Back to Basics: Tested Led Zeppelin ingredients wow Aud crowd

October 1995; reviewed By Dan Herbeck

A VERY good thing happened to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant sometime between last March, when they played a concert in Toronto, and Thursday night, when they played War Memorial Auditorium.

Somehow, the two veteran rock stars came to grips with the fact that they will always be best remembered for the music they made in late 1960s and the 1970s with their legendary band, Led Zeppelin. When Page and Plant took their "No Quarter" tour through Toronto's SkyDome, they almost seemed embarrassed by their old songs. They drastically changed the arrangements and refused to do many of their most popular numbers.

In the Aud Thursday night, it was a different story. With a few exciting new wrinkles, this was Led Zeppelin, all over again.

No, they still didn't play "Stairway To Heaven." But this time, Page and Plant featured songs like "Heartbreaker," "Whole Lotta Love" and quite a few others from their first four landmark albums. And this time, the duo appeared to be proud of the old songs, not ashamed.

The result was a loud, wild, hard-rocking show that absolutely delighted a sellout audience for two hours and 15 minutes. No exaggeration -- the screaming, foot-stomping, mostly over-30 crowd was one of the most zealous ever seen in these parts.

Even Thurman Thomas, the Buffalo Bills' sourpuss running back, seemed to be having a good time.

Just about every one of the 20 songs the band played was a Zeppelin song. But this was no mere "oldies" show.

While Page's atomic guitar solos and Plant's soaring voice are still the focal points, this concert was something really different. It had to be the first time any rockers played Buffalo backed by an eight-piece Egyptian band, a 20-piece symphony orchestra and a guy wailing away on an 11th century British instrument called the hurdy-gurdy.

Sometimes, as many as 34 musicians were on the stage. It may sound cumbersome, but it worked. The strings gave a bittersweet backdrop to the great blues number, "Since I've Been Loving You," and on the powerful finale, "Kashmir," the wall of sound was downright stunning.

Without the big backup group, the band sparkled on a blistering version of "Dancing Days," with Page's stinging guitar work leading the charge. Plant's high-pitched voice grates the nerves at times, but he is amazing in his way. Even when he wails like a cat in heat, his voice never seems to break.

The sound quality was excellent -- in fact, my ears are still ringing. And the overhead video screens were a nice accommodation to those in the (relatively) cheap seats.

Give Page and Plant credit. They may be rock dinosaurs, but they are not playing it safe on this tour.
The folks who plunked down their $38 for a ticket seemed more than happy with the result.

Opening the show were the Badlees, an impressive five-piece band from Selinsgrove, Pa. Lead by the strong vocals of Pete Palladino, they sound a bit like Hootie with a different, harder-rocking set of blowfish.

The Badlees are big on power chords, but they occasionally put a different spin on their sound with mandolin and harmonica accompaniment.

Comments

[Bill Basehart]

I do not see every concert that comes through town, but I will say that the Page/Plant concert was the best hard rock concert I ever experienced. The hurdy gurdy could never be replicated from that evening.

[Dave Deia]

Wow,you're asking us to take out the shovels to dig up memories of our Buffalo Past and rock concerts. This one was one of the strongest sounds I remember. The late 60's had some excellent shows with Jetrho Tull, Grand Funk Railroad and CS&N. I mention this from time to time doing my internet radio show from Arizona on kfhx.com Thursday nights. Buffalo keep Rockin'!