Concertgoers with a whole lotta love for the music of Led Zeppelin are ready to rock New Brunswick’s State Theatre New Jersey this Sunday, May 4, 2025 afternoon at the New Jersey Symphony’s performance of The Music of Led Zeppelin featuring vocalist Justin Sargent.
The lights dim and guitarist George Citrone, bassist Dan Clemens, and drummer Powell Randolph take the stage along with the musicians of the New Jersey Symphony. Associate concertmaster Brennan Sweet tunes the orchestra before conductor Brent Havens takes the podium and welcomes the sold-out crowd to today’s performance, declaring, “This is a rock and roll show!”
Opening with “Good Times Bad Times,” the trio and symphony musicians rock the house with singer Justin Sargent who struts onto the stage singing with power and style on this rhythmic rocker, “In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man/And now I’ve reached that age I’ve tried to do all those things the best I can.”
The crowd cheers and Sargent exclaims, “We’re here to celebrate one of the greatest rock bands of all time — Led Zeppelin!”
Following “Ramble On,” a ballad where the brass, wind, and string sections add percussive lines to the rock trio’s accompaniment, Sargent gets the crowd clapping along to “Kashmir.” Moving and gesturing, Sargent cries, “Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, with stars to fill my dream,” backed by the syncopated string section. Together, the trio and orchestra create a wall of sound that crashes over the audience to the steady 4/4 drum beat of this polyrhythmic Led Zeppelin classic.
Audience members hoot and holler and Sargent has the audience echo-sing “Ah-ah” with him, after which he asserts, “I think they’re ready for some ‘Black Dog!’” Sargent cries, “Hey-hey, mama, said the way you move/Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove,” and the trio and orchestra respond with their big sound playing the song’s famous guitar lick accompaniment. On this interactive number, Sargent holds the mic out to the audience so concertgoers can sing along with him.
Sargent explains that although he’s currently on tour with the Broadway musical, Hamilton, he decided to play “hooky” to do today’s show in New Jersey because he lives in West Orange. Happy to be on stage in his home state, he and the orchestra perform a heartfelt interpretation of the Zeppelin ballad, “Thank You.”
Sargent and Co. follow up with a medley which starts with the rocking minor blues tune, “Heartbreaker,” where on the cadenza George Citrone renders a distorted guitar solo with agility and speed, making both his guitar sing and the audience cheer.
Music lovers stand and clap along as the medley continues with the rocking “Misty Mountain Hop” where Sargent and Citrone sing in harmony and Citrone rips another guitar solo prior to circling back to “Heartbreaker” for the dramatic conclusion.
To conclude Act I, the musicians perform “The Ocean.” Backed by syncopated licks played by the trio and orchestra, Sargent chants, “Singing to an ocean, I can hear the ocean’s roar/Play for free, I play for me and play a whole lot more,” before the audience joins in singing the song’s “Nah/nah” interlude and the arrangement shifts to a swing rhythm prior to the song’s grand finale.
Following a short intermission, Sargent gives a thrilling vocal performance on “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” The orchestra rises and falls with the rock band on this slow blues number where Sargent cries, “Baby, since I’ve been loving you, yeah/I’m about to lose my worried mind, oh yeah,” singing into the stratosphere with finesse on the arrangement’s powerful coda.
“I’m so glad we did that song at the beginning of the second half because, boy, is it tough!” exclaims Sargent before choosing a volunteer from the audience to come up on stage for the group’s next number. Here, he invites Bill, a devoted Led Zeppelin fan, to conduct the orchestra on “Dancing Days” as Sargent sings to a little girl at the edge of the stage and the crowd stands and claps along to this easy rocker.
Citrone plays 12-string acoustic guitar and music lovers sing along while strings soar on the appealing folk-rock tune, “Going to California.” Then, lights flash as Powell Randolph impresses with one-handed drum rolls prior to playing a drum solo with his hands on the fast-rocking, “Moby Dick.”
Sargent introduces his fellow performers to the audience prior to dedicating “All of My Love” to his daughter, the little girl he just sang to at the edge of the stage. After the woodwinds play the rhythmic introduction, Sargent gives a heartfelt performance crooning, “All of my love, all of my love, yes/Oh, all of my love to you, child,” on this appealing rock ballad.
“I think it’s time for us to get up on our feet!” exclaims Sargent as he and his stagemates launch into “Rock and Roll,” where music lovers sing along on the fast rocker’s “Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time” refrain.
Sargent and Co. conclude today’s show with “Whole Lotta Love.” Sargent wails the “You need coolin’/Baby, I’m not foolin’” intro before the crowd joins in on the ubiquitous “Gotta whole lotta love” chorus. After a drum and orchestral percussion section break, Citrone plays a slide guitar solo and Sargent effortlessly slides and bends notes with his voice as the number builds to a climactic conclusion.
The crowd stands and cheers and Sargent and the musicians perform an encore of Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” where Sargent cries, “We come from the land of the ice and snow/From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow,” backed by the orchestra’s rhythmic accompaniment on this upbeat rocker.
Music lovers hoot and holler and Sargent gestures, “One more?” Concertgoers cheer when they recognize the iconic guitar introduction to “Stairway to Heaven.” Music lovers quietly sing along as Sargent gently renders the song’s “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold/And she’s buying a stairway to Heaven” slow opening movement. Legato strings underscore the song’s “Ooh, it makes me wonder” lyric before the rock trio makes its entrance on the “If there’s a bustle in your hedge row” folk rock segment.
Audience members sing along as the piece morphs into the uptempo hard rock movement where brasses blare, lights flash, and Sargent sings up an octave on the powerful “And as we wind on down the road” lyric prior to reaching the dramatic conclusion where Sargent slowly sings, “And she’s buying a stairway…” and the audience responds with a cappella singing on “…to Heaven.”
The trio and orchestra members take a moment to snap photos from the stage with the audience, after which music lovers hear, “What a blast!” “Thank you so much, everybody!” and “See you next time!”
Concertgoers take a moment to share their opinions about today’s production. Declares Michelle from Woodbridge, “This show was awesome! I grew up on Led Zeppelin; my dad played it for me, and my mom’s a musician,” prior to revealing, “She’s more about classical music and he’s more about rock so I was ready for this afternoon’s collision!”
Remarks Michelle’s mom, Kim from Woodbridge, “The rock band was very good and so was the singer. Although I wish I could have heard a little more of the orchestra, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon since this was a Christmas present for my husband.” Comments Kim’s husband, Mark, “It was a very good show,” explaining, “You don’t get to hear Led Zeppelin live very often these days, so it really was good to have ‘them’ back again!”
Asserts Dino from Hazlet, “It was a very impressive performance! I had no idea the vocalist was from Hamilton — he had really good stage presence and I liked how he got the crowd so involved. Also, the guitar playing was so clean and tight,” prior to adding, “This was my first time hearing Led Zeppelin’s music played with a live orchestra and I have to say I really enjoyed it.”
Acknowledges Josh from Edison, “We are New Jersey Symphony subscribers and we were happy to bring our friends with us to see today’s show. This was their first time experiencing the orchestra,” noting, “It was really nice that this concert appealed to a wider audience, and we were especially happy to see that it sold out!”
Comments Josh’s friend, Laura from Flemington, “The show was amazing! It blew me away — it was fantastic!” Her husband, Edward, agrees, confessing, “I don’t really know what I expected today, but this was a rock and roll show, and it was unbelievable! The concert had great energy and was a lot of fun where the singer, the guitarist — and just everything — rocked!”
To learn more about New Jersey Symphony, please go to njsymphony.org. For information on great upcoming New Jersey Symphony performances at New Brunswick’s State Theatre New Jersey — including New Jersey Symphony presents How to Train Your Dragon in Concert on July 12, Fantasia in Concert with New Jersey Symphony on October 26, and Ben Folds in Concert with New Jersey Symphony on June 14 — please click on stnj.org.
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