Going to Q107

Last Friday the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience was here in Toronto in advance of their show Saturday night. They appeared on Kim Mitchell's afternoon drive time radio show, where they played Going to California:



Nice mandolin playing Stephen LeBlanc!

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For those unfamiliar, Kim Mitchell was the frontman for a seventies band called Max Webster, and had a successful solo career in the 80's. Unfortunately, seventies rock star, successful 80's solo career in Canada means day job in 2011. Rock and roll just doesn't pay the same up here as it does elsewhere.

Not being a fan, one of my favourite moments on his radio show was when he was interviewing Robert Plant during the Mighty Rearranger tour, and Plant gave a classic sarcastic response to what he perceived to be a stupid question.

Robert Plants Adds Toronto Show

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy have added a second Toronto Show.

The Band of Joy are set to bring their North-Eastern American tour to Toronto's Sony Centre on Saturday January 22nd. The second show will be the following night, January 23rd, at the same venue.

The Sony Centre is formally the O'Keefe Centre where Led Zeppelin played in November 1969. Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience also stopped there in October.

Tickets for the 2nd Robert Plant and the Band of Joy Toronto Show go on sale the Saturday, December 11th.

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience Tour Over

Around the time this post loads onto the WordPress server, Jason Bonham, James Dylan, Tony Catania, Michael Devin and Stephen LeBlanc will be taking the final bows of the Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience Tour. Covering 38 shows in almost two months, three different runs into Canada, three shows in the Toronto Vacinity and a show at the Best Buy theatre in Times Square, it was, by all accounts it was a successful tour. The show got consistently strong reviews and blew audiences away.

Early on, the fan reviews were luke-warm. By the time the the show hit Milwaukee on October 20th, the band seemed to be gelling and the word was out that this was a very good show. Then Montreal happened:

I sit for a moment to take in how great the show was tonight in Montreal ! Not because I feel we played any better than any other night but tonight the crowd was the highlight for me !! Never have I played to such a fantastic audience , I'm still shaking inside and feel overwhelmed . Thank you thank you thank you !!!!

Stephen LeBlanc was just as enthused as his boss:

The soccer crowd response we got in Montreal last night can't be a fluke. Awesome crowd, great show

Bass player Michael Devin also called it, "such an amazing night."

The tour was on a roll, and the next bunch of Canadian shows, in Quebec City, Hamilton, Kitchener and Toronto all got a strong response. Crossing back into America, they started November in Boston, travelled the North East, into Florida, across the Southwest and back up the west Coast. They played San Fransisco the night before the anniversary of the Last Waltz before finishing in Portland, Seattle, Bellingham and Vacnouver BC, a mere 740 miles from where they began in Dawson Creek BC.

Jason Bonham put together a top notch band, who did the hard work necessary to pull off an outstanding show for thousands of fans across North America. Next up for Jason Bonham is two shows with Black Country Communion in late December, and then back into the studio with the supergroup for BCCII. Look for a spring tour.

Them Crooked Vultures: Sound Academy Toronto

Them Crooked Vultures, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Foo Fighter's/Nirvana's Dave Grohl, Queen of a Stones Age's Josh Homme, and Alain Johannes, stepped on the Sound Academy stage in Toronto without fanfare or introduction, and spent an hour and a half blowing the roof off the place. Loud, tight and played at a pace that can rightfully be described as frantic, Them Crooked Vultures didn't let up from beginning to end.

The show began with Elephants, shifting time signatures throughout, Them Crooked Vultures announced immediately they weren't just another band. John Paul Jones stepped out with an 8 string bass, but didn't stay with it long as he changed instruments with every song: the 8 string, a regular bass, a slide bass, a keytar, piano, and a baritone jogamathingy, complete with skyward facing strings and built in TV set (lest he miss his favorite soccer team?).

Jones played  with a relaxed calm that belied the thunderous power emanating from himself and his band-mates. Looking at his ease and enjoying himself, Jones even stepped to the microphone for a call and response type verse. His piano solo was shorter than fans of his earlier work are used to, but satisfactorily familiar for that. I couldn't help but wonder if he would call his new piano solo two-bits, as his ex-band mates had stolen no quarter from him in an earlier incarnation.

Unlike Jones' calm detached concentration, drummer Dave Grohl was channeling the Muppets Animal: head bobbing, hair flying, sticks pounding in a frantic blast of timekeeping. Unfortunately, Grohl eschewed a drum riser (or at lease a riser of any significance), making him virtually invisible over heads in the packed house. That aside, his playing was top notch, showing no signs of rust for having spent the past ten years fronting the Foo Fighters instead of drumming.  It's not easy to keep in drummer shape, but Grohl kept it up for the full set, with no breath catching ballads to be found. Alain Johannes filled out the rhythm section with solid guitar duties, as well as playing bass when Jones' played his horizontal slide TV.

As a guitar player I can say with authority it would be a dream to play in front of such a rhythm section, but at the end of the day, Them Crooked Vultures are a Josh Homme vehicle as much as anything else. He fronts the band, he sings, he plays lead guitar. However, Homme's vocal was lower in the mix than is usual, and the vocals got lost in the thunderclap rhythm section. Technical nit-pickery aside, Them Crooked Vultures blew away a jam packed house at The Sound Academy, a startling achievement considering none of the music is available for public consumption as of yet.

Setlist (from setlist.fm)

1. Elephants


2. Dead End Friends


3. Scumbag Blues


4. Gunman


5. Caligulove


6. New Fang


7. Bandoliers


8. Interlude w/ ludes


9. Reptiles


10. Daffodils


11. Mind Eraser


12. Nobody Loves Me


13. Warsaw

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Notes

No introduction necessary: Singer Homme introduced Dave Grohl and Alain Johannes, but when it came to Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, he merely pointed to Jones side of the stage before the crowd roared in approval. Despite the lack of formal introduction, by evenings end chants of "John Paul Jones, John Paul Jones..." could be heard between songs.

The very strict no camera policy seen at some TCV shows seemed to relax on this evening, possibly because the size of the crowd made any form of enforcement impossible. That said, heavy use of back lighting by the band made taking decent pictures a challenge.

A variety of t-shirts, as well as a touque style hat was available for sale.