The Black Hands
Andy Gannon (vocals/harp) / Daniel Riley (guitars) / Joe Hayes (bass/keys) / Ben Atkins (drums, percussion)
The Black Hands were one of two tribute bands that I saw on the same night. The band’s website tells us that “The Black Hands are a rootsy rock/blues outfit from Chesterfield UK, in the mould of Free, Cream and more recently Rival Sons and The Temperance Movement. Throw in some Deep South influences from yesteryear and you will start to picture where The Black Hands are coming from.” I have no reason to doubt this but I honestly can’t remember anything about their performance.
I do know that I enjoyed the gig so they must have impressed me.
Should you wish to visit their website you will see plenty of enthusiastic and encouraging reviews.
Setlist: unknown
Hats Off To Led Zeppelin
Peter Eldridge (vocals) / Jack Tanner (guitars) / Kevin Oliver Jones (bass, keyboards) / Simon Wicker (drums, percussion)
Confession time, folks – I’m not a huge fan of Led Zeppelin. Sorry, I know that I should be, but I’m not. Yes, I have always liked ‘Whole Lotta Love’, ‘Stairway to Heaven‘, ‘Immigrant Song’ and a handful of others but other than the ‘Physical Graffiti’ double set – which is wonderful and doesn’t have a clunker anywhere in sight – I’m afraid that I just don’t like them. I have no time for the world-renowned Robert Plant’s screaming and Jimmy Page’s greatly extended guitar strangling solos. So you will have to understand that I was almost dragged almost kicking and screaming to this gig by my friend Nigel Foale who is a huge LZ fan.
Anyway, much as I disliked a lot of the heavier music, Hats Off to Led Zeppelin certainly pulled off the gig. Later acknowledged as officially the UK’s best tribute LZ band in both 2016 and 2017, there is no doubt that back when I saw them they had the capacity to be very good imitators of their heroes.
The set was filled with all of the Zep classics that you would expect but I can’t find a verified setlist so you’ll just have to guess at what they played.
The venue was very full – as you might expect – which helped to create a loud, noisy atmosphere which was soaked up by the band and audience alike. Suffice to say that at the end Nigel went home very happy and I was quite impressed. Would I go and see them again? Perhaps…
Setlist: unknown
And here’s the band’s 2011 promo video…
Gigs'n'Stuff 