Robert Plant: "I Almost Walked"

Robert Plant said this week that he almost quit Led Zeppelin after the death of his son, Karak, in 1977 according to Contact Music:

"All of us had been thinking about what would happen next because the illusion had run its course.

"I'd already lost my boy and then you think, 'I really have to decide what to do.' I applied to become a teacher in the Rudolf Steiner education system. I was accepted to go to teacher training college in 1978. I was really quite keen to just walk."

It was John Bonham, according to Plant, who convinced him to stay with the band.

If you're ever wondering why Robert Plant wouldn't tour with a reformed Led Zeppelin after the 2007 02 reunion, there's a lot in that statement to explain why.




Meanwhile, Plant had a successful homecoming with his Band of Joy playing The Roundhouse Saturday as part of BBC2's Electric Proms. According to Dave Lewis at Tight But Loose:

This Radio 2 Electric Proms event can take its place right up there with the most special of occasions spent in his (Plant's) company.

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience: October 28, Kitchener, Ontario

“Kitchener,” says Jason Bonham from the stage, bowler hat much like his father would occasionally wear perched on his head, “is very special to me. The background picture on my phone is of my dad in Kitchener.”

John Bonham, Jason’s father and the Raison d’etre for the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience, visited Kitchener once as drummer of Led Zeppelin. On Nov 4, 1969 Led Zeppelin played the Kitchener auditorium to a “with it,“ crowd of 2,000 mostly college kids. “Coming into town,” Bonham continues with a laugh, “it doesn’t look like it’s changed much.”

Fourty-one years later, almost to the day, the crowd of 2,000 people ranging in age from pre-teen to people who might have seen the father in Kitchener, had a great time rocking out to the fathers music, the sons beat.

JBLZE ran through a three hour (with intermission) 20 song set that had fans stomping the floor boards of the usually staid Centre in the Square. From the beginning of John Bonham’s famous Rock and Roll introduction to the final lick from Rush’s Tom Sawyer (an add on to the end of Whole Lotta Love for JBLZE’s Canadian crowds) the band was on a rocking journey and the fans happily came along for the ride.

Very little attempt was made to be Led Zeppelin outside of guitarist Tony Catania efforts to channel Jimmy Page. Bald-headed singer James Dylan neither looks, nor particularly sings like Robert Plant: Dylan has a rasp in his voice Plant never had and lacked Plant’s tendency to miss the occasional note completely. Bassist Michael Devin’s long flowing black hair was more Page than Jones, he moved and jumped about the stage more in fitting with his next gig as Whitesnake bassist than John-Paul Jones’ less robust stage presence. Utility man Stephen LeBlanc, who handled Jones’ keyboard duties, as well as some guitar and lap-steel guitar, smiled rather too much to do an effective John Paul Jones imitation.

The visual representation came from the video screens behind the drum set. They offered glimpses of home movies, pictures from the Bonham family album and on some numbers, a psychedelic backdrop to create atmosphere. Despite the pre-tour talk about the home movies making this more than just a Led Zeppelin tribute, it was it’s use for psychedelia when the screens were most effective.

The show was presented in two parts with a twenty minute intermission. Each half began with Bonham home movies and a Jason Bonham monologue. The beginning of the second half showed a video of young Jason Bonham doing a hip swinging, sexed up dance routine for his mother and father that was hilarious. A third monologue and video, prior to Stairway to Heaven, was on the 02 concert: “the greatest night of my (Bonham’s) life.”

When the band was playing, however, the screen was secondary, at least from my seats in the fifth row: perhaps farther back it took on greater importance. Personally, I had to keep reminding myself I’m supposed to watch the screen, not the guitar player right in front of me. However, a couple of screen moments bear comment:

During Thank You home movies were playing, likely the summer of 1980 vacation that Jason Bonham has mentioned in a few interviews. At one point, John Bonham is looking at the camera, filling the scene, for about ten seconds. During the songs quietest moment, Stephen LeBlanc quietly filling the air with organ and James Dylan plaintfully singing, “and so today my world it smiles, your hand in mine we walk the miles.” John Bonham looks down, Godlike from overhead, touches his thumb to his nose and wiggles his fingers mockingly.

The other was the show’s much talked about highlight, Moby Dick. Not being a fan of drum solos, except as a much needed bathroom break, I sat almost transfixed as Jason matched John Henry beat for beat, bass pedal roll for bass pedal roll. The screen offering sometimes dad, sometimes son and sometimes both in split screen made an extremely effective ending to the first half of the show, and gave he band their first of many standing ovations on the night.

But this show was about the music, and it was in the music that it stood out. Jason Bonham put together a very good band and on this night, they were on fire. It felt, seemed from close in, that it was a special night. Some early reviews had suggested flaws, and video showed this to be true. Not on this night. The band, simply put, was white hot.

They were spot on: not note perfect for the records spot on, but an in the moment perfection where even the wrong notes sounded right. They nailed the evenings second song, Celebration Day as it was done on The Song Remains the Same, and you just knew it would be a good night. Celebration Day was always to my ears a hit and miss song for Zeppelin. Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience played it bang on. A good start that got better. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You was spine tingling good, Catania bouncing back and forth between electric and his stand mounted acoustic. What is and What Should Never Be was outstanding.

But the shows real highlights were in the second half. Good Times, Bad Times flat out rocked, Since I’ve Been Loving You steamed, Cantania having his moment and nailing it, The Ocean was a blast of good fun, I’m Gonna Crawl heart wrenching. When The Levee Breaks was magical, Jason leaving the drumming duties to his father early in the song: “It’s such a simple beat, but such a difficult feel,” Bonham tells the crowd beforehand. On Stairway to Heaven Catania again pulled out the acoustic guitar stand, and they played a variation of studio and live version that left you wondering why Page never thought of taping his acoustic to a mic stand. Kashmir, which Bonham declared was, “my favourite song, period,” had everyone on their feet.

It was, in all, a very good show. Great music, done by a band that was good enough to do it, and having a very on night. Never mind the story-line that went with it, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience put on a great rock concert.

It’s safe to suggest the feeling is mutual, the Bonham’s are very special to Kitchener.

[caption id="attachment_415" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="Tony Catania plays Stairway to Heaven"][/caption]

Setlist: Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience:
Centre in the Sqaure, Kitchener, Ontario
October 28, 2010

Set One
Video
Rock and Roll
Celebration Day
Black Dog (w/Bring it on Home intro)
----------Jason Bonham Monologue----------------
You’re Time is Gonna Come
Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You
-----------Bonham Chatter--------------
Dazed and Confused
What is and What Should Never Be
I Can’t Quit You Baby
-----------Bonham Chatter--------------
Thank You
Moby Dick (drum solo with” John Bonham)

----------------------Intermission------------------------

Set Two
Video
Good Times, Bad Times
How Many More Times
Since I’ve Been Loving You
When the Levee Breaks (“With” John Bonham)
The Ocean
Over the Hills and Far Away
I’m Gonna Crawl
------Video - 02 concert Dec 2007 ------------
Stairway to Heaven
Kashmir
-----------------Encore--------------
Whole Lotta Love (w/ Tom Sawyer)

Sons of Albion MP3

The band Sons of Albion, fronted by Robert Plant's son Logan, have a new single, Blackened Heart.  A free MP3 can be downloaded here until November 2nd.

Meanwhile, Sons of Albion are in concert on Nov 5th at the P.C. Richard and Son Theater at 32 Avenue of the Americas (at Canal Street), in New York's TriBeCa neighbourhood. Tickets can be won from Q104.

Q104 will also be streaming the show live on Friday Night.

JBLZE Date added

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience has added another Canadian date to their current tour. Vancouver on Monday November 29th is now on the roster.

Look for more dates to be added into December as the show is gaining momentum.

BCC Returns to the Studio in January

The story that Black Country Communion would go back in the studio soon  is true. According to Glenn Hughes, as posted on his Facebook Page:

Studio is booked in LA for BCC 2 in January... good times people... its all about the music... GH

Hopefully a tour will follow later in 2011.

Robert Plant Performs Monkey

The Guardian's Music Blog today begins a 5 part video series on Robert Plant's London HMV Forum concert on September 2.

Click here to watch Plant and the Band of Joy perform Monkey off the Band of Joy disk.

Here's the setlist from that show:

1. Down to the Sea
2. Monkey
3. House Of Cards
4. Please Read the Letter
5. Misty Mountain Hop
6. Rich Woman
7. Somewhere Trouble Don't Go (Buddy Miller on lead vocals)
8. Twelve Gates to the City / Wade in the Water / In My Time of Dying
9. All The King's Horses
10. A Satisfied Mind
11. Move Up
12. Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down
13. Central Two-O-Nine
14. Angel Dance
15. Houses of the Holy
16. Tall Cool One
17. Over The Hills And Far Away
18. Gallows Pole

********Encore********
19. Harms Swift Way
20. Rock and Roll
21. And We Bid You Goodnight

*****************

Update: Tuesday Oct 26th: follow the link above fro access to Monkey, plus today's video, "Harm's Swift Way," from the same show.

The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience: James Dylan

It all starts with the love of a girl. Actually, the love of two girls:

When I was 6 I had a crush on a girl named Susan O’Connell who loved David Cassidy… I figured the best way to her heart was through music.

Thus begins the musical journey of James Dylan, lead singer in Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience.

In 2007 there would be another girl, “a goddess named Averelle,” now his fiancé. He recorded Hey, Hey, What Can I Do for her, and posted it on YouTube. It was the beginning of two beautiful relationships: James and Averelle; the musician and YouTube.

The YouTube clips grew and he contacted Japanese guitarist and YouTube contributor, Jun626, about a collaboration. Virtual Zeppelin, a project whereby five musicians, scattered around Japan, USA and Canada record their parts separately onto video, was born. The resulting videos are, of course, distributed on YouTube.

When James began recording with Virtual Zeppelin in 2008, how could he know that anybody other than his family would even watch the videos? But they did, by the thousands. Included among those who watched was Jason Bonham:

Jason had seen videos of me singing with “Virtual Zeppelin” on YouTube and… called me the next day and we had a good long chat about music.

Later Bonham would call him again. He was doing a project, and would he like to sing in it?

Born on Halloween 1966, Dylan grew up in Stoughton, Wisconsin. His family moved to the east coast, where he discovered he could sing like Robert Plant in high school:

I played guitar and my band used to play a lot of Led Zeppelin… none of the singers we had could ever sing like Robert Plant. At one of our rehearsals I was trying to show our singer, Joe, the correct way to phrase one of the lines in a Led Zeppelin song. The guys were like WTF?

The singer/guitarist, who also plays bass, mandolin and drums, has played in bands ever since.

He would later move to Virginia, and settled down with a wife and two children. He performed as a professional musician for many years, twice taking bands out on the road, but gave it up when his children, now young adults, were little: “I didn’t want to be on the road while they were growing up,” he says. He worked for a political consultant, a job which he still has.

Dylan is very excited about his new project, Principle of Alchemy. As well, he still performs with Virtual Zeppelin and other YouTube band JFJ.

James and Averelle have four children between them: besides James’ two Averelle has two young girls from a previous marriage.

So James, what's your plans for after the tour?

"I look forward to spending time with my family. I miss them all very much and will be glad to be home."





*************
Update: Oct 26: Edited for accuracy.

John Paul Jones at Mansons Guitar Show

John Paul Jones has made an appearance. He gave a casual performance at the Mansons Guitar Show in Exeter UK this weekend. A short fan shot video of poor quality is the first visual evidence of the proceedings:



Here's a longer, and better quality shot of Jones at the same event last year.

Black Country Communion II

Is a second Black Country Communion album in the works?

During an encounter with fan Wyatt Brake before his Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience show last night in Merrilville, Indiana, Jason Bonham reportedly told him that a second Black Country Communion album was being planned.

Although the conversation was brief and hurried, Bonham indicated that BCC would be heading into the studio in the new year (or, possibly, releasing the album in the new year) before taking the band on the road. Brake wrote in the Led Zeppelin mailing list For Badgeholders Only (FBO):

...it sounds like the band wants to have two albums' worth of material under their belt before they do a full-scale tour... this triggered an immediate comparison to Robert Plant's decision not to tour until 1983, after completing both Pictures at Eleven and Principle of Moments.

One may recall Plant's reasoning for not touring after Pictures at Eleven was so he would have a full shows worth of material to do, and not have to rely on any Led Zeppelin songs. Perhaps Black Country Communion feels the same way about playing Led Zeppelin/Deep Purple/Joe Bonamassa songs.

Lid Magazine: Jimmy Page Edition

About a month ago I was perusing the usual Zeppelin related web sites and newsgroups, when I noticed Lid Magazine was putting out an edition with a Jimmy Page feature. What’s more, they were offering the magazine with a choice of four covers: Jimmy Page, Marlon Brando, Andy Warhol and Daido Moriyama. By the time postage was in and rates were exchanged, it cost me $31 Canadian.

I closed my laptop and thought to myself, did I really just pay thirty-bucks for a magazine?

I did. It arrived yesterday and what a magazine it is.

Lid Magazine is a fine arts magazine, featuring never seen before photographs and art. It is entirely in black and white and printed on photographic paper. It is, in short, a beautiful magazine. The all black and white gives it an elegant presentation, the pictures (and it is mostly pictures) are outstanding. If you, like me, think the world has lost some dignity and elegance in the last 30 or 40 years, you will love this magazine.

Lid Eleven features photographic stories on each of the cover subjects, with few words to let you know what you are seeing. In Jimmy Page you get a double feature: a piece on his new pictorial autobiography, Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page, and an interview of Page by photo editor Dave Brolan.

The interview with Page is strictly related to his book, the choice of photographs, the process involved &tc. It is also the longest textual portion of the magazine. It is a magazine of few words, and the majority of them are in the Brolan/Page interview.

The feature on Page’s book is the meat of this edition, where this fan gets his $30 worth of magazine. Lid is a natural fit for a feature on Page’s upcoming Genesis Publication book. The high quality photographic reproduction on thick paper gives a hint of what the Genesis publication will be like. The twenty-one photographs, plus proof sheet from a Yardbirds photo session, are all new and of stunning quality. Favourites: Oakland ‘77 playing the acoustic, with cigarette (below); same show holding the double neck over his head; 1975 shot of him playing his Theremin; a 1977 shot of him “in the garden behind the Swan Song office”; an alternate take of the famous Knebworth photo shoot; and two backstage shots, at different venues, in his white poppy suit.

Two photographers whose pictures are included, Michael Zagaris and Kate Simon each pen a short piece on meeting and photographing Jimmy Page.

If you can find it, Lid Eleven is a great magazine and well worth picking up.

Deborah Bonham at The Groove Remains the Same

On Sept 25th, the 30th anniversary of John Bonham's passing, a concert in his memory was put together in LA. Some of the worlds top drummers got together and played Led Zeppelin classics with a house band that includes Michael Devin and Stephen LeBlanc, now currently on tour with Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience.

One of the nights highlights was Bonham's sister Deborah killing on a version of Since I've Been Loving You.

Of note, that's Devin behind Deborah Bonham on the left, and LeBlanc on keyboards. The guitar player is event organizer Brian Tichy, the new drummer with Devin in Whitesnake. (He's a pretty good guitar player for a drummer). Salty Dog's Khurt Maier joined them on drums.



Man, the girl can sing. As one TouTube commenter put it, "I had no idea..."

And yes, we're having fun yet.

Ritchie York Reviews JBLZE

The Ritchie York review of the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience premier concert in Dawson Creek is now on the Rolling Stone Website.

The money quotes:

Led Zeppelin's magic was in effect... much more than just another tribute band: the Bonham bloodline carries its own responsibilities... With state-of-the-art lighting and effects, dazzling video treatments and a crisp, thundering sound...

In short, he liked it, he really liked it.

Two things though: It was waaaay too short and Stephen LeBlanc is playing lap-steel, not pedal-steel.

Otherwise, another strong review of the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience, this time by a respected chronicler of Led Zeppelin.

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience: Setlist

I’ve been gleaming together as much as I can of a setlist for JBLZE. If your going to see Jason Bonham’s LZE, here’s what you can expect to see.

Edmonton, Saturday Oct 16, 2010

Rock and Roll
Celebration Day
I Can’t Quit You Babe
Your Time is Gonna Come
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Dazed and Confused
Lemon Song
Moby Dick

----- Intermission* -----

Good Times, Bad Times**
Since I’ve Been Loving You
Black Dog
When the Levee Breaks
The Ocean
Over the Hills and Far Away
I’m Gonna Crawl
Stairway to Heaven
Kashmir

---- Encore ----

Immigrant Song
Whole Lotta Love

The setlist is more fluid than might be expected. Some songs seem to move around a bit, and expect others to be added at a later date.***

*Thank You is in the first set, but placing is undetermined
**Good Times, Bad Times was added Oct 12th in Edmonton, the fourth show of the tour.
*** Tangerine is a possibility to be added to later shows.

Stephen LeBlanc, How's the Tour Going?

Last couple of shows have been fantastic

I'll say:



Good Times, Bad Times was from Winnipeg last night. After a brief intermission, it begins the second set.

Later in the set:



A couple of very solid reviews have also come in. First the Regina Leader-Post has a review of Saturday nights show in the town Keith Richards said "rhymes with fun".

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience was an entertaining show, though it obviously paled in comparison to the real thing. Yet, that was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, as Bonham smiled largely and had his voice break multiple times when reminiscing about his father.

In reality, the night was a celebration of a deceased father and a son's need to reconnect with what had been lost. In fact, that was never more clear than in Bonham's wise words at the end of the night.

"Thanks. You've made this a very special night. Remember ---love the ones you're with."

Saturday in Edmonton was reviewed in the Edmonton Sun by somebody who knows the real thing:

I saw Zeppelin twice, in 1977 and 2007. And while this was no substitute, it was close enough for rock ’n’ roll. In fact, these guys probably play Zeppelin tunes with more reverence than Zeppelin did in later years...

So who cares if they're a Zep tribute band? They might just be the best one on the planet. After all, one of them has actually played with Zeppelin. And if you closed your eyes and listened very on Sunday, the tune would come to you at last. You could easily forget you were an old IT guy and imagine you were still a young hippie, savouring the real thing back in the day.

*Both videos are professionally shot and released by JBLZE.

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience: Stephen LeBlanc

On the blogs that have attempted to track the musicians in Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience (JBLZE), Stephen LeBlanc has been noted as a keyboard , second guitar and steel guitar player. He describes himself as a multi instrumentalist who does “vocals, keyboards, various guitars, bass, some drums.”

He first came to the publics attention on alternative band A Fine Frenzy’s first album, 2007’s One Cell in the Sea, where he is listed as playing piano, keyboards and vibraphone (a keyboard like percussion instrument), although he himself says he was the piano player on “many of her signature recordings.“

"I'm proud of what I accomplished in that project,“ he says. “I had a lot to do with creating her sound, even more so live.“

On their second album, last years Bomb in a Bird Cage, he is again credited as a keyboard player: piano, keyboards, Hammond Organ and Hammond B3.

While keyboards is his primary instrument, steel guitar is the family business.

Thirty Seven year old Stephen LeBlanc came from what biographers like to call, a musical family. His father was pedal steel guitar player Leo LeBlanc. Leo LeBlanc played with Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Mac Davis, Carole King. Melissa Manchester, The Osmonds, Merle Haggart, Clarence Carter and The Wallflowers among others. He was a member of Walker’s touring band for three years, and Prines for two. He also played on many sessions at Stax records, Muscle Shoals and Sun Records.

Stephen told the following story on a pedal steel website last year:

Dylan and the Wallflowers were showcasing and playing gigs looking for a new record deal. Leo sat in with the band one night, everyone loved the sound, he was invited to sit in on more gigs and eventually became a full-fledged member of the band. The Wallflowers signed with Interscope and started recording the album (Bringing Down the Horse).

While working on the Wallflowers album, his father was diagnosed with cancer. He died  in 1995, age 57. Jakob Dylan dedicated The Wallflowers album Bringing Down the Horse is to Leo LeBlanc.

Born in 1972 in Memphis, Stephen began noodling on the family piano when he was 5. His “musical family,” included some older brothers. His first band was with the older brothers, playing songs such as Free’s Alright Now.

When Stephen was 11 the family moved to Nashville. He enrolled in the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt, “were Roland Schneller taught him how to keep from damaging his fingers while playing fast.”

The family later moved to Waltham MA, where he took weekend classes at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Soon the family was on the move again, from Atlantic to Pacific: Massachusetts to Los Angeles. Stephen was 15 and enrolled in the LA Jazz Workshop, where he got to play with Louis Bellson, something he describes as, “one of the most amazing experiences of his life.”

He then went to the Dick Grove School of Music were he was taught how to “learn any song faster than most anyone else.” He played $50 sessions, in top 40 country bands, with R&B singers and heavy metal bands, but success eluded him.

Stephen did a lot of work with hip-hop rap artists during the 90’s, “making beats and playing keyboards.” He toured with a Tex-Mex country band, Rio Grande and toured with his dad on a project for Curb Records called Jackson Claypool.

At 23 he quit the music business, quit piano, bought a guitar and took an office job. Married and the parent of one son, now 7, Stephen spent his time doing his best Hendrix impression and recording. During his ten years in the corporate jungle, he recorded his first album, SLEB (Stephen LeBlanc’s Eclectic Band), never expecting to make any money off the project.

He is a big jazz fan and had his own jazz fusion group, as well as performed in many jazz gigs. He has even occasionally gigged as a drummer.

Stephen LeBlanc was recommended to Jason Bonham for the Led Zeppelin Experience tour by his friend, bass player Michael Devin. He and Devin have previously done a blues project together and Devin has played a gig with A Fine Frenzy. Of course, they currently play together in Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience.

On playing Led Zeppelin music, LeBlanc says:

My personal connection to Led Zeppelin is mostly as a huge fan of the music, my older brother and I have listened to everything Zeppelin we could find since we were babies. I say this because, though my professional experience is very different from Zeppelin, I never stopped listening or being inspired by their music. JPJ is easily my biggest influence when it comes to rock keyboards.

The tour is going beautiful so far.

The Led Zeppelin Experience finishes off it's Western Canada leg in Regina Saskatchewan tonight, and Winnipeg Manitoba tomorrow.

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience in Edmonton

Fan reviews of Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience have been slow coming in. Christopher Zuk posted one to the Led Zeppelin mailing list For Badgeholders Only (FBO). He has graciously allowed me to repost his words here:

I thought I would share my experience in seeing JBLZE on Tuesday night here in Edmonton, AB.

Overall I was very impressed, the band itself are amazing musicians. The setlist itself is (also) amazing. Some personal favourites are I'm Gonna Crawl, Stairway To Heaven, Thank You, Kashmir. Plus Jason sharing personal family footage was incredible.

I highly recommend seeing this show if it comes to you're town.

Of note about the Edmonton show, Good Times, Bad Times was performed for the first time on the tour that night.

First Review In

Reviews of Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience have been in short supply so far. The Omega, a student newspaper for Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops BC may be the first full review.

Reviewing the Kamloops show last Sunday, the tours third, Eric Zimmer concluded it was "a true tribute to one of the most well-known, respected bands of all time."

The review gave some detail about what fans will see when the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience comes to their town:

The band continued to pump up the crowd and when they played “When the Levy Breaks” the crowd rose to its feet and got loud. As a tribute to his dad, this song began with Jason telling the crowd that though the drum beat sounded simple enough, it was actually quite tricky because there “was a certain groove my dad had when he played this song that just can’t be matched.”

The song began with an audio track of John Bonham playing the drums while the band played along live on stage. About halfway through the song, Jason, who hadn’t been drumming up to this point in the song, started drumming.

Here's a clip of When The Levee Breaks from last night in Edmonton

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience

First video evidence from the tour opener in Dawson Creek BC last night.



Who's playing with him? How about these names you've never heard of:




************************* Spoiler Alert **************

Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, Keyboards: Stephen LeBlanc

Bass: Michael Devin of Whitesnake

Vocals: James Dylan of Virtual Zeppelin

Lead Guitar: Tony Catania

************************* Spoiler Alert **************

Update: Tony Catania, lead guitar, added.

A new video of When The Levee Breaks has been uploaded.



**********************
Update 2: Stephen LeBlanc plays lap steel guitar on this tour, not a pedal steel as originally noted.

*********************

Thanks to Lemon Squeezings, who spent the night leaking the news.