Jason Bonham

During the first half of Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience Tuesday at the State Theatre, I thought I was having a bad acid trip. There was Tiny Tim on guitar, Chris Daughtry on vocals, Butcher Vachon on drums, Ryan Seacrest on keyboards and Cousin It on bass performing as a Led Zeppelin tribute band. To be sure, Bonham's tears and film clips of his youth and his dad (the late Zep drummer John Bonham) were special touches. But his band of unknowns was something else. Playing their first U.S. show after a handful of gigs in Canada, the quintet was competent but too clinical, too controlled and too clean in the hour-long first set. In concert, Zeppelin was not professional or precise. They cut loose, they improvised like jazzers, they got dangerous. Playing on modern equipment, Bonham's boys didn't sound dirty enough, not Zep enough –except on "The Lemon Song," which began to suggest the freewheeling chaos of Zep in concert. I don't know what Jason did at intermission besides drink Red Bull but it seemed like a new band in the 80-minute second set. The sound was big, booming, echoy and dirty – like vintage Zeppelin live. The band was loose, even a little sloppy – like Led Zeppelin was. "Black Dog" sounded like a blast from the'70s. "When the Leavee Breaks" had a great, strutting groove. "Kashmir" was a psychedelic stomp. And "Whole Lotta Love" was imperfect, frantic, feedback-drenched fun. The standout musician was guitarist Tony Catania, who was a convincing Jimmy Page surrogate, right down to his posture and pursed lips.The weak link was singer James Dylan, recruited from the tribute band Virtual Zeppelin; his voice wasn't as powerful or liberating as Robert Plant's. Few people's are, but Heart's Ann Wilson certainly would have been a better choice to provide Plant-like power and emotion. Having Stephen Leblanc, the keyboardist, occasionally play a second guitar seemed like cheating. As for drummer/bandleader Bonham, 44, he was a percussive force, and his duets with his dad on film were suitably sentimental yet musically rewarding. Set list: Rock n Roll/ Celebration Day/ I Can't Quit You Baby/ Your Time Is Gonna Come/Ramble On/ Dazed and Confused/ Lemon Song/ Thank You/ Moby Dick INTERMISSION Good Times Bad Times/ Since I've Been Loving You/ Black Dog/ When the Leavee Breaks/ the Ocean/ Over the Hills and Far Away/ I'm Gonna Crawl/ Stairway to Heaven/ Kashmir ENCORE Whole Lotta Love