Another Rocking Thanksgiving Weekend With Music By Led Zeppelin

Sometimes spontaneous decisions are the best and this one certainly qualifies. Almost exactly one year ago, on November 22, 2017, I had seen Get The Led The Out (GTLO) for the first time. You can read about it here. Last night I saw them again, at the historic Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, N.J. I only had found out about the gig Friday and got a ticket yesterday afternoon. There weren’t many left, and I was fortunate to get a decent seat at a pretty reasonable price. This six-piece Led Zeppelin tribute band and their guest backing vocalist once again put in an incredible performance, so it was definitely worth it!

‘Wait a moment,’ you might say, ‘Led Zeppelin were only four guys, so how come there are six guys and they call themselves a Zep tribute?’ Well, as lead vocalist Paul Sinclair  explained again to the newbies in the audience last night, when the guy singing Robert Plant looks like Howard Stern while one of the guitarists actually resembles Plant, you obviously know that GTLO isn’t trying to impersonate Zep. Instead, they are all about capturing their music – more precisely, the British rockers’ recorded music. And with all the overdubbing and other techniques Zep applied in the studio, you simply cannot replicate that sound live with just four guys.

GTLO (clockwise from upper row left): Paul Sinclair (lead vocals, harmonica), Paul Hammond (electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin), Jim Marchiano (electric & acoustic guitars, vocals), Phil D’Agostino (bass, vocals), Adam Ferraioli (drums, percussion), Eddie Kurek (keyboards, electric & acoustic guitars, vocals, percussion) and Diana DeSantis (guest vocalist on Battle Of Evermore)

I didn’t capture any music last night except for one tune I simply couldn’t resist recording. Instead, I decided to simply enjoy the show and forget about my stupid smartphone. Yet after almost each song, I kind of wished I had recorded it – especially the acoustic-oriented renditions that were just unbelievably good! Well, I didn’t, so to capture the music of last night’s show I had to resort to what I did in the past before starting to record my own concert footage: Rely on YouTube videos taken by others.

I’d like to kick things off with one of my favorite Led Zeppelin tunes: All My Love. Credited to John Paul Jones and Robert Plant, it was included on Zep’s eighth studio album In Through The Out Door from August 1979, the final record prior to John Bonham’s untimely death in September 1980 in the age of 32. I just totally dig the keyboard part on this track.

I already mentioned the acoustic songs, which to me were the standouts. Here’s Going To California. Co-written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, this gem appeared on Led Zeppelin IV from December 1971.

Here’s another acoustic Zep diamond, from Houses Of The Holy, the band’s fifth studio album released in March 1973: The Rain Song, which was also co-written by Plant and Page.

The last song I’d like to call out was the first encore and the only tune I recorded myself: Stairway To Heaven. I just couldn’t resist! Yet another Page-Plant co-write, the track also appeared on Led Zeppelin IV.

GTLO, which are from Philly and were founded in 2003, currently includes the following members: Paul Sinclair (lead vocals, harmonica), Paul Hammond (electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin), Jim Marchiano (electric & acoustic guitars, vocals), Phil D’Agostino (bass, vocals), Adam Ferraioli (drums, percussion) and Eddie Kurek (keyboards, electric & acoustic guitars, vocals, percussion). In addition, Diana DeSantis performs as a guest vocalist on The Battle Of Evermore.

The band has a pretty packed schedule that currently has dates until late April 2019. Upcoming shows include Harrisburg, Pa. (Nov 29 & 30 and Dec 1), Philadelphia (Dec 7) and Jim Thorpe, Pa. (Dec 28 & 29).

Sources: GTLO website and Facebook page, Wikipedia, YouTube