Renowned Led Zeppelin tribute band ZoSo will bring its own form of an authentic live Zeppelin experience to the Varsity on Friday night.While many tribute bands focus solely on replicating the sound of the band they are covering, ZoSo, which has been touring for over a decade, tries to nail every aspect of the Led Zeppelin live experience.”I think we have taken the tribute band experience to a different level,” said lead singer Matt Jernigan, who plays the role of Robert Plant. “We did not throw this band together.”
Each of ZoSo’s members was picked to resemble Zeppelin’s legendary four members when the band formed in 1995.
Jernigan said it is both an honor and a challenge to channel the hard rock legends every night.”In a way, you have to be an actor as well as a musician up there on stage,” Jernigan said.  
“We’ve been doing it so long, at this point it’s almost like second nature, like a light switch going on.” Despite the confidence Jernigan expressed, he still reiterated the difficulty of living up to the legend of Zeppelin.”Even though we have been at it so long now, there’s always that one moment right before the show where we all get pretty nervous.”While tribute and cover bands often face criticism from music fans and concert attendees, Jernigan acknowledged he understands people’s skepticism and also feels ZoSo transcends normal cover band shows.”There are absolutely naysayers out there, but we let our shows and the precision of our music speak for itself,” Jernigan said. “We believe that ZoSo is the premiere Led Zeppelin live experience, so we definitely understand that the fans should have high expectations for our shows.”Jernigan also said the band, which has played in Louisiana nearly a dozen times, loves playing at the venues in the local area.”Everybody who has come out to our shows in Louisiana has been very supportive,” Jernigan said. “It’s actually been pretty overwhelming to see the response we have received at some of our sets in south Louisiana.”Jernigan said this crowd response has been especially satisfying since the most important goal for the band has always been to make sure the fans felt like they had experienced a true rock n’ roll show.
“You try to bring people an experience that they can no longer get from the band, since Led Zeppelin isn’t in existence anymore,” Jernigan said.Jernigan said consistency may be the toughest part of covering Led Zeppelin.”You’ve got to be consistently excellent to do Led Zeppelin’s music and their live show justice,” Jernigan said. “Anything less is just second-rate.”–Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]