Schiphol Airport 2015

We are sitting at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport as our flight has been delayed for 3 hours. Arrrrgh!

So good time to write the last blog of 2015.

As the flight is delayed there is an announcement that we can have credit for free food.

There is a new system in place where they give us a card with credit on it, to spend at any food bar at the terminal.

Of course, it doesn’t work, so they just give us the food for free anyway.

Shaun is very pleased with himself, as he eats the food, they goes complaining to the desk that his card doesn’t work and they keep giving him a new one.

He is currently off to find a refreshment outlet he hasn’t yet used to get a free cup of tea.

I don’t think he will actually get on the flight until he has used up all his credit, which seems endless.

Keeps him quiet tho’

We arrived 5 days ago at Schiphol. On the early morning flight, No time to snooze, just to check in at the hotel and head for soundcheck.
The flight had arrived 20 minutes early, but then we spent more time on the ground than in the air.
at least I got the last ham and cheese toastie on the plane, much to the chagrin of the rest of the band.
it's a tradition, we even like them that much, but it's become the don't thing to have the ham and cheese toastie on the plane.
It wasn't at all too warm, but at least I could gloat at the others when they ordered one only to be told I had the last one :D

I tried to get a little El Kippo in at the venue, but no such luck, people to see, things to sign.

We have played at Zoetermeer twice before. But never really had a chance to see the town, never much free time.

But a great show as always, a good crowd and a good reception.

It’s only an hour drive to Amsterdam tomorrow, so we can have a rare lay in.

There we will be spending 2 nights at the Backstage hotel.

Really cool hotel just behind The Melkweg, our room is on the 4^th floor, and a right schlep up really steep stairs, as is the norm in the old houses in ‘Dam.

Coming down is worse, ‘specially after a few beers.

Backstage at The Melkweg, we threw a surprise birthday party for Amy, as she has never had one before, her birthday being December 27^th.

However, tonight, for the first time, we have a support band, a young band from the UK making their debut in Europe. The amount of alcohol backstage for the party was too much of a distraction for them.

It seemed to vanish quickly, when the support finally arrived that is.

They were nearly an hour late and were almost kicked off the bill. The reason for the tardiness was due to partying too hard in the afternoon.

Some sort of Muffin and cake was involved, don’t ask me, I have no idea.

After the show, I had to arrange for the crew to carry them back to the hotel. Puking.

Rock n roll will never die.

The Melkweg is a stalwart for us. We have been coming for 10 years now. Great venue and great crew there. Really well run.

We always do well there.

Then out to Leidseplein for a night sampling the local ales. And making some new friends.

4 am I think it was when they crawled back. By this time Andy had lost his sense of vision.

As usual, only I am sensible of get in a good night sleep. Those boys!

This, however, took out the most of the next day, when we were much more modest in our consumption of local beverages.

Maybe a visit to some of the local museums would have been a better use of our time.

I do like Amsterdam, it’s such a relaxed place. Great just to walk around, and soak in the vibe.

Although I was up all night with heartburn due to the nachos I had in the square.

Lots of old friends at the show, Enrico, Rikk and even our old publicist Jessica de Wall.

Leaving Amsterdam for Sneek, pronounced Snake, don’tcha know.

A nice little town with amusing shop names such as TWA Tsjillen, Two Wheels, apparently, the hint being all the bicycles in the window.

We arrived in Holland expecting it to be cold, like last year, but it was surprisingly mild, so we have been lugging heavy coats around with us.
Today in sneek it is starting to tell, it is chilly here.

This is an afternoon show , and onstage at 3.45 pm.

And wrap up as soon as we finish as the van goes back to the UK tonight after the show. Mark, our driver, getting a little impatient as we did a 3^rd encore.

We, on the other hand, have a night to relax, or, go the bars and nightclubs! Which, although being a Sunday, are remarkably busy.

I chose the former and the band the latter.

I was tucked up in bed by 9pm.

And then the rain came.

3 great shows and 4 fantastic nights in Holland, a big thank you to all who came to our shows in 2015, and for the 28,000 listeners on Spotify.

It’s been a great year, and now home for Christmas.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you all.

See you in 2016.

Ps – UPDATE - Shaun is now of to complain the easyjet desk for a 4^th time to get more credit on his card for a round of teas!!!!

Robert Plant at Letz Zep gig

The question I get asked most of all of course, is about the time Robert Plant came to see Letz Zep in concert.

The band hadn’t been going long at that time, and we had started really for fun, to play the music that we loved and inspired us to pick up a guitar on the first place, also to push ourselves and challenge ourselves musically.

We only played 2 or 3 shows a year but were starting to get a buzz about the band. Our gigs were selling out, only small venues mind, couple of hundred people, but selling out none the less.

We always attracted an eclectic audience, being in London. Our guest list always had some ‘names’ on it.

On that day tho’ we were performing at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town. Good old pub with a music room in the back, and still going strong as a venue. Oh incidentally, we still hold the box office record there for the most ticket money taken to see a single band there.

I got a call from friends who were coming the gig to say they couldn’t get it, which I thought was ridiculous as I tried to explain just come into the pub and come to the back room.

They were saying it wasn’t possible so I went out to meet them. Then I understood. There was a queue outside the music room, all the way through the pub, out onto the street and continuing down the street as far as I could see.

It was the first time it dawned on me just how popular we were becoming.

                                            Robert with Lori.

I had been told earlier that day that Robert Plant was coming that night, but really didn’t take it serious, or actually believe he would.

We had played The Castle a couple of times before, as I said a small venue, and the bands have to walk through the crowd to get onto the stage. And once there, there is no getting off again ‘til the end of the night.

                     Original flyer for Letz Zep at The Dublin Castle

So, armed with sufficient beers to last the gig, we made our way to the stage and began.

Good Times Bad Times, Heartbreaker, Ramble On… then I had a chance to talk to the audience as we tuned for the next song, waffling on about blues riffs starting in the Mississippi basin and via Liverpool to Camden Town tonight.. or some such flannel.

When the door to my left opened, and the light streamed in, ‘Always someone is late’ I thought, but the silhouette stood in stark contrast the light shining from behind,  and it was instantly recognisable as the Tall Cool One himself. And we both stood there looking at each other as the band started the opening riff to In My Time of Dying.

Robert gave me the thumbs up as he took a place close to the entrance and settled down to watch the show.

Obviously, his entrance was seen by all and I could see something resembling a Mexican wave of head turning towards the door, then to the person next to them to say ‘Plant is here’

The band got the message too, and each player made a bum note as they got the news as terror struck, even our rock solid drummer, Simon Jeffrey made a rare hiccup in the beat.

But the band steadied, and thankfully I had time to regain my composure during the song intro.

It is nerve wracking having a global megastar, and a man with so much musical knowledge and experience, a true legend standing there as I am about to sing one of his songs.

I knew I sang this song well, so I wasn’t a complete nervous wreck.

Planty looked attentive, and actually looked rather pleased. Soon, however, he was causing quite a buzz by being in the room, and felt it best he left.

He gave me a wave and the thumbs up again, and motioned that he would come back later.

I didn’t get a chance to speak with him that night but caught up with him soon after at the after show at his own gig in Hammersmith.

He said that he didn’t intend to make such an entrance, but the venue had changed the room around since his last visit that used to be the rear entrance.

He continued that he was interested to see ‘How he was perceived in his heyday’

He also stated that he thought we were doing a good job and if by playing his music we may inspire others to take up the guitar, or sing, then we are keeping the wheel turning, and on that basis, he gave us his blessing.

He was interviewed soon after the show for Q Magazine in which he said, ‘It was like watching myself onstage’ and ‘I walked in, I saw me’ was his comment.

When interviewed on VH1 Storytellers, he was asked about his attending the Letz Zep show, he reply, was similar to his comments to me.

‘To get where we got with our music  then, and to do what we are doing now, which is a different direction,

 we're always looking back, everybody's always looking back …. In Zeppelin, we looked to blues ….we looked back to get our music.  And if this band (Letz Zep) by playing that music go somewhere new it's a continuum.  The cycle goes on and on, and one song leads to another."

It was of course, a great honour for me personally, and for the band to have a legend such as Plant is to take the time and come and listen to our homage to a period of his glittering career.

It was definitely a turning point, the moment we all saw the potential, we were in fact a good band, a very good band, and there is serious interest in Letz Zep.

We next booked an 1100 seater theatre in Peterborough, as our first professional gig. and we had 700 people turn up.

Since then, we have gone on to tour in 40 countries on 4 continents.

Amsterdam 2015

Hello all,

Well, as  2015 draws to a close, we have but 3 gigs left for this year. Which started with a fantastic trip to Brazil, followed swiftly by Spain and Portugal.

Then on our travels around Europe. We always get a good reception, or should I say, ‘rezeption’ ! in Germany, as well as our first visits to Romania, Norway and Finland.

Nice to return to France, and Slovenia too, and of course, the UK.

But our final shows of 2015 are in Holland

Zoetermeer. Amsterdam and Sneek on December 17, 18 and 20 respectively, then back home in time for Christmas, we have just 2 weeks off before the tour continues into 2016.

No rest for the weary.

Amsterdam! This’ll be our 10^th time here.

We would often spend a weekend in ‘Dam, relaxing on a rare break from touring and enjoying the delights of the City, then I had the brilliant idea of putting on a show whilst we are out here.!  Anyway we had a respectable 350 people on our first visit, 500 on the second, and capacity crowd most times since.

We stay at a bijou, bespoke hotel designed for bands. The rooms are like being backstage at a gig. And a funky bar! But the best thing is they do breakfast at whatever time you actually get up.

Any backstage stories from ‘Dam? Yes lots, anything I can commit to writing? Probably not.

Shall I write it anyway? Erm.. no.

Maybe I could use pseudonyms to protect the guilty, I mean innocent of course.
Although the big local newspaper Amsterdam Weekly did review our last concert here with the quote:

"Not only do Letz Zep Perform on stage but re-create their more notorious back stage antics too!" 

Those boys honestly! What are they like! Not me of course I am always first to bed, living up to me nickname of El Santo - The Saint! due to my saintly persona and lack of any vices whatsoever, who laughed then? c'mon I know it was you!

Suffice to say, we are looking forward to coming back to Holland, and to one of our favourite gigs of the year at The Melkweg.

Oh yes, and a night out in Leidersplein., Letz Rock!

See ya’ll there!

Venezuela

A rare weekend off from touring this weekend so no backstage news today. So I thought I would regale you with tales of yore. 

I mentioned Venezuela in my last blog. There is, or to be more precise, was, an annual festival in Puerto la Cruz, on the Caribbean coastline.

As it is funded by the local government, who are loaded with cash due to having shed loads of oil in Venezuela, The local governor said he would only fund it if they had the ‘Best Led Zeppelin Tribute in the World’ him being a huge Zep fan and all that.

So we got the call, obvs!

Now, I don’t think it fair to expect one to fly to the other side of the world and perform the next day, I need time to relax of course, and regain my muse.

Oh, actually, I just been reminded, at the time I had this Australian girlfriend who was none to bright, I felt obliged to ask if she cared to join me in Venezuela, Fingers crossed she would say no,which, Heavens be praised she did,!!!!!  I asked why she didn't fancy it? with fake sound of disappointment in my voice. She said it's cos it would be too cold in Eastern Europe, 'Y'know' she said in her dreadfully squeaky voice that used to irritate me so, 'Lithuania, Venezuelia, they're all the same those eastern European countries'

Yes I know,........ what was I thinking?

She also thought that jazz musician Duke Ellington, was the same man that defeated Napoleon at The Battle of Waterloo in 1815. I am not making this up y'know! She also exclaimed deep surprise the first time she landed and set foot on English soil. 'Oh! I didn't know that London had a moon too' was her comment. We shouldn't mock tho'.

Only Simon and our then tour manager Jeff Stewart ( yes, THAT Jeff Stewart) came out with me, the other two followed later.

The drive from the airport to Caracas took a few hours, as on the usual motorway route the bridge had collapsed, so it had to be 'the scenic route'

So we had 5 days before the show in a luxury hotel in the middle of Caracas. Pool, Pina Coladas. The lot.

We couldn’t go to see too much of the city as we were told not to stray too far from our hotel, and as we stand out from the locals and would probably get mugged, and most likely shot to boot. or so we are advised.

But we did have a driver to show us around around the town in his big 4x4, Oh, and to fill the tank with fuel in Venezuela? £1. Yes ONE POUND! For a full tank of fuel. thats less than 2 US Dollars.

As he was a government official, he didn’t have to stop at red lights, for his, and our, personal safety.

However, we did get and invite to a trendy nightclub opposite the hotel called the Honky Tonk.

A bottle of vodka and all the mixes, £3, that’s extortionate when you consider the price of fuel, I was so drunk I was talking to a lamppost thinking it was Jeff.

But we are here to work, not just meet the locals. The flight from Caracas to Puerto la Cruz only took a mere one hour. Where we finally met the promoter and the crew. Oh yes, and by lucky happenchance, they were holding Miss Venezuela Bikini Competition in our hotel!

What are the odds of that? and to make things even better I am asked to be a guest judge in the competition. I sayyyy... Ding Dong!

Now, the traffic in Venezuela is crazy, no one pays attention to any lane, 3 lanes marked but 5 lanes of traffic, which is mostly stationary with car horns a blaring. considering we are due at the venue in 20 minutes, I was rapidly becoming seriously concerned we wouldn’t make it in time, what are we waiting for?

Turns out, we were waiting for our police escort, on scrambler motorbikes, rider and machine gun carrying pillion, who would jump of the back of the bike, wave the gun around. Just like Moses parting the Red Sea, a path to the venue opened right up before us.

Bit hairy when they took us the wrong side of the road with traffic heading right at us. The solution was for the bikes to ride straight at the cars in a kinda see who blinks first game. The cars got out the way, thankfully.

Of course, the obligatory photo with the police who got us there, and a swift drink to settle the shattered nerves.

We had armed guards escort us to the stage too, I haope this was just for show and not that we needed an armed guard. However, it was a fantastic gig, Though very dry up there, and my voice suffered a bit with the heat and lack of water onstage.

But a great crowd. Even the local governor got onstage, with his armed guards, and made some speech about ‘a vote for him is a vote for rock and roll’, and then insisted we play ‘Stairway to Heaven’ again, for the second time, we, of course, duly obliged.

The rest of the guys went back to the hotel after the show, I stayed behind to watch the next artist, who is Venezuela’s number one rock star. Paul Gillman.

We had a great time, certainly a highlight of the bands illustrious career. Big thanks to Paul Gillman and his hospitality. Such an exhilarating place. 

And hopefully one day, we may return.

Cottbus -Germany

It’s 7.25pm in Cottbus in eastern part of the beautiful country of Germany.

We just arrived at our hotel, when I say ‘we’, I actually mean just myself and guitarist Andy Gray, as Simon and Shaun somehow conspired to miss the flight.

Simon thought the flight was tomorrow and Shaun was probably just drunk. 
Here is an artists impression of Simon's face when he realised he would miss the flight

Cottbus has a population of approx 100,000 people, and was the old centre of the energy industry n the old GDR. Just a coupla weeks back we were in Wuppertal, here is Germany, famous for its overhead monorail railway.

To display how sturdy and safe this was, some bright spark thought it would be a great idea to borrowed Tuffi the Elephant from the local circus.

This was back in 1950, however, Tuffi wasn’t that keen and unsurprisingly, she jumped from the suspended monorail into the river below.

The elephant trumpeted wildly and ran through the wagon, broke through a window and fell nearly 40 feet into the Wupper River, thankfully suffering only minor injuries. A panic had broken out in the wagon and some passengers were hurt.

Tuffi is now a legend in Germany and the spot where Tuffi fell is remembered by a plaque to the unfortunate Pachyderm.

My room seems to be a bit close to the lift, I can hear the damn bell ding every time it stops on this floor! Ok off to eat now, and maybe a few ales in the bar.

More tomorrow .....

....and just why am I wide awake at 5am?

You will no doubt be pleased to hear that Simon and Shaun arrived on the later flight, missed dinner but the bar was still open, I think Shaun was in need of a hair of the dog..... and Simon just happy the bar was open.

Smoking is still allowed in the bar here, amazing how quick we get used to not smoking. So instead, we decided to sit in the restaurant and have a beer.

Andy missed breakfast so we are heading into town. Apparently there is a castle. As we leave the hotel, there is a big police presence and a crowd of people shouting in unison with something resembling The Haka, famously sang by the New Zealand team before the rugby match.

Although we usually have a warm welcome, and sometimes even a police escort, most notably in Venezuela, they even had machine guns, in Venezuela that is, not Germany, but this wasn’t for us.

The Erfurt football team were playing Energie Cottbus today in the German football league 3, and the team is staying in our hotel. That'll be all those blokes in Red then at breakfast.

In case you missed it, the local team are called Energie cos of the aforementioned power industry.

Cottbus is a nice town, they had their Christmas Market today, very picture post card image but freezing cold, and snowing, which adds an extra layer of authenticity to the famed Christmas Markets over here.

So after a Gluhwein it’s back to the hotel, as my feet are like ice, it’s a 5.45 pm lobby call so time for a bath and a snooze I reckon.

1am.

Thank you Cottbus, the venue really looked after us, and a capacity crowd who were appreciative from start to finish, we even played an extra 30 minutes beyond the curfew.

'Achilles Last  Stand' had an inclusion tonight.

As always 'Babe I’m Gonna Leave You' is well received, great, great live song, the dynamics are perfect. The acoustic set too, helps set the mood.

Nobody wanted to leave, and many where still there as we made ready to depart for our hotel a we have an early flight in the morning. However, the venue have been kind enough to throw an after-show party tonight in our honour, why are the parties on the days we have to get up early for our flight the next day?

I’ll leave it to the others to make our appearance, I am off to bed, g’night Cottbus, hope to see you again.

Karlsruhe - Germany

Greetings from Karlsruhe, with a population of around 300,000 it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located in southwest Germany, near the Franco-German border.

The time is now 1.20pm and I write to you from the comfort of our hotel, which is the strangest I have had the pleasure to stay at. Something if a cross between Hobbiton and a crazy golf course, we even had to dodge waterfalls on the way to the rooms, bit like It's a Knockout.

                                                Our Hotel

As this is a one off show we flew in early this morning. This bleak day did not start well, as to my dismay, my car had acquired a flat tyre overnight. But disaster averted as the AA sorted out in 15 minutes. Marvellous! So I made it to the airport in good time, indeed time for breakfast with the boys.

Leaving London with a scene of freezing cold and driving sleet, only for us to arrive in Germany to torrential rain. But mustn't grumble, I still have four hours 'til lobby call and considering my room has a huge sunken bath to take advantage of. So excuse me for a while, I shall return later after a luxurious soak.

The car is prompt as we are whisked from our hotel to the venue for soundcheck. We are welcomed by the crew and there is a real buzz about tonight's show, our first in Karlsruhe and we are informed that tonight's show is already Sold Out! Speak later.

Slowly I stirred from a satisfying sleep this morning I am greeted by the first snow of the year. It must have been heavy in the night, as it is sitting thick upon the ground, The snow was just starting as we left the venue after the show last night. Good show actually, our first time in Karlsruhe and surely but it won’t be the last.

Very welcoming crowd too, they were starting to cheer a full 30 minutes before stage time, so nice to know people were excited to hear the band perform.

Talking after the show, many people had driven an hour or two to be here, last week, in Berlin, 2 people had travelled 300 kms from a small town near Bavaria to see Letz Zep.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them we played just 30 kms from their home town just the week prior. Nice girls too.

As I was talking to the local promoter here in Karlsruhe, I noticed he was wearing an old bent coin from the 1880’s around his neck, when I asked about it, he told me it was worn by his Great-Grandfather in WWI.

A bomb had landed near him and the shrapnel, although tearing his clothes, it never hurt him as the deadly projectile that surely would have taken his life, hit the coin in his breast pocket, damaging the coin, but saving his life.

It has been a family heirloom ever since, worn by his Grandfather and his father before him. And now he wears it everyday.

You could hear the emotion in his voice as he told his amazing story. Quiet moving really.

Traveling the world and meeting new people, and hearing their stories is a thing to treasure. Long may it continue.

They are calling our flight now, back to Heathrow today, I wonder what the weather is like back home?

Scandinavia

Welcome to our new blog, I'll be waxing lyrical about all things we see and do on our travels, which are many and varied.
Right now, I am relaxing in the Lake District in the north of England, at this moment taking shelter from the persistent rain.
We had an intense few dates last weekend, our first shows in Norway and Finland.

First impressions - its cold! 

Second, beer is expensive. Sounds a bit cliched I know, it'll get better, promise!
We, comprising of myself (Billy), Andy and Shaun jumped the train into Oslo, the capital and most populous city of Norway.

Oslo was founded as a city at the end of the Viking Age in the year 1040 as a trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada. 

We spent our day in the museum, not very rock n roll but informative and interesting.

On days off it is to our liking to visit local places of interest. Last week, in Germany we spend all day in the local Schloss, which means a Castle of course. Dead boss that.

The reproduction of the Spear of Destiny proudly displayed. The spear of Longinus, which, as legend has it, is the spear used to have pierced the body of Christ on the cross.

                                     The Spear of Destiny

But that was the previous week, this week, the Oslo museum, where they had a wall dedicated to all things American, Photos of the good and the great, Presidents, stars of stage and silver-screen, including Marilyn Monroe and Sean Connery, bit surprised at his inclusion, maybe it was meant to portray James Bond, tho' that character isn't exactly American Tho'. I didn't realise Einstein was American either, oh hang on, he isn't!

Good museum tho' nonetheless. nice staff too, very helpful.

Good gig too, the band played well, as always, living up to our rep as The Number One tribute to the mighty Led Zeppelin, we got them outta the seats at the end.
As we did in Finland the next night; we were up at 5am for a flight to Berlin. For some reason, I woke up in the night and couldn't sleep. Reaching for the remote I put the TV on. I sat bolt upright at the shocking news from Paris. The terrible events at Bataclan filled the screen. I have a lot of good friends in France, I lived in Paris once for 6 months. So worrying times.

I watched the news as I packed for out 7am flight to Berlin, the mood was sombre within the band. 

So, we say goodbye to Finland, and hopefully we will return soon. we really enjoyed the gig, just wish we had time to see more of Helsinki, the worlds most northernly metropolis.

Most of the day in Berlin was spent catching up on sleep. There's a real buzz about the city and despite the dreadful news from Paris only the previous evening, we had a sold-out crowd. Nice to have our own gear again too, driven here by Tino out backline and guitar tech. Does a great job pouring the drinks too. 

We even found time for a few beers in a quiet bar after the show.
Now, I am relaxing in a farm house in the middle of nowhere, The wind howling and the rain rapping on the windows. and the log fire burning brightly... erm... it's gone out !! I've been to busy blabbering on I hadn't noticed! OK gtg, relight the fire and that bottle of red ain't gonna drink itself now is it.
Until the next time, please stay safe y'all.