17/11/2017 | Fred Zeppelin | Review and Photo by Barry Martin |
Roared on, and I mean RROARRRED on by a packed 'Pot, the FredZ put on a terrific with a capital 't' tribute to Great Britain's greatest band.
Igniting the gig with two L.Z. classics, Good Times, Bad Times and Babe(I'm Gonna leave you), the 'Starship', with absolutely no warm-up, took off vertically and never came down.
Dudleyan sticksmeister Steve 'Bonzo' Black, as rock behemoth John Bonham was the Midlands-based band's backbatterbeat as he drove the Fantastic Four on all night long with his spot-on percussive precision.
Aldridge's no. 1 son, bassist Mark Cresswell, more energy than a 'RockStar' factory (other brands are available), better hairography than Will Smith's daughter and rockin' a Dave Grohlesque young Jared Leto look, bounced round and dirnted for England as John Paul Jones whilst having what seemed to be the best time in the world.
Axe-maestro James (Jimmy) Patrick Page's avatar, Walsall's Elliot Gavin, gave it his all, all night with 11 out 10 on the Riffter scale and scoring a number of in-awe-struck ovations for his solos from the knowledgeable Flowerpot aficionados.
And of course, ring and choirmeister, the sexy beast of Beeston, Steven Gale was Robert Plant, all strawberry blonde curls, the moves, the Plantisms, the oohs!,the ahs!, the -asms, Stevie G. had "em all nailed.
A barn-storming Black Dog, a quirky, far out Nobody's Fault but Mine, a saucy ,suggestive Lemon song and a humdinger of a How Many More Times lit up the fab. first set, but it was meta-quality in colossal quantity throughout in song and execution.
How do you send the 'Starship' into orbit again ? - you start the second set with a jawdropper, lower mandible through the floor dropper of a Stairway to Heaven, that's how. Highlights Communication Breakdown, Heartbreaker, my personal fave and rock gem Livin', Lovin' Maid and a face-meltin' extended crowd losin' it Whole Lotta Love-fest with all its spesh. fx concluded the knock out night and all for an amazing WTF tenner.
BoyZ, what can we say? FredKing awesome!
Tenner outta ten.