The Manhattan Beat: The Music of Led Zeppelin: Live Rehearsal Show at City Winery

Entrepreneur Michael Dorf has been an integral fixture of the New York City music scene for over 30 years, beginning at the Knitting Factory and for the past 10 years with City Winery. For the past 15 years, he has assembled impressive all-star casts for his "Music of …" series at Carnegie Hall. In recent years, these concerts have held a live rehearsal the night before at City Winery. These annual tribute concerts have generated over $1.5 million for The Orchestra Now, a Bard College outreach program for New York area high school students, and other causes related to music education and underprivileged youth.

O.A.R., the Zombies, moe., Nicole Atkins, Son Little, Orianthi & Richie Sambora, Living Colour, Bettye LaVette, the London Souls, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Erika Wennerstrom of the Heartless Bastards and others were advertised to appear at the Music of Led Zeppelin concert at Carnegie Hall on March 7. The live rehearsal at City Winery on March 6 would include some but not all of these performers, plus unannounced artists.

By way of welcome and introduction, Dorf emphasized to the audience at City Winery that this was a rehearsal and that many mistakes would be made. The house band, which consisted of bassist/conductor Tony Shanahan of the Patti Smith Group, guitarists Andy York and Jackie Greene, keyboardist Andy Burton, and drummer Dennis Diken of the Smithereens, were joined by violinists and cellists from The Orchestra Now and vocalist Shannon Conley of Lez Zeppelin (a local all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band) for a powerful rendition of "Kashmir." Son Little played acoustic guitar on "Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You," Matthew Sweet sang "Dancing Days," J Mascis played on "Tangerine." Conley returned for "Misty Mountain Hop," and guitarist Ayron Jones played "Since I’ve Been Loving You." The house band left the stage so Living Colour could perform "Rock n Roll" and the London Souls could perform "Bring It On Home." The house band returned to back vocalist Joseph Arthur on "Ramble On." The remainder of the show featured Conley on vocals on "Trampled Underfoot", "The Ocean" and the set closer "Whole Lotta Love." Called back for an encore, Conley, Jones, guitarist Tash Neal of the London Souls, and the house band jammed to "Communication Breakdown."