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I was finally able to check off one longtime item on my concert-going bucket list at the Corning Museum of Glass on Jan. 30. That’s when the legendary Mavis Staples played one of the best shows I’ve seen in recent years.
For more than 60 years, the Grammy Award-winning Staples has been one of popular music’s most-admired singers. Beginning with her family gospel group the Staple Singers through her recent Jeff Tweedy-produced solo albums, Staples has earned acclaim for her passionate voice and powerful stage presence.
The show, part of the Corning-Painted Post Civic Music Series, was the second one of Staples’ “Livin’ on a High Note” tour, which takes its name from her latest album coming out Feb. 19 on the Anti- label. The record features new songs written by contemporary indie-rock artists such as Neko Case, Ben Harper, Ben Harper, Tune-Yards and Benjamin Booker. Much of the set was devoted to the new material – the title track, written by Valerie June, was a particular highlight, as was Aloe Blacc’s “Tomorrow.” I can’t wait to hear the new album, so I can get more familiar with the songs.
This was only the second date of the tour, so the band was still learning their parts. Luckily, a dapper roadie named “Speedy” kept on bringing out music stands as needed for the new songs.
Staples, 76, was backed by her longtime touring trio – guitarist Rick Holmstrom, bassist Jeff Turmes and drummer Stephen Hodges – as well as singers Donny Gerrard and Vicki Randall. I’ve been a longtime fan of Holmstrom’s work – he’s been pushing blues guitar in new directions on his solo albums, and he does a great job replicating Pop Staples’ tremeloed guitar style – so I was psyched when he played a lengthy instrumental while Mavis was taking a break.
Early in the set, Staples played a pulsating version of Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” which she covered on her 2013 album “One True Vine.” Another standout moment: “Friendship,” a song from the recent Pops Staples album, “Don’t Lose This,” for which he laid down tracks in 1990 and which Mavis and producer Jeff Tweedy finished for release in 2015. Gerrard did a great job covering Pops’ vocal part.
Several times during the evening, Staples paid tribute to her family’s past, with a great version of the Staple Singers 1971 crossover hit “Respect Yourself. Even better – and definitely the highlight of the night – was the rousing, inspiring “Freedom Highway,” which the Staple Singers recorded in 1965 at the height of the civil rights era. It was at that moment I wished we were standing in a big tent rather than seated in a modern auditorium.
Throughout the night, Staples was in fine voice, graciously interacting with her bandmates and the fans and showing a keen sense of humor. It’s great that she’s still releasing vital new work at this point in her career – she’s definitely not one to rest on her considerable laurels.
Eschewing an encore, Staples ended the show with another Staples Singers classic, “I’ll Take You There.” First released in 1972, the song was the Staples’ best-known hit – its call-and-response lines make it a perfect set-closer, one that enabled Mavis to further connect with the audience and leave on a high note.
– Jim Catalano
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With Robert Plant steadfastly resisting entreaties to reunite with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones since the one-off 2007 “Celebration Day” show in London, it looks like Led Zeppelin won’t be getting back together anytime soon. Luckily, there are numerous tribute bands out there, including the excellent Get The Led Out, which came to the State Theatre of Ithaca on Jan. 29.
Rather than striving for an exact recreation of Led Zep’s four-man lineup, Get The Led Out aims to bring that band’s legendary studio recordings to life on the concert stage – whatever it takes.
“In the studio, Led Zeppelin layered many guitars, vocals, keyboards, and various other instruments in a process known as ‘overdubbing.’ Quite simply, it’s physically impossible for only four people to recreate those amazing recordings in a live performance,” Get The Led Out writes in its FAQ. “Zeppelin themselves never attempted replicating their recorded work in concert, as it would have required hiring additional musicians, and they just weren't about that. Get The Led Out however, is ALL about that!”
That meant using as many as eight musicians – the six GTLO core members, plus a female vocalist and an occasional extra percussionist – during the show.
The band members make no attempt to look like Led Zeppelin, either – at one point during the show, singer Paul Sinclair noted that people were probably wondering why he looked like Howard Stern and one of the guitarists looked like Nikki Sixx. (I thought they more resembled The Cult’s Ian Astbury and Guns N’ Roses’ Izzy Stradlin.) As the band noted on its site: “This is not an impersonator act but rather a group of musicians who were fans first, striving to do justice to one of the greatest bands in rock history!”
So how was it?
It was pretty damned impressive. I closed my eyes at various points throughout the show and could’ve sworn I was listening to the original recordings. Sinclair pretty much nailed Plant’s distinctive vocal style, while guitarists Paul Hammond, Jimmy Marchiano (the Izzy look-alike) and Andrew Lipke divvied up Page’s trademark solos and riffs. The rhythm section of drummer Adam Ferraioli and bassist Phil D'Agostino expertly laid down the propulsive grooves of John Bonham and John Paul Jones.
Charging right out of the gate, Get The Led Out opened with the one-two punch of “Immigrant Song” and “Trampled Underfoot” (with Lipke on keyboards) and following with powerful versions of “Good Times Bad Times” and “The Ocean.” “Ramble On” and “Dazed and Confused” also impressed before the band ended the first half of the show with a short acoustic set, pulling up chairs in a semi-circle for “Going To California,” “The Battle of Evermore” (with guest singer Diana DeSantis) and “Hey Hey What Can I Do.”
The second set had its own highlights, including “Fool in the Rain” and “Heartbreaker”/”Living Loving Maid,” before ending with a stomping version of “Kashmir.”
The band returned for a three-set encore of “Black Dog,” “Stairway To Heaven” and “Whole Lotta Love” (complete with theremin break!). While those songs have been played to death on the radio over the past few decades, there’s still something special hearing them recreated live on stage right in front of you – especially when it’s done so well. (I’ve had the same reaction at Beatles tribute shows.)
Given Jimmy Page's masterful orchestration abilities on the Led Zeppelin albums, the band’s “all hands on deck” paid off throughout the show, whether it was with the acoustic guitar counterpoint lines on “Fool in the Rain,” the harmonized guitar riffs on “Black Dog,” the vocal harmonies on “Good Times Bad Times” – I could go on and on.
After the show, a fan at the soundboard remarked that this was one of the best sets he had seen Get The Led Out ever play. Indeed, it was a good mix of the big hits and a few lesser-known songs. If you check out their set lists, it’s clear that the band has mastered a massive chunk of the Led Zep canon, enabling it to play different yet satisfying shows each night. With luck, the band will make regular visits to Ithaca in the coming years – for Led Zeppelin fans, it will be the next best thing to seeing Page, Plant, etc., themselves.
-- Jim Catalano
Get The Led Out set list, State Theatre of Ithaca, Jan. 29, 2016
Set 1
“Immigrant Song”
“Trampled Under Foot”
“Good Times Bad Times”
“The Ocean”
“Ten Years Gone” (“No Quarter” was on the band’s set list at the show; see below; “Ten Years Gone” was listed on the setlists.fm site. I can't remember which song they actually played...)
“Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You”
“Ramble On”
“Dazed and Confused”
“Going to California”
“The Battle of Evermore”
“Hey Hey What Can I Do”
Set 2
“In My Time of Dying”
“Moby Dick”
“Fool in the Rain”
“Heartbreaker”
“Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)”
“Kashmir”
Encore
“Black Dog”
“Stairway to Heaven”
“Whole Lotta Love”
Jimmy Page's masterful orchestration abilities on the Led Zeppelin album
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