Wyern Theatre,

Swindon

MUSICALLY, it was excellent, almost flawless, but I left the Wyvern Theatre wondering whether I might have got a bigger kick from Boot Led Zeppelin in a different venue.

I am not a seasoned spectator of tribute bands and it took me the first half of the gig to get comfortable with the fact Luke Ward, aka Robert Plant, referred to his bandmates as Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.

But then maybe that’s the experience people are going for. The band try to make it as if you are attending a Led Zeppelin gig at the height of their powers in the 1970s, there is no acknowledgement this is a tribute act.

Raff Achour’s guitar work as Jimmy Page was the highlight. During ‘Dazed and Confused’, my personal favourite of the night, he played his double-headed guitar with a bow and the sound moved the theatre.

The hits were played – all of them. From ‘Immigrant Song’ to ‘Rock and Roll’, heads were banging and bodies were itching to stand from their seats in the auditorium.

The music filled the all-seater theatre quite easily, but you could tell the band wanted more from the audience all the way through.

Led Zeppelin’s music was designed for an interactive experience, where the band fed off the audience’s energy.

There was little energy and only half-hearted attempts to sing along on Friday night, but the band marched on nonetheless and gave us all a taste of something some of us were too young to ever see at first-hand. - Beren Cross