While there can be no doubt that the COVID pandemic was catastrophic for thousands of musicians and their bands since March of 2020, it’s reasonable to ask if those remarkably talented groups can come back from the Great Shutdown of 2020-21.
In the case of Lez Zeppelin, the all-female tribute act honoring the work of Led Zeppelin, the answer is an absolute yes but not without an entirely new perspective on performance and purpose.
For Steph Paynes, the band’s leader and founder, her shutdown experience will remain forever in her memory. Les Zeppelin was the final performance at the Rams Head in Annapolis the night before when Governor Hogan announced the state-wide shutdown. The band had planned to continue their road tour with a benefit concert for WHCP Community Radio station in Cambridge when they heard that their Eastern Shore gig had been canceled. From that evening forward, the band, which Spin’s music critic has called “the most powerful all-female band in rock history,” fell silent for over a year.
In her Spy Zoom interview from earlier this week, Payne talks about the last eighteen months and how the band somehow survived this surreal period. In fact, Steph and her bandmates Marlain Angelides, Joan Chew, and Leesa Harrington-Squyres, are performing live concerts now and will finally make good on their commitment to play a benefit concert for Cambridge’s beloved community station on September 26th Governor’s Hall at Sailwinds Park.
This video is approximately two minutes in length. For ticket information please go here
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