I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 5, 2017] Lez Zeppelin

I don’t go to concerts by cover bands.  Even though I know a successful cover band is going to sound pretty much spot on to the original, I’d rather see the original.  And, if the original is no more, well, such is life.

But when I heard about Lez Zeppelin–from a lady cutting my hair no less–it sounded like a really interesting premise for a cover band.  I had wanted to see them since I heard about them (almost 2 years ago).  They played a couple of shows that I either couldn’t go to or that were too expensive (for a cover band, seriously).  And then I saw this one announced at the Sellersville Theater.  It seemed like a great place to see them.

And it was, except that, as I’ve learned previously, seated venues tend to be a bit quiet and proper.  This is great during the songs, but the bands get a little self-conscious between songs–especially if they’re used to playing in bars.  One nice thing was that they took out all of the seats in the front of the venue to allow for a standing room area.  I didn’t go up there, and while I would have liked to have been closer for a few things, I think it was the right choice, since our seats were great.

I haven’t listened to Led Zeppelin intentionally for years.  I was a huge fan growing up, have all their albums, listened to them all the time and then …done.  I didn’t need to hear them anymore.  I’ve heard them in places, of course, but I haven’t put on a disc of theirs in I don’t know how long.

And that was a great idea, because Lez Zeppelin sounded fantastic, put on a great show and reminded me of what is so great about Led Zeppelin in the first place.

Lez Zep consists of four members:

Steph Paynes founded the band and is the sole original member.  She channels Jimmy Page in an uncanny fashion–including guitars, bows, and even a theremin!
Leesa Harrington-Squyres plays drums with great power–including playing without sticks during some of the parts.
Shannon Conley is the current vocalist (who is also on Broadway right now).  Aside from the fact that she recently cut her hair to shoulder length (something Robert Plant never did!) she was a great front woman with a ton of charisma and a spectacular voice.  There were hints of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick but at times I got lost in the music and really thought I was listening to Robert Plant.
Megan Thomas (who I saw referred to as Blonde Paul Jones, ha) was outstanding.  Not only did she play the bass (and sounded great), she plays keys, mandolin and acoustic guitar during their unplugged segment.

They opened with “Immigrant Song.”  I was a little worried because Shannon didn’t do the opening vocal scream thing correctly–it was just…different, and a surprising thing to change at the beginning of your show.  It was a little disconcerting. But as soon as she started singing, the whole band sounded great.  I also learned a lot of lyrics that I never knew (Robert Plant is such a mumbler).

I really appreciated that the band played some deeper cuts (as far as Led Zeppelin can have deeper cuts).  It wasn’t just the radio hits.  Rather, they played some great longer songs which get lesser airplay.

I loved that for the opening of “The Ocean” Harrington-Squyres chanted “we done four already and now we’re lezzy and then we go.”  While “Immigrant Song” was great, “The Ocean” sounded incredible–the band was fully jamming at this point and Shannon was in the total Robert Plant zone.

The followed that with “The Lemon Song.”  Since I listened to Led Zep from a young age, I never really thought about their lyrics.  And so I never really thought about just how explicit some of their songs were.  The whole “squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg” is pretty shocking, frankly.  I love that Lez Zeppelin runs with it.  Hearing Conley sing the line just flips the whole dynamic on its head.

I wasn’t that excited to hear “How Many More Times” at first but, man, I had forgotten just how much that song rocks–and the rhythm section was fantastic the way they belted out those riffs.  Then they played a killer version of “Misty Mountain Hop” a song that I love that I’d kind of forgotten about.

Paynes played a great “Heartbreaker” but I think the whole audience was stunned that they didn’t launch right into “Living Loving Maid.”  Although once it wasn’t there, it wasn’t missed either.

Because then Paynes’s roadie came out with her double neck guitar and they payed an amazing version of “The Song Remains the Same.”  She had the 12 string guitar sound down perfectly and the band was awesome.  It’s true that the album version has a lot of overdubs, so Paynes was in an unenviable position to play it live.  But the room shook, and when the bass played those great meandering lines, it was near-perfect.

It was somewhere around here that the band changed things up for a couple of acoustic numbers.  They played a gorgeous version of “Going to California“–the instrumentation was really lovely–mandolins and acoustic guitars.  And then they really surprised me with a great version of “The Battle of Evermore” (with Steph taking the Sandy Denny parts.)  I couldn’t believe how good this song sounded

And then there was a tremendous version of “Dazed and Confused.”

One of the cool things about this show was imagining that this was like seeing Led Zeppelin before they were huge–maybe on the tour for Led Zeppelin III when you might still see them in a club.  And yet they also had much of the theatricality of Led Zeppelin when they were huge.  True, not on the lights or effect or anything like that, but in their stage mannerisms, they were spot on–like extravagance on a budget.  Especially Steph Paynes.

Because for “Dazed and Confused,” she played a lengthy guitar solo (like on “The Song Remains the Same” live show).  This including using a bow–I would have loved to get have been up front to see that more closely.  I loved that she just tossed the bow over her head when she was done.

In addition to the four members, they also had Joan Chew on violins for a number of songs (she did not toss her bow).  They said that it was the first time she’s played with them and it sounded great.  Many of the Zep songs do have strings, and this really helped to flesh out the sound.

Details are now fuzzy about what came when, because there were so many cool moments.  They played an awesome version of “Kashmir” with Joan on violin–and it sounded tremendous.

Then we were treated to an original song by Steph Paynes.  It was a lengthy instrumental called “The Sun at Her Eastern Gate” and it felt like a great long-lost Led Zeppelin song.

Before the encore, Conley insisted that we come down and fill the space in front of the stage, which we did.  She also said they were recording that night’s show, so I hope to hear it back someday.

The encore began with a romping version of “Rock and Roll” complete with John Bonham-like drum solo.  It was really fun watching Leeza hit all manner of drums with her hands (including cymbals), making it sound so much like the solo in “Moby Dick.”

And then they pulled out all the final stops with a scorching version of “While Lotta Love.”  One of the coolest parts of this was at the end when Paynes pulled out a theremin and recreated the theremin section of the song from the movie.  I had no idea he used a theremin for this so I was really tickled to see her using it on stage.

Paynes was full of theatricality–making the Page faces–pointing to the audience, waving her violin bow, and really making a show of the theremin.  It had all of the audacity and overblownness of Led Zeppelin in their prime, but in a small club where we were just a few dozen feet away.