25 Oct 2013

Whole Lotta Fun

Well, inspite of all my efforts, it would appear that I ain't gonna see Alice again this year, so I've been going to local gigs in an effort to feed my Frankenstein........oh, sorry, I mean, feed my live music fix. Chief among these is a Led Zep Tribute band, Whole Lotta Led, who are actually pretty damn good. Me and rock chick buddy Ann went down to Swindon to see them, and were so impressed that we followed them to Newbury a coupla weeks later, and then Stroud a couple weeks after that.
They bill themselves as guys who don't dress up or try to imitate LZ, but, rather, as people who grew up with the music and just like to play it. And, boy, do they play it!!!  They may not look like Planty/Page et al, but I gotta say, they really do sound like them. SO good to hear all these songs played live at last - I never saw LZ unfortunately, one of my major regrets. I nearly went to the last UK gig at Knebworth, but was put off by the 'festival' thing, always hated mud and camping. If only I had a time machine I would put up with it now, lol.




The set was about 2 and a half hours, can't remember all of it, but they did pretty much every popular song you can think of ; Rock 'n' Roll, Misty Mountain, Dazed And Confused, Kashmir, Ramble On, Battle Of Evermore, Stairway To Heaven, Good Time Bad Times, No Quarter, Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog, Going to California.....as well as the Whole of Houses Of The Holy....pretty much all of the Zep songs I grew up with!


It's funny, but I know all these songs really well, but don't seem to remember the words....not like with Alice, when all of the lyrics came back instantly as soon as the song was played, even after 30 years... I guess it's down to the fact that Planty doesn't quite articulate as well as our Vinnie......or maybe it's just my inadequate and selective hearing.  Whatever, I can't keep still when they start playing. Even if I am the only one dancing at first :)

The first gig was seated, which was good (my aching feet), and bad (can't dance in a  seat),  and so I thoroughly enjoyed bopping along at the second gig in Newbury. I made Ann stand near the front with me. On our own, lol!  My place is defo at the stage, front, middle.... (she likes to be a little more discreet, sort of hidden at the side *grin*) And by the third gig I was out at the front on my own for at least half the show. (Ann was late) I'm not proud.

I was disappointed at Newbury when they didn't do Battle of Evermore, but can't complain about the rest of it!
 I emailed them and asked if they would do it at Stroud - Nick told me they were going to, but unfortunately, they ran out of soundcheck time and couldn't check the acoustics......

Hoping to go and see them again in Southampton in Nov....and maybe Dec in Gloucester. And again in Jan/Feb, somewhere....



Meanwhile, we went off to Brum to see Deep Purple, knowing that we had been completely spoiled by WLL and the the lack of crowds/small venues/etc.......we did have seats booked at the NIA, and they weren't too bad, great view an' all.............but ,well,  it's so great to be able to roll up 2 mins before a gig, and then lean on the stage...

So keen and focussed were we, (not) to get there, that we managed to get on the M5 to Bristol instead. We just weren't listening to the Sat Nav Lady....... good job we set off a couple of hours early. Having turned round we eventually made it to the NIA and the car park. No prob s getting in, but there was a massive q for the machine to pay. I made lots of new friends, :).

We went in and checked out the food - urghh- and our seats - ok  -  and then went back out to find some decent grub Last year when I came here to see Roger Waters do The Wall, there were a load of cafes and bars outside by the canal.....but they are doing major refurb atm so there isn't much happening. But we found a nice pub and had some decent food.
Back to the venue and out seats just in time to catch the last of the support - complete rubbish and they were miming, wtf??
 



At last DP came on. They did about 5 songs before even speaking to us.....don't get me wrong they were very good, but until Perfect Strangers arrived, I didn't know any of the songs..... always makes me wish I'd done some 'research' as it were...



They did a lovely tribute to Jon Lord, which I have totally forgotten the name of, and there were lots of solos - base, drums, lead, keyboards...Would've perhaps been better to drop them and bung in a Highway Star mebbe, but that's just me.
Gotta say Don Airey is an AMAZING keyboard player, bloody brilliant really.
 

They did Smoke On The Water of course and Black Night, which might've been the encore. Great show, but nobody stood up til Smoke, so I think it woulda been better if there'd been no seats. Although I would've needed to be at the front the of course. Glad I went though, and now I can cross them off my bucket list.

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