***** (out of 5)
On New Year's Eve Eve, Dec. 30, it had been a long time since I Rock and Rolled as I went to see Black Dog play a show at BB KIng's Blues Club in the heart of New York's Times Square. This is my third tribute band show at BB's and they have all been excellent, but this might have been the best act of all, because recreating Led Zeppelin on stage is so hard even Led Zep has a hard time doing it.
I've never seen LZ in person live, but have seen enough of them on TV to know that their records might be more products of production than mere talent. Robert Plant's screams on stage have never matched his record output and I heard that in the studio he would drink tea with honey between takes to get that perfect scream down. Doing it night after night on stage is a much harder trick. But Black Dog nailed it.
Four guys, who all look to be about 40, and who probably jammed to Led Zep in their mirrors when they were younger much like I did, were up there having a blast recreating some of the greatest music in the history of rock and roll. The thunderous applause that grew through the night had to be a better high for the band than any drug they could have taken. BB King's holds only about 300 people, but my ears were ringing from the crowd noise on my way home. Not an easy feat from hardcore New Yorkers, much less hardcore Zeppelin fans.
Their guitarist, Dan Toto, like the rest of the band looks nothing like his band alter ego, Jimmy Page, but boy can he play like him. His first few songs were note for note copies, but Toto had such a serious face and closed his eyes so much that you sensed he had to feel his way through the chords. But around halfway through the show he started playing more solos and he lightened up considerably, having a great time by show's end with flourishing guitar theatrics. Yes, he even pulled out the violin bow for Dazed and Confused, although thankfully the solo only lasted about 2 or 3 minutes compared with the 23 minute version on "The Song Remains the Same."
Jeff Mott is an excellent bass player and really laid the groundwork for many of their better rhythm numbers. Until Sunday night, I never realized how important bass was to the Led Zep sound. He also plays a decent mandolin on Goin' To California. Tom Capobianco got the beats right on drums and never made a show of himself. Again, the drum solo was thankfully short. Nothing kills a rock concert for me like pretentious, overlong solos. To me, bands who play them are just trying to build beer sales.
Of course, no Led Zep tribute band would be complete without a Robert Plant sound alike and Rob Malave has the vocal chops to pull it off. He's been playing in Zep tribute bands since his days with Four Sticks and it takes balls to reach for those high octaves, as well as act out the almost gay handshow that is Plant's moniker.
The only gripe I have is that since the show started at 11:30, they could not play a full set. Chuck Berry played from 8 to 10:30, so our late crowd was forced to leave at 1:18. I thought that we would get to see them play until 2AM. But they managed to squeeze in many favorites along with a few surprises and shockingly No Stairway or Whole Lotta Love. But honestly those songs are heard so many times on the radio, do you really need to hear them once more on stage? What was even cooler is that while the crowd went wild for the group and made a ton of noise for an encore, no one called out for either Whole or Stairway, but more for Gallo's Pole, which I would have loved to hear, but they didn't have time for.
What we did hear was magic:
Electric:
Communication Breakdown
The Song Remains The Same
Good Times Bad Times
Heartbreaker
Living Loving Maid
Acoustic Set:
Goin' To California
What Is & What Should Never Be
Hey Hey What Can I Do
Electric:
Bring It On Home
The Lemon Song
Immigrant Song
Dazed and Confused
Since I've Been Loving You
Encore:
The Ocean
Rock and Roll
Black Dog
The Freditor
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