Happy Father's Day to all...

I took my daughter to see a Zeppelin tribute band at Variety Playhouse last night: Get the Led Out. They're from the Philly area, mostly approaching middle age and crack musicians. They are not trying to emulate the live shows, it's a note-for-note recreation of the songs as you'd remember them from the albums, which means you need more than four people on stage to cover the overdubbed parts. I think playing the songs takes WAY more discipline if you're trying to get things to sound exactly like the recorded version, vs. what Zep might have sounded like live, where if you make a mistake it's no big deal. Solos were nearly dead on in structure and length, backing vocals were exact, etc..it was obvious these guys hadn't just practiced a few times and gone on the road - they were professionals doing a job to everyone in the crowd's delight. The main criteria for success or failure if you're going to cover Zep is that the singer be able to hit the high notes..again and again. GTLO's singer had about a 90% success rate, which places him at the top the ranking vs. other bands I've seen doing the same thing. I guess place was a little less than half full but TOTALLY enthusiastic, inclu. my 14yr old who was curious but far from a Zep fan at the outset - "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Dazed and Confused" pretty much reeled her in, and she seemed to have a great time. Mission accomplished.