POWER - Led Zeppelin The Song Remains the Same with the Vancouver Island Symphony

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Saturday, March 9th, 2019
7:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Blending renegade music from the 1960s and ’70s with the discipline and structure of a symphonic orchestra is an exciting way to bring a new essence of power back to some of the powerful classics in Rock 'n Roll.

Jeans N' Classics, based in London, Ontario, has worked with over 100 orchestras in venues throughout North America and has created almost 1,000 original rock and pop orchestrations. They’re joining the Vancouver Island Symphony on Saturday, March 9th for Power!

Micheal Shotton has been performing with Jeans ’N Classics for more than twenty years. “Rock N’ Roll has a renegade edge to it," he says. "We keep that, but at the same time, contain it with the elegance of an orchestra. It’s incredibly intriguing and exciting to hear rock music presented this way.”

Having worked on more than 250 album recordings throughout his career, Shotton’s talent and experience cross numerous musical genres. He’s collaborated and worked with industry A-listers and is the voice behind many major television commercials including Coke, The Bay and many others. Credited with an almost impossibly wide vocal range, a vast spectrum of abilities and a charismatic stage presence, it's no wonder Shotton has been called a “human dynamo”.

“I have a lot of energy, and I’m happy to share that,” Shotton says. “I’ve done Queen and Led Zeppelin songs with rock bands but doing them with an orchestra is a whole different thing. I want it to be polite, but I still want it to have an edge.”

Of the more than 50 unique shows that Jeans 'N Classics has in its repertoire, it's The Song Remains the Same that has a special place in VIS Artistic Director and Conductor Pierre Simard's heart. “I once was, like so many of us, a long-haired teenager,” Simard says. His older brother introduced him to the rebellious side of music, and Led Zeppelin was a favourite they shared. “I had something of a double life; listening to Tchaikovsky and Beethoven during the week, and rebel-rocker music on weekends.”

The blending of rock with classical music genres is not new. With precedents set by bands such as Metallica, who performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1999; Peter Gabriel who, in 2011, released a purely orchestral album with rearrangements of some of Genesis' most popular songs and of course, the countless number of symphonic concerts featuring the music of Queen.

"This is not a tribute show," Shotton emphasises, adding that the audience, in true Rock 'N Roll, style, should bring their lighters, or the smartphone, app version of - a tradition at stadium shows where audiences pay tribute to the band on stage.

The original album, The Song Remains the Same, was released by Led Zeppelin in 1976, with remastered version released in both 2007 and in September of last year. The album includes classic rock staples including “Dazed and Confused”, “Kashmir”, "Thank You" and the eternal “Stairway to Heaven.” “These are the soundtracks of our lives,” says Shotton. “These songs will be with us forever.”

With Lead Singer Michael Shotton Power, The Song Remains the Same, is a symphonic homage to the first and best of the heavy rock bands.

To purchase tickets for this performance, visit www.vancouverislandsymphony.com.

Keeping Music Live!