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Sure, at least half of the Zep tributes out there also aim to recreate the live arrangements instead of the studio tracks, but
"a more musically authentic, intense, and insanely loud version you'll not find anywhere" Why? Because Led Zep Too have captured the very essence of Led Zeppelin, adding an absolutely identifiable magic to the mix, and that's not learnable; it either exists or it doesn't.
(Moaning Millsy)

"I'm never ever ever playing with you guys again"
(Aled Jones)

"Better than a funeral!"
(Steve Miller)

LED ZEP TOO CAN FINALLY, PROUDLY ANNOUNCE CONFIRMATION OF THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION DAYS TOUR, MARKING 40 YEARS TO THE DAY THE EARLY UK PERFORMANCES LED ZEPPELIN PLAYED DURING 1968. THE CELEBRATION DAYS TOUR WILL KICK OFF AT SURREY UNIVERSITY ON THE 25TH OCTOBER, THAT DATE BEING DISPUTED WITH THE 15TH, BUT ACCORDING TO DAVE LEWIS BOOK THE CONCERT FILE, AS WELL AS OTHER SOURCES, INCLUDING A RECENTLY DISCOVERED POSTER, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE 25TH WAS A RESCHEDULED DATE FROM THE ORIGINAL BOOKING ON THE 15TH. PRESUMABLY THIS WAS SO THEY COULD OFFICIALLY LAUNCH THEMSELVES UNDER THE NAME LED ZEPPELIN.

AS WELL AS THIS HISTORIC DATE, LED ZEP TOO WILL ALSO BE RESURRECTING THE LEGENDARY CRAWDADDY CLUB FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, AND THE INFAMOUS MIDDLE EARTH CLUB, AND OF COURSE FILLING IN AT THE LAST MINUTE FOR JEFF BECK AT BATH PAVILLION!

WE HAVE TRIED WHERE POSSIBLE TO MATCH THE EXACT DATE AND VENUE, HOWEVER DUE TO SO CALLED 'PROGRESS' SOME VENUES HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED, ALTHOUGH THAT WILL NOT HINDER OUR ENTHUSIAM TO BE AS COMPLETE AS POSSIBLE AND WE WILL EVEN BE PERFORMING IN THE FREEZING BLOODY COLD OUTSIDE ON THE SITE WHERE EXETER CIVIC HALL ONCE STOOD!

EACH EVENT PROMISES TO BE DIFFERENT, EACH WILL PREDOMINANTLY BE NON-PROFIT MAKING AND WE WILL RAISE AS MUCH MONEY FOR CHARITY AS POSSIBLE. THE IDEA IS TO CELEBRATE FIRST AND FOREMOST LED ZEPPELIN, BUT ALSO TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE WHOLE LATE 60'S MUSIC ERA IN GENERAL, TAKING NOTE OF THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE FROM THAT ERA WITHOUT WHOM THE MUSIC OF TODAY AND YESTERDAY MAY HAVE BEEN QUITE DIFFERENT! THE LIKES OF JOHN PEEL, JEFF DEXTER, THE YARBIRDS, THE IMPORTANCE OF THEIR PRESCENCE CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH. AS WELL AS INDIVIDUALS SUCH AS SYD BARRET, RUSS GIBB, MICK FARREN, THE BEATLES, THE STONES, ERIC CLAPTON, JACK BRUCE, GINGER BAKER, JIMI HENDRIX, JEFF BECK AND OF COURSE NOT FORGETTING TOP SESSION MUSICIANS JOHN PAUL JONES AND JIMMY PAGE, ALONG WITH THEN UNKNOWN ROBERT PLANT AND JOHN HENRY BONHAM. I'M SURE I MISSED OUT TOO MANY, BUT WE WOULD BE HERE ALL DAY, AND THATS WHAT THIS CELEBRATION / PARTY / FESTIVAL IS FOR.

I AM HOPING TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WHO WILL AGREE TO JOIN US ON STAGE IN SOME FORM OF CELEBRATIONS, I WILL NOT SAY WHO, AND IF THEY DO AGREE I STILL WILL NOT SAY WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE THERE. IF THEY DO COME ALONG THEN IT WILL BE A REAL SURPRISE AS SOME OF THEM WE WILL NOT EVEN WANT TO KNOW IN ADVANCE! I JUST HAVE TO TAP INTO THEIR MINDS DEEP ENOUGH TO REMIND THEM WHY THEY STARTED TO PLAY OR BE INVOLVED IN THE MUSIC SCENE IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT AS STATED EACH EVENT WILL BE DIFFERENT. DETAILS OF HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR EACH EVENT WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN DUE COURSE, THERE ARE STILL SOME DETAILS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF, BUT THE MAIN EVENTS ARE NOW BOOKED AND CONFIRMED 100%. SO WE HOPE YOU WILL SHARE THE CELEBRATIONS WITH US AND RECOGNISE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS WONDERFUL MUSICAL ERA, TOTALLY UNIQUE THROUGHOUT POPULAR MUSIC HISTORY. AFTER ALL WE ARE THE SAME AS YOU, WE ARE ALL FANS OF LED ZEPPELIN AND THOSE OTHER AMAZING GROUPS, OR OUTFITS AS THEY WERE KNOW BACK WHEN EVERYTHING WAS HIP! THERE ARE BARRIERS THAT NEED TO BE BROUGHT DOWN, THE FIRST ONE WILL BE THE BARRIER BETWEEN WHAT WE WILL DO ON STAGE AND YOU THE AUDIENCE, HOPEFULLY THIS CAN BE FOLLOWED BY SOME BARRIERS THAT EXIST BETWEEN US AND CORPORATIONS AS WELL AS ROCK ROYALTY......... WE CAN TRY!

SEE YOU THERE!

Original article available here: http://www.holytoilet.com/blam/blam_july2006.asp

They're a peculiar lot, tribute bands. You may not realise, but they work in a very insular market, full of  petty jealousies, spite and backbiting. OK, so the regular circuit ain't exactly genial, but there's at  least room to exist without treading on someone else's toes. Whereas other bands are artists, tribute bands are forgers and use their talents not to create their own beautiful things, but for mimicry and fakery. Some copies will be better than others depending on the skill of those involved, but as the ultimate aim with most tribute bands is to flawlessly clone rather that create, the most any such band can hope for is to produce excellent reproductions rather than works of art. As such, the bands fight like dogs over scraps for the attention of that small sector of the public who pay to witness things that are part homage and part parody, desperate to convince this blinkered world of crusties and anoraks that only their band offers the  truest, most authentic facsimile they could wish for. It's a bit sad really, as it could be argued that unless the intention is to create a perverse caricature (Hayseed Dixie, Dread Zeppelin, etc), tribute bands are the only musical venture where individuality and creativity can hinder rather than enhance matters. See? I told you they were peculiar.

The thing about Led Zep Too is that in a world where some of their fellow tribute acts have been doing it for longer than Zeppelin did themselves, they've achieved in a very short time an imitation that's so faithful, so accurate and so passionate, that they make the likes of Led By Zeppelin and Whole Lotta Led seem redundant and trampled underfoot. Sure, at least half of the Zep tributes out there also aim to recreate the live arrangements instead of the studio tracks, but a more musically authentic, intense, and insanely loud version you'll not find anywhere. Why? Because Led Zep Too have captured the very essence of Led Zeppelin, adding an absolutely identifiable magic to the mix, and that's not learnable; it either exists or it doesn't. Have those other pretenders had paranoid officials remove their Myspace tracks no less than 5 times because they think they really are Zeppelin live recordings? Didn't think so, and accordingly, Led Zep Too couldn't wish for a better accolade.  Literally, you close your eyes, listen, and the differences between them are so negligible as to not exist.

The drum intro to "Rock and Roll" gives way to that bassy Les Paul-through-a-Marshall grunting riff courtesy of Mike Jarvis (oh alright then - Jimmy) and for more than just a moment, it's the 70's again. He might be crammed between that massive drumkit and the monitors with barely enough room to squeeze his lemon, but you can really believe that it's a young Robert Plant up there, screaming like a man with his testicles nailed to the floor, because Ollie doesn't just sound identical with that semi-orgasmic wail, he's got the shaggy blond curls, the tight denim, the obscenely large frontal bulge and the camp gesticulations absolutely perfect, right down to that peculiar way that ol' Percy could never properly thrust his hips in time to the music, like an unruly sex beast who doesn't quite know what to do with himself when he's not shagging.  Occasionally, (such as during the high notes of "Immigrant Song" ) his voice wavers slightly wimpishly, usually when attempting one of those 'just-about-to-cum' yelps which instead of a horny wolf sounds more like a squashed kitten, but sod it, I've seen Plant himself try to do that in recent years and believe me he's f*****g rubbish.

By the time we hit "Heartbreaker", the raw emotive power produced by this band is almost otherworldly. Heavier than a juggernaut up the jacksie and utterly self-indulgent, Mike Jarvis expertly recreates Page's wilder excesses in a squealing headbanging flurry of feedback, sweat and dandruff as they jam and explore it with wild abandon, letting it whirl and glide into rhythmic crashing chaos that threatens to punch f*****g great big holes in your eardrums, before a surprisingly gentle "Thank You" soothes them again.

An epic "Dazed & Confused" precedes an additionally extended "No Quarter".  ‘Jimmy' straps on his twin-necked SG for the obligatory "Stairway To Heaven" followed by a searing  "Kashmir", but peculiarly, it's the surprising inclusion of "Achilles Last Stand" (which at over 10 minutes, is the second longest Zep studio track ) that gets the most enthusiastic response from the small but appreciative crowd before the wild blues abandonment of "Whole Lotta Love", which they don't so much play as wrestle; flailing the tune like a whip, letting it  swell into a throbbing cacophony of theramin squeals, bloodied drums, tortured guitar and best-shag-of-your-life screams. 

They're the best Zep tribute by a mile.

Mr Mills is a former Kerrang journalist, now freelance and writes mostly for holytoilet.com and  the official Glastonbury site glastonburyfestivals.co.uk