Doors Open: 8:00pm
Show Starts: 9:30pm
Must be 18 or older with a proper ID.
General Admission, Standing Room Tickets are $22.00.
For more info on this event, call us at (866) 777-8932 or visit our ticketweb page at https://www.ticketweb.com/venue/varsity-theatre-baton-rouge-la/338005
The Event
ZOSO
The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience
Friday, April 14th
Doors Open at 8pm
Show Starts at 9:30pm
Tickets are $22 in Advance
Available at www.VarsityTheatre.com
Over the 28 years and over 4500 shows since ZOSO came together as a group in the mid-‘90s, the seemingly tireless quartet continues to earn its well-deserved reputation as being, in the words of The L.A. Times, “head and shoulders above all other Led Zeppelin tributes.” The reasons for that are manifest. For starters, surely no singer has ever captured the distinctive timbre, range, power, and seductive force of Robert Plant’s vocal delivery as adroitly as ZOSO’s lead vocalist and founder, Matt Jernigan, whose flowing, corkscrew blonde locks and leonine stage moves evoke the Plant persona perfectly. ZOSO co-founder Adam Sandling, the band’s multi-instrumental master of electric bass, keyboards, and mandolin, likewise echoes John Paul Jones’ myriad gifts to a tee, allowing the four-piece ZOSO to perform fully fleshed-out versions of classics like “Kashmir,” “Trampled Under Foot,” and “Stairway to Heaven” that demand up to six members or more to execute in other Zep-inspired ensembles. That’s not the ZOSO way; instead, the band draws liberally and meticulously from Led Zeppelin’s recorded live output to present a vivid performance picture of the classic live Zeppelin of 1970-1977. No wonder the St. Petersburg Times noted that, in addition to their virtuosity and spot-on visual presentation, ZOSO was also “the most exacting of all the Led Zeppelin tributes.” Meanwhile, the band’s new blood has turbo-charged the ZOSO formula even more. Drummer Bevan Davies, the band’s burly, black-haired batteur since 2015, flattens the band’s fans nightly with his Bonham-approved triplet blasts, tympani thunder, and fat, lumbering grooves. Davies boasts an impressive pedigree that includes touring tenures with the likes of Danzig, Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains, Static X, and regular gigs with The Cult’s Billy Duffy. Taking on the demanding Jimmy Page chair for ZOSO in May of 2021, new lead guitarist James Volpe Rotondi (aka “Jimmy”) brings an equally high-level CV to the table, as a former member of Humble Pie, Mike Patton’s Mr. Bungle, and French superstars AIR. Decked out in Page’s iconic dragon matador jacket, two-tone shoes, and cascading black hair, Rotondi wields his Gibson Les Paul and double-neck guitars like he was born to it, with a huge, crafted tone and a stunning technique that weaves together Page’s roots in blues, country, funk, and fingerstyle. Still, while the players’ provenance, and the band’s deep history, speak for themselves, it’s that high-wire musicianship combined with ZOSO’s spot-on recreation of the mythic presence of Led Zeppelin onstage that keeps their dedicated longtime fans coming back for more year after year. What’s more, new generations of ZOSO devotees in their teens and Twenties are likewise lining up to experience for themselves the power and majesty—and yes, the alluring combination of danger, spontaneity, skill, and sexuality—that define a world-class Led Zeppelin concert.
The Artist
Zoso - The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience formed in 1995 to perform the most accurate and captivating Led Zeppelin live show since the real thing. For Zoso, it's much more than just being a tribute. It's about touching a golden era in music. Zoso embodies Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones in their spirit, tightly-wound talent and authenticity.
Each band member has been carefully selected to portray both the appearance and playing styles of their Led Zeppelin counterparts. In eighteen successful years of touring, they have perfected their art. As one of the longest tenured Zeppelin tributes, Zoso's 2400 live shows around the world, including slots at major festivals such as Bonnaroo and Rib America Fest, have established them as the most traveled and successful band in the market.
Zoso's live shows are not about simply playing the right notes, they are about aura and feeling, harkening back to the unique atmosphere Led Zeppelin created. It's in the way they play: Each band member's mastery of authentic vintage instruments coupled with spot-on vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, their compelling stage persona and distinct Led Zeppelin sound, with astounding visual imagery recreates the music, magic, and mystery of a Zeppelin concert. The impact is so powerful that band members constantly hear from young rockers that they were the catalyst behind turning them into new, die-hard Zeppelin fans.
Their passion, musical ability, showmanship and precise attention to detail earned them critical acclaim, name recognition and a loyal national following. The Los Angeles Timeshailed the group as being "head and shoulders above all other Zeppelin tributes," and the Chicago Sun-Timesdeclared Zoso is "the closest to the original of any tribute."
If you missed Led Zeppelin live in the 70's or are looking to relive the "Hammer of the Gods" phenomenon, you must experience what the St. Petersburg Times calls "the most exacting of the Zeppelin tribute bands in existence."
Zoso is: Matt Jernigan-Robert Plant; John McDaniel-Jimmy Page; Adam Sandling-John Paul Jones; Bevan Davies-John Bonham