You saw it…you know you did. Last week Robert Plant did an interview declaring the Led Zeppelin would most likely never reunite again. I can’t tell a lie, a little something inside of me died that day. Sure I’ve got albums and live DVD’s to entertain me for years to come, but as we all know…it just ain’t the same.
But buck-up my friends, tonight, May 15th, at Mercury Ballroom, Led Zeppelin 2 will be performing. While it isn’t the Zeppelin, granted; but these guys are the only way you’d wanna see Zeppelin outside of the original four. These are four absolute top notch musicians playing the classics we love with cool and reverence to the source.
Singer Bruce Lamont, guitarist Paul Kamp, and bassist Matthew Longbons all hail from the Chicago area; while drummer Ian Lee is Canadian bred. These aren’t guys pretending to be Zeppelin, and they aren’t high school kids sloppily trying to recreate the riffs they heard on daddy’s vinyl. This is as close to hearing Zeppelin the way you’d imagine it to be, as it appears we’re ever going to get.
And then there’s The Band.
The Band is one of my all-time favorites and one of the most overlooked bands in rock n’ roll history. They rose to attention playing as Bob Dylan’s back-up band when he flicked the world off by going electric, and then came to critical acclaim on their own when they released their debut album in 1968, Music From Big Pink. The members of The Band went on to write and record such American classics as “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down”, and “Up On Cripple Creek”.
But the band ended in a pool of sadness, as chief songwriter Robby Robertson disbanded the group in 1975, but only after recording the greatest concert film of all-time The Last Waltz. The band acrimoniously got back together without Robertson, but three key components have since died in Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Levon Helm; making any future music from The Band unimaginable.
But Saturday night, May 17th, at Mercury Ballroom, “Such A Night – recreating the music of The Last Waltz” will be in town. This roving tribute makes it a point to not just pay tribute to The Band, but to The Last Waltz, as well, which was truly one of the most amazing nights in all of rock n’ roll. If they handle it even a tenth as well as the original group did, then this is guaranteed to be a night to remember.
Led Zeppelin 2 performs tonight at Mercury Ballroom, show starts at 8:30 PM, tickets are $13.
Such a Night – Tribute to The Last Waltz, performs tomorrow night at Mercury Ballroom, show starts at 8:30PM, and tickets are $19.
