Gig review: LED ZEPPELIN MASTERS – Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 13 April 2019

April 14th, 2019 by jason

The Led Zeppelin Masters (also known as the Zep Boys in their native Australia) – vocalist Vince Contarino, guitarist Tzan Niko, bassist Warwick Cheatle and drummer Bradley Polain – were back for their second UK tour with the 35-piece Black Heart Orchestra following a successful debut tour in 2017.

Having seen them on that tour in the prestigious surroundings of the London Palladium, this time I was lucky enough to see them perform in Led Zeppelin’s home territory of the Midlands (okay Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were both born down south). Plus the Led Zeppelin Masters were celebrating fifty years since ‘Led Zeppelin’ and ‘II’ were released.

After a short orchestral intro (according to Vince Contarino 95% of the orchestra were from Birmingham), it was straight into the riffing monster that is ‘Good Times Bad Times’ and with barely a second to draw breath, we were into ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’.

Vince Contarino really gets into the music and can hit those high notes with passion and power. Equally as impressive is the guitar playing of Tzan Niko, who recreates Jimmy Page’s original guitar soloing with ease, yet no flash onstage, just studied concentration and the look of someone who is having a ball playing these classic songs.

Songs like ‘The Rain Song’, ‘Kashmir’ (prefaced by a solo violin) and ‘All Of My Love’ really benefit from the full orchestra. On the originals John Paul Jones would be relying on a mellotron for the string effects, here the Black Dog Orchestra, ably conducted by Martin Reilly, take it to a whole new level.

Impressive to say the least and never cheesy in the way say Hooked On Classics was. Even if you despair of tribute bands Led Zeppelin Masters have worked their musical magic on the Led Zeppelin classics and even better they don’t dress up like the band they are paying tribute to, one thing that personally puts me off some tribute acts.

It shows the strength of the Led Zeppelin songs as they close act 1 with ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll’, a song used by many bands to close their shows. Instead the encores tonight were ‘Immigrant Song’ and a rousing send off with ‘Whole Lotta Love’, a riff so good they used it as the ‘Top Of The Pops’ theme for many years.

The audience loved every minute of the show, the only drawback being the fixed seating which didn’t allow much audience participation down the front. A fantastic night of Led Zeppelin classics made that extra bit special with the orchestra.

Review by Jason Ritchie

Photos by Martin David Porter

Interview with Vince Contarino

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)