A Decade Of Zep Love

It's a little scary to realise that 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the fifth album, Houses Of The Holy, by one of the most influential rock bands ever, Led Zeppelin. The fact that one of the longest-running large scale concerts in homage to the band, Whole Lotta Love, is this year celebrating its tenth anniversary is testament not only to the enduring love of Zeppelin's music but also the foresight and professionalism behind the production, which this year will feature singers Jimmy Cupples, Steve Balbi, Simon Meli, Dallas Frasca and Natasha Stuart, backed by a six-piece band and string trio. Taking the lion's share of the guitar work, Jimmy Page's domain of course, is the man whose vision the show was and its creative director, Geelong-born, Melbourne-raised, Sydney-based Joseph Calderazzo.

“I actually started this Whole Lotta Love thing twelve years ago,” Calderazzo clarifies. “I first started it at [Kings Cross Sydney nightclub] The Iguana Bar – I was running a Tuesday night there called The Tuesday Night Club and it was for original artists. I ran that for five years and people like Bertie Blackman did her first ever gig there, like a lot of people and it was all acoustic. What I did one night, I wanted to pull fifteen of my favourite acoustic acts together all on the one night, get them to do one song each, and the 'glue' part would be they've all got to do a Beatles song and do it in their own way.

“Then I thought it would be great to do a Zeppelin night, which I did, and it was all unplugged with acoustic guitars, a couple of cellos and a violin. We did that a couple of years and then went electric with it, which was a huge step, and that marks probably the first year, which is when I started working with [business partner] Martin [Contempree, CCEntertainment] on this, taking it into [iconic Sydney venue] The Basement.”

That's where it stayed for the next six years, an annual Led Zep fest that proved increasingly popular; so much so that the decision was made to take it to the next level. There's no mid-sized venue in Sydney between The Basement and the Enmore Theatre but it worked and that gave Calderazzo the confidence to take it interstate to Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Surprisingly however, despite the size of the band performing behind the guest vocalists expanding and the stage production building commensurately, the template remained the same as it was that first night at The Iguana Bar. While during their tenure, Led Zeppelin released nine albums, there are obviously songs any self-respecting tribute must play.

“It hasn't changed mainly because there are certain songs that have to be played. There are some songs that are more interchangeable than others, but you've got to have Kashmir, you've obviously got to have Whole Lotta Love… Stairway To Heaven is the only one I'd like to get rid of. That was never in the show the first couple of times we did it, but I booked David Campbell to do maybe the fourth or fifth year and talking to him on the phone about repertoire, he said I could give him anything except for Stairway To Heaven, and I thought he said he wanted to do Stairway To Heaven! I wasn't going to say to him I didn't really want to add that song so I put him down for it. It was never discussed and we ended up doing the shows, so it made it into the show and now we can't really get rid of it.”

Whole Lotta Love dates:

Friday 26 April - Laycock Theatre, Gosford NSW
Saturday 27 April - IPAC, Wollongong NSW
Thursday 2 May - QPAC, Brisbane QLD
Friday 10 May - Palais Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 18 May - State Theatre, Sydney NSW