Marianas Variety Guam Edition

“MAYHEM, carnage, and three hours of lunacy.” This is what concert guests can expect from Led Zeppelin tribute band, Led Zepagain.

Relax. They were just joking.
The first of Led Zepagain’s two shows on Guam was held last night at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort in Tamuning. Another performance is scheduled for tonight.

Original Led Zeppelin members, lead vocalist Robert Plant, lead guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham have resurfaced on the music scene via Led Zepagain, whose members have been paying homage to the iconic classic rock band for eight years.
 
Led Zepagain members include vocalist Swan Montgomery from Ireland, guitarist Steve Zukowsky from San Francisco, bassist Jim Wootten from Los Angeles, and drummer Jim Kersey from Boston.

“What we’re going to do for both nights will be fairly different, but we’re going to keep the songs that you expect to hear in every show such as ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ ‘Kashmir,’ and ‘Rock and Roll.’ Those songs will be played on both nights. Other than that we’re going to change it up quite a bit,” Wootten said at yesterday’s press conference.

The tribute band members spoke about their favorite Zeppelin songs. Wootten enjoys “Kashmir” because of the keyboards and the string arrangement. As a bassist, he enjoys “The Lemon Song” because “it’s a complex line and takes a lot of concentration to pull it off correctly.”

Montgomery likes playing the acoustic side of Led Zeppelin because of his Irish background and love for Celtic music. The Zepagain front man also enjoys “Black Dog” but remains a heavy fan of Zeppelin’s acoustic works. As the tribute band’s lead guitarist, one of Zukowsky’s all time favorite Zeppelin songs from a guitar standpoint is “Achilles’ Last Stand” because of the complex parts of the piece. Kersey, Zepagain’s drummer, is also a huge fan of “Black Dog” and especially “Moby Dick” because he “gets to play a solo.”   
 
“We don’t like to rehearse,” Montgomery said. “We don’t have an original band together. We just all love the music. We’ve got great group together and we play the music because we all love the music so much.”  

With regard to Led Zeppelin’s entire scope of work, Montgomery said Led Zeppelin “covered so many styles. I don’t think there is any other band that can compare to the spectrum of material that they have.”

Led Zepagain played two shows in Tokyo, Japan before arriving on island. After tonight’s show, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, they will be heading Las Vegas, Nevada for more performances.

 Tickets cost $40 for general admission and $60 for VIP seats, and are available at Scooter World, MWR, and Circle K/76 locations.

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