Concert Review
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience
Labatt Blue Canal Concert Series
Lockport, NY
Friday July 26, 2013
Review/Photos: Joseph Suto
Jason Bonham and his Led Zeppelin Experience touched down in Lockport Friday evening to quite a packed house. The Labatt Blue Canal Concert Series is now at their new home in the parking lot of an old building that at one time housed a Twin Fair Department Store. The concert series is now in its sixth season in the city of Lockport after spending the first five years at the Ulrich City Center.
A video presentation gave everyone a quick synopsis as how Bonham arrived at this point of his life. During the video he said about the tribute, as he put it “is a celebration to his dad and the greatest band ever.”
“Rock and Roll” was a fitting way to start the show as it ran into “Black Dog” both of which appear on Led Zeppelin lV, the third best selling album ever in the United States.
It was cool to watch Bonham imitate the intro like his dad did on the actual recording of “The Ocean”. As Bonham said the phrase “We’ve done four already but now we’re steady, and then they went 1, 2, 3, 4!” to which the crowd helped count down as well. The is reference to that line in the song is how Zeppelin had tried to record the song four times prior but could not get it right, which is how the chant came about.
Bonham urged the crowd to clap along as the band broke into “When The Levee Breaks”, a song that is considered to be one of his dad’s heaviest drumming songs. The epic tracks “Kashmir” and “Stairway To Heaven” brought the main set to an amazing end.
The last point to make is without a solid band behind him, there would be no way Bonham would be able to pull off doing what he does. Singer James Dylan played the part of Robert Plant in his own way and did about as good of a job as one can do. Not an easy task by any means. The only other person I have heard do Mr. Plant justice would be singer Jack Russell from Great White. One listen to their Great Zeppelin CD and one would concur. The band also featured bassist Dorian Heart and guitarist Tony Catania. Catania’s stage presence and playing were also another highlight.
Overall this experience is about as close one can get for those who were never able to see Led Zeppelin during their existence. Bonham has put together a solid sound band who can epitomize The Zeppelin catalogue and at the same time do it justice as well. I think John Bonham would be very proud of his son carrying on in his shadow.
Set List
Rock and Roll
Black Dog
Over the Hills and Far Away
Thank You
What Is and What Should Never Be
The Lemon Song
No Quarter
The Ocean
Since I’ve Been Loving You
Houses of the Holy
Nobody’s Fault But Mine
Misty Mountain Hop
When the Levee Breaks
Kashmir
Stairway to Heaven
Encore
Whole Lotta Love
Special thanks to The Caronia Media Group for their assistance in setting us up to review the show.
