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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