Even though Led Zeppelin may never reunite, Gainesville residents will soon have the next best opportunity to hear the band’s iconic songs live.
Get The Led Out, a Led Zeppelin cover band, will play at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Friday.
Appropriately dubbed “The American Zeppelin,” the Philadelphia-based band recreates the music of Led Zeppelin by focusing on the studio overdubs that the original band never performed.
When Led Zeppelin performed live, the band was limited by its member count. Even though a recorded song may have included three guitars, the live performance of the same song would have incorporated only one guitar.
Get The Led Out meticulously adheres to the recorded music by employing multi-instrumentalists to showcase the recorded music of “The Mighty Zep.”
The live performance chronicles the entirety of the original band’s career, showcasing classic hits and deep cuts. Get The Led Out also includes an acoustic set, which features guest vocalist Diana DeSantis singing classic songs such as “Tangerine” and “Battle of Evermore.”
The band started with singer Paul Sinclair and lead guitarist Paul Hammond playing Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith covers at a monthly gig in a club. As the word of mouth spread of their performances, more musicians wanted to get involved.
“The other musicians wanted to form a more traditional version of a Led Zeppelin tribute band, with the costumes and wigs and stuff, of which Paul Sinclair wanted no part of,” Hammond said. “So Get The Led Out was formed with Paul Sinclair’s concept of how he wanted to perform Led Zeppelin’s music.”
Sticking to the essence of the band’s recorded music remains a key component of Get The Led Out.
Although Hammond may be influenced by musicians like Jeff Beck and Les Paul, he said the band does not attempt to reinterpret Led Zeppelin’s music.
“Sometimes when I hear other acts out there performing Zeppelin’s music and it’s more of the live loosey-goosey type of thing, it drives me to perform the recorded music of Led Zeppelin more accurately,” Hammond said. “We’re all driven to perfection with this band, so we’re constantly separating the wheat from the chaff, only in a musical sense.”
This is not the first time the band has played the Phillips Center, though. The band members made their way to Gainesville several years back and were made honorary Gators, Hammond said.
“You can bet any time the Gators are playing I’m rooting for them to win,” he said.
Tickets are available at the Phillips Center for $10 for students with Gator 1 Cards. General admission tickets can be purchased on Ticketmaster.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 3/27/2014 under the headline "Tribute band will give Led Zeppelin a ‘Whole Lotta Love’"]
Get the Led Out singer Paul Sinclair takes to the stage to perform a Led Zeppelin cover. The tribute band will be playing at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
