{"id":252108,"date":"2010-01-30T17:02:31","date_gmt":"2010-01-30T22:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/blog\/?p=1806"},"modified":"2010-01-30T17:02:31","modified_gmt":"2010-01-30T22:02:31","slug":"phoenix-symphony-gets-the-led-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/252108","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Symphony Gets the Led Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox and Jessica Alba are regulars on Maxim Magazine’s<\/em> Hot 100 lists.<\/p>\n

Pfft. You can have ‘em.<\/p>\n

\"uha_music_of_led_zeppelin_4x3_300x225\"After attending Friday evening’s The Music of Led Zeppelin and Queen show at Dodge Theatre<\/a>, I\u00a0have begun an aggressive\u00a0campaign to get electric violinist Allegra named to the No. 1 spot in 2010.<\/p>\n

Allegra–with\u00a0the help of\u00a0vocalist Randy Jackson, bassist Dan Clemons, guitarist George Cintron, drummer Powell Randolph, conductor and show mastermind Brent Havens and the pride of Downtown Phoenix, the\u00a0Phoenix Symphony–paid homage to history’s\u00a0definitive heavy metal band, Led Zeppelin, and somehow managed to make this die-hard fan appreciate the depth and sexiness of the band’s catalog even more.<\/p>\n

Allegra wasn’t the only thing burning up the stage. Renditions of “Kashmir,” “Heartbreaker,” “Thank You” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” showcased the profound skills of Cintron,\u00a0while Jackson made “All of My Love” and “Stairway to Heaven,” two Zeppelin songs I generally go out of my way to avoid, not only palatable but downright\u00a0enjoyable. Special shout-out to Randolph for his jaw-dropping work on “Moby Dick.”\u00a0Late Zeppelin drummer John Bonham would have beamed with pride.<\/p>\n

The only complaint I had\u00a0was the absence of “Living Loving Maid” from the set list. It’s a song that should always be\u00a0married to\u00a0”Heartbreaker,” just as on Led Zeppelin II.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you doubt the objectivity of\u00a0an admitted Zeppelin wonk, I’ll relay a brief review from my 23-year-old niece, Alicia, who\u00a0accompanied me to the show despite having\u00a0zero<\/span> little\u00a0knowledge of Zeppelin or Queen going in.<\/p>\n

“That,” Alicia said as we exited the Dodge. “Was amazing. You could\u00a0set\u00a0anything** to an orchestra and I’d go see it.”<\/p>\n

I’m\u00a0more classic rock than classical but the\u00a0excellence in execution exhibited by the Symphony made me want to grab tickets for\u00a0“Peter and the Wolf”<\/a> pronto. What an amazing ensemble of talent. And Havens\u00a0deserves kudos for his score. At no time did the orchestral treatments mess with the integrity of the songs.<\/p>\n

Same goes for the opening act, The Music of Queen, performed by the same band but with Las Vegas bar scene rocker Brody Dolyniuk channeling the voice and showmanship of Freddie Mercury. Dolyniuk’s stage antics were a little ham-ish (so were Mercury’s),\u00a0but there’s no doubting the dude can sing, especially after hearing him tackle “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Stone Cold\u00a0Crazy.”\u00a0Next time I’m in Sin City I’ll definitely look up his classic rock tribute band, Yellow Brick Road.<\/p>\n

And I’ll\u00a0be sure to attend The Music of Led Zeppelin and Queen\u00a0whenever it comes back to the Valley.<\/p>\n

**Creed\u00a0and Nickelback are obvious exceptions to this statement.<\/em><\/p>\n

KHB7BAWERPKS<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox and Jessica Alba are regulars on Maxim Magazine’s Hot 100 lists. Pfft. You can have ‘em. After attending Friday evening’s The Music of Led Zeppelin and Queen show at Dodge Theatre, I\u00a0have begun an aggressive\u00a0campaign to get electric violinist Allegra named to the No. 1 spot in 2010. Allegra–with\u00a0the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5072,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}