Hats off to Led Zep tribute band

WHILE the surviving members of Led Zeppelin continue to dodge the reunion issue, fans of the iconic band are forced to make do with the many tribute acts doing the rounds.

Hats Off To Led Zeppelin, it should be said, are known to be one of the best.

Featuring Peter Eldridge from the West End production of We Will Rock You, and Jack Tanner and Kevin Oliver Jones from the world tours of Thriller Live and Dancing in the Streets, they play all the right instruments and hit all the right notes in an explosive live show.

“I don’t know what it is about Led Zeppelin, but everyone loves them,” says Oliver ahead of the band’s visit to the Brunton Theatre on Saturday night. “They’re one of those iconic bands whose reputation just keeps on growing over the years.”

The band, who are co-managed by Warren Grant, son of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, expect to draw an all-ages crowd when they arrive in Musselburgh to take the audience on a journey through some of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s best known songs - classics like Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love, Stairway To Heaven.

Hats Off To Led Zeppelin don’t set out to impersonate their heroes, but instead try to recreate, note for note, what it would have been like to see the band live at two key points in their career.

“The first half of the show is what the band would have been in 1968, just at the time when they were on the verge of massive success,” explains Jones. “The second half is 1975, when the band was at its peak.

“We try to emulate the essence of what the band were in their pomp, which includes the dragon suits and Jimmy Page’s guitar bow. And we’ll have a bit of banter as ourselves in between songs, but the performance is absolutely spot on.”

Hats Off To Led Zeppelin. Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Saturday, 7.30pm, £15.50 (£13.50), 0131-665 2240