The Zombies’ Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone (Jacob Blickenstaff)
Tonight, Carnegie Hall hosts a star-studded salute to Led Zeppelin, the latest installment of the annual “Music Of” tribute shows held at the famous New York City venue organized by local entrepreneur Michael Dorf. Among the well-known artists on the bill are British Invasion legends The Zombies.
Zombies singer Colin Blunstone tells ABC Radio that this will be his first-ever performance at Carnegie Hall.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Blunstone says. “I mean, it is one of the most prestigious halls in the world, so I think that it’ll be great.”
After agreeing to do the show, The Zombies suffered a tragedy in late January when their longtime bassist, Jim Rodford, died in a fall at his home. This prompted Blunstone and Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent to change their initial plans for the Zeppelin performance. Argent tells ABC Radio that he and Blunstone now will play as a duo at the concert.
“I said to Colin, ‘If we can do a really stripped-down piano-and-voice thing, which will be unlike anything else, possibly, that’s on the show, that might make a statement,'” Rod explains.
Argent adds, “We would originally have definitely done it with the whole band, but we would’ve spent some time on it and we’d have worked out a way of doing it in our own way…And we’ve had no time to do that.”
Other artists set to perform at the Led Zeppelin tribute include Living Colour, Scandal‘s Patty Smyth, Matthew Sweet and Dinosaur Jr.‘s J. Mascis. The show will feature a house band including longtime Patti Smith bassist/keyboardist Tony Shanahan and Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken.
All proceeds from the concert will go toward various music-education programs for underprivileged children and young people. Visit MusicOf.org for more details.
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