27 December 2009
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Reviews

Luke Ward aka Robert Plant

Review: Boot-Led-Zeppelin

By Emma Hughes
The packed-out crowd at the Concert Hall in Reading had a whole lotta love for Boot-Led-Zeppelin when they played on Saturday 26th February. Read the review and see some of the photos below.

INFO

BOOT LED ZEPPELIN

Concert Hall, Blagrave St

Reading

26/02/05

SET LIST

1. Immigrant Song

2. Heartbreaker

3. What Is And What Should Never Be

4. Bring It On Home

5. Organ Intro

6. Thank You

7. No Quarter

8. Going To California

9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

10. Black Dog

Set2

11. Communication Breakdown

12. Dazed And Confused

13. Over The Hills And Far Away

14. Since I’ve Been Loving You

15. White Summer

16. Kashmir

17. Stairway To Heaven

18. Whole Lotta Love

19. The Ocean

20. Misty Mountain Hop

21. Rock’n’Roll

Exactly a year to the day, The Boot-Led-Zeppelin band returned to a punter- packed Concert Hall in Reading, and boy did they rock the rafters!

Luke Ward aka Robert Plant

Arriving just at the intro of their second song of the night Heartbreaker, sorry guv– traffic, honest! I was amazed at the miscellany of the audience filling the hall, ranging from baggy-jeaned teenagers, nostalgic parents, hardcore leather-clad rockers, long-haired dudes and even those of pensionable age! Weaving my way carefully through the jam packed venue to the front of the stage was a mean feat in itself as moshing fans strutted their thang to Reading’s favourite tribute band.

What blows you away most is the full conviction with which this five-piece band deliver their set. They look, sound and even emanate the ambience of the stalwart seventies rockers but retain their own independence as fabulous musicians in their own right.

Raff Achour aka Jimmy Page

The Boot-Led-Zeppers have a stage presence to challenge any contemporary band. Their carefully designed costumes, effects and own sheer enjoyment of the music fuels their powerful performance, no doubt honed by their dedication to their idols.

Rumour also has it that they are the top selling act in the Concert Hall last year.

Steve Watts on keyboards

One of the magical highlights of the night for me was the spine tingling moment when Steve, wizard keyboardist extraordinaire, orchestrated pure reverence throughout the building, taking over the concert hall’s resident church organ in Organ Intro.
Lights dimmed to an eerie red glow bouncing off the inhabitant gargoyle’s fiendish faces and dry ice drifted hauntingly off the stage clearing only to wrap themselves around singer Luke Ward and guitarist Raff Achour’s ethereal silhouettes, casting a spooky reflection of the original frontmen when they launch into Thank You.

And that was only midway through the first set.

Boot Led Zeppelin

After a short break, we were brought back to sobriety by Reading’s beloved bearded bard, A F Harrold who cajoled whoops and stomps from an excited audience awaiting a whole lot more from the boys.

We were not to be disappointed in the second set crammed with Zep classics such as Communication Breakdown, Dazed And Confused, Since I’ve Been Loving You and Kashmir, to name but a few. The encores kept coming and coming particularly when Raff unleashed his legendary doubled headed guitar on an already mesmerised audience.

Unexpected entertainment towards the end of the night came from an overzealous fan, who, like a demon possessed jumped onto stage and grabbed Luke’s tambourine – rock & roll!

last updated: 10/03/05

Have Your Say

Breezy boden
basic guitarist will someone please show me how to play the into to thankyou Im just a strummer, no use at all. breezyboden@btinternet.com

bigmac
led zep rock and i respect anyone trying to perform their music

ocker poroud
you rock i hope you will great................................................................

JAMES WILKINSON
HAVING READ YOUR REVEIW ON BOOT-LED-ZEPPELIN. I FOUND THAT HAVING SEEN THEM LIVE AT A ZEP CONVENTION IN CROYDEN A FEW YEARS AGO, WITH SEVERAL OTHER ZEP TRIBUTS ACTS, ALTHOUGH BEING DRESSED AND SOUNDING ALMOST NOTE FOR NOTE LIKE THE REAL LED ZEPPELIN. I FEEL THAT THE TRUE ESSENCE OF LED ZEPPELIN WAS BEST CAPTURED BY A NORTHERN IRLAND BAND CALL "THE RUBBER PLANTS." WHO SHOWED A VERY HIGH LEVEL OF ENERGY AND POWER IN THER PERFORMANCE AND FOR ME CAPTURED THE TRUE MEANING OF ZEPPELIN. HAVIN IN MY VIEW GONE FOR THE APPROACH OF "PLAING THE MUSIC THEIR WAY" WITH MUCCH MORE EXCITMENT AND MAGIC I REALY THINK THAT THE RUBBER PLANTS DESERVE MUCH MORE RECOGNITION AND CREDIT FOR HOW THEY KEEP THE LED ZEPPELIN SPIRIT ALIVE.

Danger Mouse
This tribute band, however good they are will never excel to Led Zeppelin's heights. They may SOUND the same but they do not give off the strength, emotions and aura that the Original band did. Jimmy smiling and laughing over at Robert, making each other feel even more exciting and powerful. Led Zeppelin will still be the most phenominally greatest rock band in history......but any Tribute band will not. NO ONE ROCKS HARDER THAN LED ZEPPELIN!!

Nutmeg
Bob....music doesn't have to move on if it means forgetting the past! Influences from past and present shape the future of music, therefore, tribute bands keep past influences alive! When that's influences from bands like Zeppelin, Beatles, Queen, Cream, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan...you shouldn't brush good tribute bands aside.

Nat
Martin has a good point about original bands but we are not talking about that now are we!! We are commenting on Boot-Led-Zeppelin!! For those who haven't seen them you don't know what you are missing! They are genuinely awesome! They work really hard and deserve all the praise and publicity they can get!!! Pat&Steve are right to say that when you close your eyes they sound like the real thing....Martin you should check them out man!

stephen
I thought they were amazing , as I saw them last year at town hall. They played there music to highest standards. really really enjoyed that night if Robert plant and Jimmy Page could see those guys they would be very impressed. rock on lads!

Bob
I agree with martin. Downstairs at the 3BS that night there where 2 great local bands. Libor spacek and Broken Jack. Both are far more deserving of press coverage than a covers band no matter how good they are. Music has to move on!

Mushroom Mike
Boot Led Zeppelin were fantastic - I know I was there. In response to Martin ; on the music pages in this website there is more on unsigned / nearly signed Berkshire acts than covers or tribute bands. Boot Led Zeppelin is made of musicians who make original music as well as play in covers bands. They do it very well and please large crowds. More power to them. I've seen many a band in Reading using covers in their electrics and acoustic sets.. but no one is having a pop at them...

Patricia & Steve - Shinfield
It was magic, exciting and hot. I closed my eyes and thought Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, JP Jones and John Bonham were on stage. Only the real thing could have been as good.

Martin
How about more on hard working original local bands rather than raking-it-in off-of-the-backs of others tribute bands? Don't get me wrong - Boot-Led are probably excellent but likewise probably don't need exposure like the plethora of potentially future signable ORIGINAL bands in reading.