Today, as John Paul Jones announces that Led Zeppelin will no longer seek a touring replacement for an intransigent Robert Plant, D.C. fans can take solace in the imminent arrival of Lez Zeppelin.
The all-female five-piece—after Bonnaroo, no longer a parlor trick but still an oddity—sacrifices little in its sonic parrotry: enlisting Eddie Kramer to produce its self-titled debut; treating the Zep canon essentially as sheet music, “as if it were, I don’t know, a symphony by Beethoven,” guitarist Steph Paynes told the A.V. Club. The group’s performances are noteworthy for the virtuosity involved; for the appropriation of cock-rock swagger; for the fact that they’re, you know, all women; and because unlike Plant, lead singer Sarah McClellan never cracks on those high notes.
(She also refuses to bait the audience with annoying lines like, “Remember laughter?” Possibly because Lez refuses to play Stairway-to-You-Know-What.)
Video & deets below the jump.
Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.
The State Theatre
220 N Washington St.
Washington D.C. VA 22046
703-237-0300
$17
“Heartbreaker,” from the group’s 2007 performance at the State Theatre