Purple Zeppelin captures hard rock bands’ legacies
Top tribute band Purple Zeppelin’s spectacular show, intensified by hypnotic surprises and light displays responding to the beat, landed on the Berkhamsted Civic Centre stage on 30 May. Lyn Drummond joined the theatrics.
The band, Nigel Owens (vocals), Mark Dawson (guitar), Mike Harlow (bass and backing vocals) and Tom Mitchell (drums) formed in 2010.
Mark and Mike were already involved in a Deep Purple tribute band and as Mike explained: ‘The idea to incorporate a Led Zeppelin set happened as we were both big Led Zeppelin fans. We have had a couple of changes in the band but Tom has been with us for over 10 years now and Nigel for around seven years full time.
‘We have all been involved in various bands over the years before coming together as Purple Zeppelin. We love being able to perform and share this music with the audience, mainly because we are true fans of this music too.
‘The last show that Led Zeppelin performed was in December 2007 at London’s O2 Arena. This was a one-off reunion as a tribute to Ahmet Ertegun – co-founder of Atlantis Records – to raise money for his music education charity. The place of drummer John Bonham was taken by his son Jason.
‘Deep Purple on the other hand have a new album out in July this year and are still touring, playing some UK dates in November this year.’
The band changes the sets regularly and tries to keep a core of the classic songs that people expect to hear plus a few surprises. ‘We only have an hour or so for each band and so rather than focusing on extended live versions of some songs we try to keep to ‘the best bits’ all the time,’ Mike added.
The ‘best bits’ like Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water and Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven earned resounding responses from the audience.
Smoke on the Water, from the 1972 studio album Machine Head, bases its lyrics on true events, chronicling the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. It is considered the band’s signature song.
When it was released 55 years ago, Stairway to Heaven’s lyrics were described as Led Zeppelin’s journey through desire, materialism and spiritual awakening.
A big surprise of the night for me was when Mark Dawson used a violin bow to play his guitar; the bow was illuminated in changing colours to highlight the spectacle and movement during the solo.
Mark was re-enacting Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page’s string bow performances which plied long, sustained notes out of his guitar. Using a violin bow on a guitar was something that Jimmy Page first did with a previous band, The Yardbirds, and developed further when that band evolved into Led Zeppelin.
Just as we thought the show had ended, Tom Mitchell silenced the crowd by diving deep into the drum solo, Moby Dick.
This was Zeppelin drummer John Bonham’s showcase song on early tours. His solo would last up to 20 minutes, while the rest of the band would leave the stage.
According to Bonham’s wife Pat, the song is named Moby Dick because his son asked him to play ‘the long song’. When John asked why, the boy answered, ‘It’s big like Moby.’
Contact Maggie Procopi at info@berkhamstedentertainment.com for programmes.
Image credit: Jackie Gillman Photography