Every weekend this month, Columbus is offering a wide selection of musical talent, from classic rock to big band. Find your flip-flops and get on out there.
Symphonic Stairway
It may be impossible to improve on Led Zeppelin, but conductor and composer Brent Havens is prepared to try his best.
During the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s performance of The Music of Led Zeppelin, well-known classic rock staples are given the full orchestra treatment.
The Picnic with the Pops concert is set for July 7 at Columbus Commons. Singer Randy Jackson will lead a full rock band, while Havens will lead the accompanying ensemble. Havens created the show in 1995.
The gig features 18 songs Havens chooses from the nearly 30 numbers he has arranged, including Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love, Ramble On, Black Dog and The Ocean.
“This is an out-and-out rock show with the Columbus Symphony,” Havens says.
Swing Time
This summer’s Lancaster Festival will feature the high-energy sounds that only big band swing can create thanks to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, which scored a major hit in 1999 with You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby), will perform July 21 at the Ohio University Lancaster Campus.
“They’re just so infectious with their music,” says festival director Lou Ross.
The 65-member Lancaster Festival Orchestra will start the performance, then Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will take the stage to play for 75 to 90 minutes. The orchestra will finish out the evening with a final set accompanied by fireworks.
“We’re just so excited about having them come this year,” Ross says.
Brotherly Love
The Ohio State Fair this year will feature the classic R&B sounds of the Isley Brothers.
The concert is slated for July 28 at the WCOL Celeste Center.
“They’ve been popular since the 1960s,” says fair spokeswoman Alicia Notestone Shoults. “There’s just a multi-generational interest in the Isley Brothers.”
Though the group, known for hit songs like Twist and Shout and It’s Your Thing, has been a major player in pop music for 50 years, it continues to release new material.
Set length is expected to be between 75 and 90 minutes.
Axes Meet Saxes
The 2012 JazZoo Concert Series kick-off show gives classic tunes by Elvis Presley and the Beatles a makeover.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Meets the Blues features Byron Stripling and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra along with Jonathan Elliott of the Floorwalkers on July 13.
Elliott first played with JazZoo last summer. The orchestra creates a huge sound, Elliott says – so huge that he was a bit daunted performing with it for the first time. Still, while humbling, he found the experience to be gratifying.
“I think it will be really cool. The JazZoo shows are great,” he says.
Sarah Sole is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
