version.) Like I said before, this is a song to listen to with headphones.
Thank You
Moby Dick (with an incredible drum solo) They had video and audio from an old Zeppelin show from the 70’s where Jon Bonham was performing his drum solo, and then Jason joined in live on stage. I guess technically that would make it an incredible drum duet. I would say easily the highlight of the entire show. To quote Slater from Dazed and Confused: “I’m not believing that about Bonham’s 3 hour drum solo. You couldn’t handle that on acid.” Here it is in almost its entirety.
The Ocean
Black Dog (I love this song, actually the whole Led Zeppelin Four Album is great. As Demone says in Fast Times at Ridgemont High “And if you really want to score with the ladies make sure you put in side 2 of Led Zeppelin Four.” Even though in the movie when Rat picks up Stacey, the song is Kashmir which wasn’t on Zeppelin Four)
When the Levee Breaks (I never thought this was their best song. However, after seeing it live, it has moved up the charts for me. I think this was my favorite song of the night)
Over the Hills and Far Away (This was a bit of a crowd sing-a-long song. “Hey lady, you got the love I need, Maybe or is that enough, Oh Darling Darling Darling, Walk a while with me, Oh you got so much, so much, so much. Many have I loved, many times been bitten, many times I’ve gazed along the open road. Many times I’ve lied, many times I’ve listened, many times I’ve wonder how much there is to know. Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings, I live for my dreams and a pocket full of gold.”)
Stairway to Heaven (For some reason I didn’t think they would play this song either) By many, it is considered one of the greatest Rock and Roll songs of all-time. The only problem is that Dave Grohl has wrecked this song for me. Here is the link to the YouTube to his performance. I don’t think Dave Grohl is mocking the song, but for some reason I like his version better and it makes me laugh. That being said, I was laughing at the concert last night when they started playing “Stairway”.
I just love the part where it goes into “…And as we wind on down the road, Our shadows taller than our soul, There walks a lady we all know, Who shines white light and wants to show, How everything still turns to gold, And if you listen very hard, The truth will come to you at last, When all are one and one is all, To be a rock and not to roll.” I have no idea what all of that means. But I like it.Kashmir (Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream, I am a traveler of both time and space to be where I have been. Sit with elders of a general race, this world has seldom seen, the top of days for which they sit and wait all will be revealed. An open song from tongues of building grace, the sounds caress my ear, not a word I heard could I relate, the storm was quite clear.)
Whole Lotta Love (This was the encore song. Not what I was expecting, I have never considered it their most popular song. A second listen of the song, and yes, it is encore worthy.)
According to on line sources they also played: Immigrant Song, Celebration Day, I Can't Quit You Baby, Friends, Since I Been Loving You, The Song Remains The Same,I'm Gonna Crawl, Rock & RollThe band was very good, but I won’t say incredible. The singer, James Dylan, was good, but how can you live up to Robert Plant. Robert Plant can’t even live up to Robert Plant anymore. Guitarist, Tony Catania, was much better than I had expected. The bar to live up to Jimmy Page is pretty high, but I think he got there. The production of the show, with the lights, fog and multimedia was great. At one point during the show, I was just marveling in the set. The vibrant red Riverside curtains hanging from the ceiling, the fog slowly crawling across the floor. It just seemed like the classic concert atmosphere.
Oh and they had the bass really cranked up. I don’t know if you can tell from the video of the drum solo or not, but my chair, and therefore my arm, was vibrating and shaking from all of the bass. It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The show is an absolute must for anyone who is even remotely a Zeppelin fan. I wish they were playing another show in the area. It was just 3 hours of live Zeppelin songs. I could have easily watched another hour. I really wanted to hear “In The Light” and I was expecting them to play “Ramble On”. For the majority of the show, it was a sit down concert. I am cool with the sit down concert, it seems to take less out of you. 
The only other drawback was that it was on a Wednesday night. It made me behave a little better than I would have on a Friday or Saturday.I counted it up the other day, this was my 18th concert of the year, shattering my old record of 13 concerts in a year back in 1996. However, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is going to be performing at The Riverside Theater on December 11th and I am thinking of going to that. Normally I wouldn’t even think about a show like this, but they are going to cover Pink Floyd, including the entire “Dark Side Of The Moon” so it may be something worth checking out. Any takers?
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