Concert Review: Led Zeppelin V
Led Zeppelin V. Tuesday, July 3, at the Record Bar
Reviewed by Richard Gintowt
So I thought the air guitar championships were at the Record Bar last night, but as it turns out, it was just Be/Non playing the part of Led Zeppelin. Each time I turned around some Hypercolor-clad dude was blissing out with his eyes closed and his hands convulsing with imagined arpeggios. It was quite the site to behold, especially considering the medium age of the crowd was about 25 years older than a typical night at the Record Bar.
For my tastes, the best cover bands are the ones that don’t take themselves seriously but still manage to throw down killer facsimiles of the real deal. That’s certainly the case with Led Zeppelin V, which features top axe-smith Brodie Rush and drumming dexterity clinician Billy Brimblecom (apologies for not recognizing John Paul Jones’ stand-in, who was also top-notch [That was Jeff Harshbarger. -- Ed.].). And vocalist John Huff – who knew? Sure, he didn’t hit ALL the high notes. But two-thirds of ‘em is still pretty damn impressive.
A’ight, now it’s time to state the obvious: John … dude … you were reading the lyrics from a book. Shit, even a ten-sheets-to-the-wind Robert Plant could remember the hook to “Immigrant Song” (though it would surely be a VH1 top moment to see Plant singing “We come from the land of ice and … Can someone please fix my fucking teleprompter?”). Especially considering the rest of the band put so much work into nailing every sextuplet-driven riff, the whole karaoke routine really sucked the wind out of the deal. But that kind of goes without saying, and Huff was pretty spot-on when he did remember the words, so we’ll move on…
Led Zeppelin V is the real deal. They played for more than two hours and barely missed a note. While Brimblecom may not have copied every John Bonham fill tit-for-tat, he channeled the spirit so well that he probably could have been an understudy in the band’s heyday. As for Rush – Page’s open-tuning slide guitar voodoo was in full effect, as were his trademark bends. Needles to say, the air-guitar crowd went apeshit.
It’s hard to imagine anyone going home disappointed last night (the crowd had hardly thinned out by the end of the show). With a little more effort – i.e. word memorizing – Led Zeppelin V could be a huge draw at places like the Voodoo Lounge or the Crossroads. Now it’s time for us to return the favor by checking out an equally entertaining group: Be/Non.
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