We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are looking forward to joining us on our ‘Farewell Tour’ in 2022, it would be fantastic to see you at what will be our last shows together.
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When we played what turned out to be our last show before the lockdown in Colchester on 13th March 2020, none of us could have predicted what was in store for for us and certainly wouldn’t have believed it would be a long, long nineteen months before we were back on stage again in front of a live audience but on 15th October 2021 Nick, Geoff and Charlie loaded our equipment into our recently serviced van and headed for Brighton. After a brief stop to collect Lee from his house in Southwick we headed for the Concorde 2. It felt odd setting up and trying to remember what plugged into where but eventually we were ready for sound check which went really well as the technicians and crew here are always extremely helpful and always do a great job.
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Just before the show Geoff received a message from one of the band’s former vocalists, Rod Davis, who has relocated to the UK from his native Australia with his family, I’m sure some of our earliest followers will remember him. During the interval Rod came backstage to say hello and deliver a couple of copies of his last vinyl album which he recorded a couple of years ago. Time was tight and after a brief catch-up with Rod it was time to get back on stage for the second set. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the crowd, some of whom had travelled quite long distances to see us back on stage again after so long, suffice to say they were very appreciative and gave us a great welcome back. Before we knew it we were at the end of the show, finishing with a very vocal ‘Rock And Roll’ and in
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the words of Mr. Robert Plant it really had “been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, time”. After the show Geoff spent some more time reminiscing with Rod (Ozzie guy) about the ‘old days’ and how the time has passed so quickly until they were interrupted by one of the security guys who was trying to clear the venue of people, after the third time Geoff showed him his ‘Access All Areas’ wrist band and was finally left in peace by the very apologetic security man.
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Then came the packing up and trying to remember how to load the van after such a long lay-off! Soon we were headed for home, dropping Lee off at his house en route. After about an hour we hit a diversion which appeared to be taking us round in circles until eventually Geoff (with the help of Google maps) managed to get us back on the right track, literally, it was a very narrow windy road but soon we hit the M4 and home.
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A few days later a review of the show appeared on the Scene Sussex website run by Ian Bourn, he also took some great shots which can be viewed here. The review is also on our website.
Lee also videoed the show and you can see a couple of songs on our YouTube channel (Father Of The Four Winds) or on the video page on our website.
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And if you walk you're gonna get there... |
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Our next run of shows should have taken us to Cornwall and Devon but unfortunately a whole series of problems combined to make the trip pretty much impossible resulting in us having to cancel both the Penzance and Newquay shows, however, we did manage to salvage the Tavistock show albeit without a keyboard player, so, on 6th December Geoff and Nick set off in the van to collect Charlie at his home in Yate. With Charlie now driving we headed for the M5 but within a few minutes Charlie noticed a problem with the van and as we pulled up at some traffic lights the van lost all power. Nick and Geoff jumped out of the van and as the lights turned green they managed to push the van off of the main road and parked it a little way from the junction.
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There was a strong smell of diesel so the van had obviously sprung a leak somewhere. Geoff got on the phone to the RAC and logged the breakdown with them, there then followed a series of messages from the RAC saying they were experiencing a high number of call outs and would be with us as soon as possible. Charlie contacted Lee, who had travelled to the venue the night before, to explain the problem, Lee in turn informed the venue that we were running late. With time ticking away and no sign of the RAC we put ‘Plan B’ into action. Charlie has a friend who has access to a number of vans and who very kindly agreed to lend us one if we couldn’t get our van fixed, so while Nick and Charlie went to collect it, Geoff stayed with our van in case the RAC arrived, and within ten minutes of them leaving that is just what happened. The RAC mechanic quickly found the problem, a clip that connects a pipe to the fuel pump filter had broken resulting in the diesel pouring from the disconnected pipe. A ‘quick fix’ by the mechanic using four cable ties allowed us to get back on the road and after a speedy trip down the M5 we finally arrived at The Wharf at 5.00pm, only a couple of hours late. With The Wharf’s crew helping us unload the van we were soon setting up and ready to sound check, as Geoff went to pick up his bass guitar he accidentally stepped on the jack plug which was plugged into the guitar’s socket, which snapped the scratch plate and also damaged the jack socket.
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With his main bass out of action Geoff picked up his spare bass only to find it didn’t work either!Having not been played for almost two years this was hardly surprising but Nick came to the rescue with some special spray for cleaning electrical contacts and after few squirts it did the trick and geoff was back in action.
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Well, they say things come in threes, so it was hardly a surprise when about fifteen minutes before going on stage, Geoff felt an itch on his inner right arm, scratched it and thought nothing of it until a couple of minutes later Charlie noticed a very sleepy looking wasp crawling along his stage clothes bag, with the dozy wasp dispatched, Geoff then took another look at his arm and realised he’d been stung! This time it was Lee to the rescue as he happened to have some antihystamine cream in his overnight bag, ointment duly applied we headed to the side of the stage to await our intro music, as we got to the cue we walked on stage to a huge cheer from the near capacity crowd who were as eager as us to get started. Once again there were lots of familiar faces in the crowd, some of whom again, had travelled a long way to see the band. Without James on keyboards we had to alter the set accordingly but still managed to perform 'Stairway To Heaven’ and ‘Kashmir’ despite this. Afterwards Geoff chatted to Ian and Paul. who have attended many shows over the years, and had travelled from Leek and Buckingham respectively to be at this show as it would probably be the last time they would see the band with Geoff on bass (but maybe not). After packing the van and saying our farewells, we headed back up the M5 and home - with no problems with the van this time.
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The Songs Remains The Same |
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The following weekend Geoff was unable to play the next three shows in Bath, Cardiff and Narberth, so stepping into the breach was Rob Deery from the excellent Zep tribute ‘CODA’. Lee knew Rob as he had stood in with CODA on a couple of occasions when they needed a dep vocalist. A quick rehearsal was arranged a week before the shows. After running through the songs that were required a few times all went well and with just a few changes to the arrangements and endings of some of the songs everything was ready for the upcoming shows the following weekend.
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On Thursday 11th November Whole Lotta Led took to the stage for the first time without Geoff at The Komedia in Bath, with their regular sound engineer, Nick Worms, on the mixing desk they were in good hands (don’t mention the feedback!) and the band received their usual warm welcome.
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The next day the band headed for The Globe in Cardiff, always a very enthusiastic and vocal audience, despite some on stage sound problems the show was another great success.
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Narberth - Our Name In Lights (well almost) |
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Saturday arrives and we head Narberth for the last of the three shows. Since our last visit in November 2019 the Queen’s Hall has been refurbished and equipment updated and the first of these improvements we noticed was a large illuminated billboard at the front of the venue advertising tonight's show. Lee and Rob couldn’t resist a quick selfie to show Geoff (who had designed the image). With the largest crowd the band has ever had at this venue it seems that absence really does make the heart grow fonder. A few days later Geoff received some photos of the show taken by Rob Lawrence, there were some excellent shots of this ‘new’ line-up of the band including some of Charlie, which is always difficult to achieve as he’s usually surrounded by cymbals!
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By all accounts Rob did a fantastic job and slotted in really well, no doubt you will see him again at some of next years shows. ???????
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On 2nd December the worldwide Led Zeppelin community awoke to the very sad news of Richard Cole’s passing. Richard had been with Led Zeppelin from the very start acting as their road manager on their early tours before taking over as tour manager as the band became ever more successful. Richard had learned his trade in the sixties, working with both The Who and The Yardbirds before the call came from Peter Grant that would change his life. Whole Lotta Led were lucky enough to meet Richard when he attended their show at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush way back in 2013 together with
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Barney Hoskyns, author of 'Trampled Underfoot'. Richard had been invited to the show by the band’s then keyboard player, David Wykeham-George, who got to know Richard from the time when David was living in London in the 1990's. We pass on our condolances to all Richard's family and friends.
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Achilles (Geoff's) Last Stand |
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Saturday 4th December, Geoff’s final show with the band arrives. Whole Lotta Led always try to end their year at one of their favourite venues, the Guildhall in Gloucester. The band has played there thirty-two times over the years and it’s always a great atmosphere with lots of family and friends in attendance and the knowledge that Christmas is just around the corner so it was a fitting place for Geoff to bow out. After loading in, setting up and sound checking Geoff made his way to the bar where he saw lots of familiar faces who had come to wish him all the best on this special night. Geoff was very touched to see a lot of people had, again, travelled long distances to be here including Ian and Paul from the Tavistock show who had brought along their friend Chris (originally from Grimsby) but now residing in Brackley. Also there were Mike and Yvonne Daniels (long time supporters of the band) who had travelled all the way from Newton Abbot. After chatting to as many people as possible Geoff made his way back to the dressing room to get ready. At 8.00pm Geoff walked out on stage with the rest of the band to a very warm welcome from the crowd. During the show Lee related a few facts about the band’s history and the number of shows that Geoff had performed with the band (1,580). As usual, the time flew by and before we knew it we were into the last song ‘Rock And Roll’. Afterwards Geoff made his way out to the bar area where he was stopped by many people who wanted to shake his hand and wish him well for the future. The show was also filmed and recorded by our good friends from Think Floyd, Lewis Hall and Paul Jennings so we are hoping that there will be some good video footage available in the new year of this historic show. After dismantling the gear and packing the van (in Geoff’s case) for the last time, we made our way back to Geoff’s house in Lechlade to celebrate with a few bottles of bubbly, wine, beer, whisky and cheese! (Thanks Debs), finally making it to bed at around 6.00am! It was a fitting end to such a long time with the band.
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“A big thank you to everyone who joined us on 4th December at The Guildhall, Gloucester to give me such a wonderful send off, and also for all the lovely comments on social media from those that couldn’t be there in person, they truly are appreciated. Many of you have asked if I am going to carry on playing, well, the answer is no, no other band could compare to Whole Lotta Led and I wish them all the very best on their Farewell Tour.”
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We were totally gobsmacked when on New Year's Eve we started receiving texts that we had been the subject of a question on The Chase. On viewing the programme we discovered it wasn't a wind up and the question that Bradley Walsh asked 'chaser' Anne Hegerty was "Whole Lotta Led are a tribute act to which rock band?" Well it seems Anne must have either heard of us or took an educated guess, we hope it was the former.
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Thursday 3rd February - The McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater Friday 4th February - The Pavilion, Exmouth Saturday 12th February - Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne Minster Friday 4th March - The Radlett Centre, Radlett Thursday 24th March - The Waterfront, Norwich Saturday 26th March - The Arts Centre, Colchester Saturday 9th April - Swan Theatre, Worcester Saturday 14th May - The Brook, Southampton Saturday 18th June - The Met, Bury Friday 8th July - Palace Theatre, Redditch Saturday 9th July - The Fleece, Bristol
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More dates are currently being booked, please check the SHOWS page on our website for the latest information.
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Photo credits: Geoff Hunt, Ian Bourn, Gill Brown, Rob Lawrence, Mike Rodwell, Darren Robinson.
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