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Whole Lotta Led and Wizard of Oz pay homage to their hard rock heroes Who: Whole Lotta Led Where: Boot Pub When: Monday, Aug.

Whole Lotta Led and Wizard of Oz pay homage to their hard rock heroes

Who: Whole Lotta Led

Where: Boot Pub

When: Monday, Aug. 11

Who says rock ’n’ roll is dead? Definitely not any of the millions of people worldwide who in the last two months have gobbled up Led Zeppelin’s double live DVD set or even the special release triple CD set.

And definitely not the millions of people who have been going to see ex Back Sabbath frontman, Ozzie Osbourne in concert.

What’s interesting to note here is that Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, with Ozzie Osbourne at the helm, were two bands that were at their peak in the ’70s. Fast forward 30 years and they are still blowing away chart sales.

But who’s buying Ozzie’s high price gig tickets and the Led Zeppelin archived rare recordings boxed sets? It’s not just nostalgic adults and old school hard rock music lovers, that’s for sure.

It is in fact the same kids buying Eminem and Metallica and Limp Bizkit. Why?

"Because they were the pioneers," explained lead singer for the Led Zeppelin Tribute Show, Whole Lotta Led, Greg Reamsbottom (a.k.a Grateful Greg from the Hairfarmers).

"Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham, along with Black Sabbath, The Who and Deep Purple – these were the guys who set the bar for every rock band that has followed since."

Bassist J.P. Trottier added: "I’d say Led Zeppelin influences at least 80 per cent of rock bands around even today."

Drummer Tom Rimmer said he understands why today’s teens are still blown away by ’70s hard rock.

"The reaction is still the same as when I was a kid. When my brother brought out what I think was Led Zeppelin’s third album for me to listen to, I was immediately hooked. I was tapping to it right away. They were the masters of less is more. They made their music sound so simple and yet it’s very difficult to perform if you think about the song structure."

Lead guitarist Phil Richard, who has the recently released double DVD set, said their musicianship on stage was mind blowing.

"There’s never been a time they weren’t popular and that’s going back at least as far as 1969."

Now consider for a moment Led Zeppelin’s legacy: If you think in rock ’n’ roll terms, they were only around for a short period of time – 12 years to be exact. When drummer John Bonham died unexpectedly from heavy drinking in 1980, that was the abrupt end of the band.

Page himself said recently that Zeppelin was never any good at going mainstream. But yet, they did. Outlasting anyone and everyone around them. Ripped to shreds by music critics, rarely releasing singles, and nearly never appearing on TV, one must question whether a band of their calibre would rate a mention in today’s cut throat, marketing-driven music monolopy. It just goes to prove playing live for fans can stand the test of time. More so than a slick music video and a cutting edge clothing line.

If you’ve never seen the power of Led Zeppelin live or on DVD, do yourself a favour and head to Hard Rock Music School 101 at the Boot Pub next Monday night, Aug. 11 for a performance that will have you re-evaluating your audio and visual tastes for the better. Tickets to see Whole Lotta Led will be $6 at the door from 8 p.m.

Led Zeppelin Unzipped

As a rock music fan, the Led Zeppelin song that stands out for me is…

Tom

: Tangerine brings back memories of my youth and doing long road trips, camping, hanging out with my friends.

JP

: What Is and What Should Never Be. It’s got the sexiest bass lines on the planet.

Greg

: The live version of No Quarter has all the elements that made Led Zeppelin unreal and shows them in their best light.

As a musician, the Led Zeppelin song I enjoy performing most is…

Phil

: The Song Remains the Same. It’s 70 per cent guitar leads so it’s the most challenging for me and took the longest to learn.

Tom

: The Song Remains the Same is like a time capsule. You start out thinking one thing and by the end of the song you’re somewhere else completely different. You can really lose yourself in the song if you’re not thinking straight.

JP

: Travelling River Side Blues. I love the feel of it – bluesy rock ’n’ roll at its best.

Greg

: They’re all fun but one of the new songs we’ve learned for this show that I love singing is The Ocean. It’s a metaphor for the audience and goes "Singing to the audience, I can hear the oceans roar". It’s all about what it’s like to perform at stadium shows.

The song the audiences go the most nuts over is…

Tom

: Rock ’n’ Roll. As soon as you hear the opening drum bars, you know what it is, what to expect and the crowd react accordingly. It’s a perennial classic that Led Zeppelin didn’t play too often so if you heard it at their gigs you were really lucky. We’ll play it for sure.

Phil

: Hot Dog. It’s a hoe down song. The first time we played it people were dancing on tables they were so excited.

Greg

: That’s the great thing about being a Led Zeppelin tribute band. Every song is gonna be someone’s favourite so the crowd goes nuts all night long.

The hardest song to perform is…

Phil

: After 10 years I’ve finally learned the whole of White Summer. Since I picked up the guitar I’ve been trying to figure it out. I can’t wait to perform it on Monday.

Tom

: Black Dog. Mind over matter on this one. It’s not a counted song like most. The spaces between the verse chorus bridges are unique.

JP

: Good Times, Bad Times has got hard bass lines that are super fast and off beat. This is the song I fear the most but I give it my best shot all the same.

Greg

: Communication Breakdown is the one that stretches my vocal chords the most. It’s a really fast paced song with a lot of words and lots of high pitched screaming.