Some guys have dreams about Playmates in sexy French lingerie. I dream about Angus Young in an Aussie schoolboy outfit.

Yes, it's true, I woke up one morning a few weeks ago remembering a dream I'd had about AC/DC. It wasn't even a cool fantasy dream -- say, downing Foster's cans with the lads backstage or jamming onstage with Angus. It was simply a vision of getting a press release at work announcing the band's first U.S. tour in eight years. Boy, was I excited.

Led Zeppelin fans have been praying for just such a dream-come-true since the band played its much-ballyhooed reunion show in London on Dec. 10. As with AC/DC, though, the Zep has left us hanging. Robert Plant is out on tour with Alison Krauss through the summer, and no promise has been made about anything happening after that.

All of this heightened anticipation may help explain the growing popularity of two local tribute bands, Zed-Leppelin and TNT. You see their names more and more in club listings. And as I saw last weekend when I attended gigs by them, they're drawing pretty sizable -- and oftentimes easily excitable -- crowds.

"I've had at least a dozen 55-year-old men come up to me in tears saying, 'I saw Zeppelin back in 1977, and this is the closest I've been to reliving it,'" Zed guitarist John Rohling told me after the show.

The only tears I got from Zed-Leppelin last Saturday at POV's in Andover came with my first glimpse of singer Andy Lijewski in his tight, open-chested, hippie-dippie Plant shirt. But I was genuinely satisfied getting the Led out with the quartet, whose members all played in bands in their 20s and came back to it with Z-L in their late 30s and 40s.

I got there in time for their second of two sets, when they really get to the down-and-dirty stuff, including "Dazed and Confused," "Heartbreaker," "Since I've Been Loving You" and "The Ocean." Lijewski -- who formerly sang in the metal bands Paragon and Raggedy Andy -- fits Plant's vocal range better than his wardrobe, and Rohling was equally impressive as Jimmy Page. He plays the same style of sunburst and double-neck Les Paul guitars that Page used, and he even brings out the bow for "Dazed."

Of course, tribute bands have a fine line to walk between meticulous and just plain nerdy. Z-L crossed the line a few times, such as when Lijewski talked like Plant between songs, or any time Rohling did a knee kick like Page.

TNT's approach to AC/DC was the exact opposite of Leppelin's. When the band members took the stage at Mayslack's earlier on Saturday, they looked like guys who had just gotten off work from Jiffy Lube or a paper warehouse. Guitarist Wally Borgan even had on the same Wild jersey as a guy standing next to me in the crowd -- especially funny, considering that Down Under, they don't even know what hockey is.

Without visual props, TNT only had the songs and their own musical chops to rely on. Perfect!

The quintet has two singers who alternate on bass when the other guy's singing. Mike Grabow, who looks like Turtle from HBO's "Entourage," was a little grating as Brian Johnson -- which is to say, he was pretty accurate. But Jon Magnuson truly burned it up as Bon Scott, despite being about four times the size of the late, wee-sized singer. He channeled and not just mimicked Scott, from the set openers "If You Want Blood" and "Dirty Deeds" through such deep cuts as "Squealer," "Live Wire" and "Sin City."

Seeing TNT raise a little AC/DC hellfire didn't fulfill my urge for the real thing, but when a bunch of joe-blow guys can fake it so well, we all learn a thing or two about the joys of rock 'n' roll. It's one dream we can all share.

The other Summit Ave Funny coincidence that Glen Phillips will be in town to play the Cedar this Sunday. Summit Avenue, a local band that reminds me an awful lot of his old band, Toad the Wet Sprocket, hosts its CD-release party a night earlier at the Fine Line.

"Bend," Summit's second album in a four-year run, was produced by Winterland Studio's Brian Johnson (the other Brian Johnson). The quartet plays a mean soft-hearted ballad, such as "Heart of Mine," which sounds as tailor-made for play in a TV drama as Toad's "All I Want" did 15 years ago. Summit Ave's plainer-jane, Matchbox 20-ish heavier tracks aren't quite as fulfilling, but radio programmers might disagree. Saturday's party fittingly features Cedar Avenue as openers (9 p.m., $8).

Random mix Truthmaze, Big Quarters, Zach of Kanser, Maria Isa, Sha Cage and more are featured on a new compilation CD, "Zero Element: The Reclamation Project," which benefits the nonprofit Youthrive and stresses hip-hop's positive, peaceful side. It's being issued in conjunction with today's appearance by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. ...

The Adam Levy-led, horns-driven all-star '70s cover band Hookers & Blow now plays every Wednesday at Bunkers, the popular slot that G.B. Leighton built (9 p.m., $5). ... G.B. Leighton's advertising supplement City Pages has already hired a new music editor: Andrea Myers, who got her start at HowWastheShow.com and was ReveilleMag.com's managing editor of late. Glad to hear CP went with someone who knows local music. ...

In today's vacuum of female-fronted metal bands, there could be deserved attention for newcomers Cwn Annwn ("coon-uh-NOON," Welsh for "hound of chaos"). The young St. Paul quartet -- blending Metallica-style thrash with singer Julie Schultz's Alanis-style vocals -- promotes its debut EP "Blood of the Djinn" at Station 4 tonight (9 p.m., $5). ... Haley Bonar's Tchad Blake-mixed album "Big Star" finally has a release date: June 10, with a party June 12 at the Varsity. ...

About $15,000 was raised at last month's Lyndale Elementary benefit at First Avenue, and last weekend's Turf Club party for (the financially strapped) Treehouse Records brought in $2,100 for New Orleans relief, organizers say. I like to bring up these kind of figures whenever possible but especially when the Legislature is proposing funding for various arts programs around the state but never, it seems, for our kind of community-oriented art. Most of that funding has been vetoed by the governor, anyway.

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658