By Tim Collins
Some rock music finds its way into your soul and just never leaves. The music of Led Zeppelin and Heart is like that and will be brought back on Jan. 20 at Sidney’s Mary Winspear Centre when Barracuda, the essential Heart and Led Zeppelin tribute band takes the stage to rock the house with all the greatest hits.
The band hails from Vancouver, the city where Heart was formed and where they recorded their first two albums. Heart once called “little Zep”, covered Led Zeppelin (and still does, incidentally). Their own rock songs and ballads captured a huge following that continues to this day.
Barracuda is led by a powerhouse four-octave vocalist, D.L Car (Donna Caruk), an Ann Wilson purist who also plays flute and acoustic guitar.
The band searched far and wide for the perfect Nancy Wilson persona and found it in Sarah Moon, a Portland native whose talent and physical presence on stage is heart stopping.
Backing the ladies are four professionally seasoned musicians with a dedication to detail, heard in the subtle nuances and rock-solid delivery of their music.
But this is more than just a band playing Heart’s music; it’s a tribute to Heart’s history, writing, arranging, musicianship and a nod to their appearance as well. The set list covers Heart from the beginnings as a recording act, into their biggest successes and just about everything in between.
The boys of Barracuda start with Ray Roper who becomes Roger Fisher on stage and adds his guitar genius, keyboards and vocals to complete the package.
Next comes Darryl Hebert, who brings a wealth of versatility to the group, playing guitar, keytar, keyboards, banjo and mandolin. He’s also on vocals.
There’s Rick Fedyk on drums. He’s been touring with the Paul Rodgers band for more than a decade and Todd Ronning, another alumnus of the Paul Rodgers band.
And let’s not forget Mark Kenny, whose hard-driving bass keeps the band in line.
Together, Barracuda presents the music with heart and style, to the point where Heart founding member, Roger Fisher has given the group his personal endorsement, going so far as to appear with the group on numerous occasions. Tickets for Barracuda are available at tickets.marywinspear.ca.
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