For the briefest of brief moments back in 2007, I held out hope that Led Zeppelin’s one-off reunion show in London may be the spark to ignite a full-scale reunion tour. But Robert Plant’s surprisingly successful partnership with Alison Krauss has most likely killed any chance of a Zeppelin reunion.

With that in mind, the next best thing out there is ZOSO, the premiere Led Zeppelin tribute band that has been honoring the godfathers of heavy metal since 1995.

Seeing a band that looks like the original in it’s prime for $12 in a smaller venue is probably a better experience than seeing the real band in 2010 and paying $100 for a seat in the upper deck at the back of a stadium.

I talked to Matt Jernigan, who plays the role of Robert Plant, earlier this week. If there’s one quote to take away from the whole interview, it’s this one: “You know what the beauty of this gig is? We don’t ever do a bad song.”

Interview after the jump.
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PromoWest has booked some big huge shows in 2009 but even they realize that Tuesday night’s Them Crooked Vultures is, if not the biggest, maybe the most anticipated – just one of 10 U.S. dates. The (truly) super-group featuring Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) started recording material for a debut this past summer though they’ve talked about working together since 2005.

This being the internet age, rumors of a release date for Them Crooked Vulture’s debut spring up on a daily basis but I haven’t been able to find an official release date (many are suggesting we’ll be able to hold a CD in our hands by late November – just in time for the holiday gift-giving season).

So … while the resumes of the members speak for themselves, is this project really worth plunking down $47.50 (plus services charges) to see considering you won’t know any of the songs and you shouldn’t expect to hear any songs by the bands these guys come from? Based on early reviews, it is worth is – TCV supposedly deliver an onslaught of RAWK and live up to the “supergroup” tag way more than a band like Velvet Revolver does.

If you want to do a quick cram session and get a (live) preview of what you’ll hear, there are a few bootlegs floating around. Here’s one from the Austin show this past weekend (can’t vouch for the quality). While I haven’t heard this one -the stuff I’ve heard definitely has a QOTSA vibe as can be expected.

WORD OF WARNING (from the Promowest website): NO CAMERA’S ALLOWED DURING THIS PERFORMANCE, INCLUDING CELL PHONES. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT TAKING PICTURES YOU WILL BE ASKED TO DELETE THEM. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT A SECOND TIME, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO DELETE THEM AND ESCORTED OUT OF THE BUILDING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.