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Lead singer Anna Kristina (left) and guitarist Gretchen Menn (right) on stage during a Zepparella performance at City Winery DC, May 12, 2022. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Air drums and air guitars were prominent among a crowd of nostalgic Led Zeppelin fans at DC’s City Winery recently as Zepparella, an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band, played its first show at the Ivy City venue in over three years due a forced break in touring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zepparella performs at City Winery on April 25, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
An entire generation of Led Zeppelin fans have grown up deprived of the opportunity to see the supergroup perform its legendary material live. A temporary reprieve from that disappointment was enjoyed by a sold-out crowd at DC’s City Winery one evening recently when Zepparella, an all-female tribute band, took the stage for a two-hour set of Led Zeppelin’s greatest songs.
Jason Bonham performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Nov. 25, 2018. (Photo by Mark Caicedo)
“This is the most fun anyone could have fully clothed standing in front of an audience.”
That was Jason Bonham describing Sunday night at The Fillmore Silver Spring as he led his band, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening (JBLZE) in a revival (not a tribute) of the 1970’s preeminent rock band. The music project he refers to as the “band I play in for fun” performed over two hours of Zeppelin’s music to a faithful and adoring sold-out audience.
Jason Bonham (Photo courtesy Lappen Enterprises)
Any music lover will tell you, rhythm is an essential ingredient of a song. Any musician will also tell you that percussion was the first musical instrument. Ancient peoples discovered that banging on things would create patterns and melodies one could move to and feel deep inside. Since those first humans struck a piece of bark or a stretched animal skin, the tympani, the gong, the dulcimer, and the piano, among other percussion instruments, have become central to orchestras, jazz combos, pop groups, and marching bands.
When it comes to drummers, one of the greatest modern drummers ever to play was surely John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Recently, ParklifeDC had the pleasure of speaking with drummer Jason Bonham, John’s son, in anticipation of Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening appearance at The Fillmore Silver Spring this Sunday, Nov. 25.