Zoso @ the Variety Playhouse

The fact that a tribute band packed in as many people as they did in their two night stint at the Variety Playhouse, is a testament to Zeppelin and the band's ability to capture their magic. The first night the band Zeppelin's first four albums, not pulling a Phish and playing them front to back in their entirety, but blending the material in a way similar to how the real band arranged their set lists.

Their John Paul Jones, was equally skilled at pulling off the keyboard parts, making the jammy "Song Remains the Same" styled version of "No Quarter. But while we are talking "Song Remains the Same" it was one of the last songs I expected for them to play off of "Houses of the Holy" and along side "No Quarter it proved to be one of the shows brightest moments.

John Mcdaniel's Jimmy Page reminded you that even as charismatic as Robert Plant was on stage, Jimmy Page was up in their fans faces. John struck all the classic Page poses that have adorned posters for years, and also took on the feat of replicating the rock god guitar heroics. It seemed his tone could have held more bite and perhaps some of it was in the mix, other wise he was a satisfying Page.

 Matt Jernigan filled the slot of the golden god, well his voice fared the best on "Ten Years Gone" because for me Robert Plant might be known for his mighty upper register, but it was his more subtle touches and use of melody to expand the dynamics of their songs , that really made Zeppelin stand out from their peers at the time, many singers like Ian Gillian to Rob Halford could throw their voices up into the rock yodel, but the attention to detail Plant gave more sedate sections is where other singers might not be able to capture his feel. Though often very Coverdale in tonal quality, Jernigan knew how to serve the songs and when to go into Plant's more add libbed vocal scats.  

It never struck me how popular "Moby Dick" was until seeing it preformed l never realized how popular it was, as  drum solos have never really been my thing, however Zeppelin came from the era where such decadence was showcased, and Greg Thompson, who capture both the primal nature of Bonham's vulgar displays of prowess in this regard as well as his innovative touch. You can tell he understood Bonham was influenced by jazz drummers the likes of Gene Krupa, which the first part of the legendary solo gave a nod to.

They were not apologetic about what they were doing, they came out and take hold of the crowd in a similar , though less frenzied manner , but carried the Hammer of the Gods well. I do wish I had gotten the chance to catch the show in city other than Atlanta, as the demographics lent the crowd to  flourish  with ex-frat boy types, more than neo-hippies, the age range dipped down into plenty of high school kids proving Zeppelin's music lives on for generations. Sure some of these  former frat boy types who saw Zeppelin as the precursor to other party bands like Widespread Panic. In some ways I suppose this is true, as Zeppelin opened many door, never the less it was upfront where the drunken fools paraded for the bulk of the performance. But if you live in a more cultured part of the country make sure to catch Zoso when they bring this show through your town,as it comes the closest to recapturing the magick of the world's greatest rock band , which are big shoes to fill.  

KMFDM @ The Variety Playhouse

It was a younger crowd up front than I expected. The venue seemed a little odd the only other band of a heavy nature I had seen at the Variety was Anvil and the Swans. Anvil was during the promotion of their documentary and the Swans are heavy of a more sonic nature rather than metal. I liked what I caught of Chant's set and Legion Within seemed like they should have been playing Dragon-con instead. The song writing seemed to be the biggest point of contention as they did an alright job with their cover of Bowie's "Hello Space Boy". The vocals were the glaring weak spot as their front man was energetic enough and had a very dramatic prescience, his imitation of Peter Murphy was hampered by his lack of range in the upper register. However he did a pretty decent job handling Tim Skold's vocal parts on the song Anarchy when he came out toward the end of KMFDM's set.

KMFDM came on with a bang and never really let up. Their songs lend themselves to maintaining a high energy set. I noticed going back the next day to listen to the studio recording how much fuller the songs sound live, which is rare for an electronic act which are more notorious for sounding like karaoke to backing tracks. The live drums factored heavily into this as well as the dual guitar attack. The crowd's reaction was interesting to watch as the range of what the band does draws in every one from the headbangers who got the mosh pit going toward the end to the Black Number One set of girls who were just their to dance. There were a couple of screaming queens which ran with wrists flailing when the pit broke out , I mean what other crowd still has that kind of diversity ? The last time I saw Nine Inch Nails most of the crowd was drunken ex-frat boys. Granted the fact the we're playing with Jane's Addiction might have attributed to that and KMFDM had more songs in the clubs than on the radio waves most of their careers.

I do tend to forget at the Variety the monitor mix is rather low upfront so you are getting hit by stage volume alone when standing close to the stage making the vocals a little thinner than if i had been standing at the outer edge of the pit. Still I could hear the vocals when it mattered. They pumped out the new stuff I was curious to hear live like "Quake", "Kunst", "Ave Maria" and "Animal Out" as well as their solid older material such as "WWIII","Son of a Gun", "D.I.Y", "A Drug Against War","Hau Rock" and "Megalomaniac". I did think it was odd "Juke Joint Jezabel" was not played since it was a hit of sorts for them, but I don't have any emotional connection to it as most of the drugs I did to them back in the day were to the "Angst" album. The first time I ever free based heroin I was listening to it. But now with those days behind me the music stands on its own and I have less romantic drug attachments associated with it than I do say Skinny Puppy's "Last Rights" album. I think where KMFDM has the edge over a lot of their peers is hooky songwriting , where the fans appeared to have more of a connection to the songs than simply being lost in dancing or moshing.



Their light show was much different than the tempest of strobes and blanket of smoke. This time the neon lit glow of the midis work stations both used as pulpits of sorts. But they didn't rely on too many bells and whistles. The Female singer Lucria exuded the most show stealing charisma of the night. She prowled the stage with the intensity of a dominatrix but could shift into a flirtatious siren or cyborg go-go dancer. She could also add almost a metal like quality to her voice to match Sasha's more aggressive delivery.

If you are a fan of the band or just industrial strength Edm then you owe it to yourself to catch these guys live when they roll through your town. The tickets were very mid-priced and Chant sounded like they would have been worth the effort to have gotten their a little earlier. The band is also offering a chance to grab some of their more vintage merch from previous tours if you wanna roll up into goth night looking a little more legit, so bring an extra twenty bucks.