Sons of Albion @ Fontana's on the Lower East Side, NYC

My colleague and I  were in New York for a business conference.  Technically we were out on Long Island and we came into the City with the group on the LIRR.  The group wanted to go and do the touristy thing at Times Square, having dinner at the ESPNZone.  The joke was on them, the ESPNZone has closed!  Anyway, Matt and I just couldn't fathom the idea of passing up on both a chance to see the Sons of Albion and catching some local flavor so we hopped the subway down to SOHO. 


We had a really great meal and some fine beers at a place called Spitzer's Corner that I found using my craft beer finder app on my iPhone.  Not sure about the name, but the place was very cool.  We sat at an open window facing the street. It was a beautiful evening and the locals were out in all of their glory.

After dinner we back-tracked to Fontana's.  It's a nice little divey place with it's music room in the basement.  The fire marshal notice said occupancy limited to 73.  So, it's a small place, but they had a good beer selection.  I had a nice Pumpkin Ale by a local brewery.  Damned if I can remember the name.

Anyway, the band came on a couple of minutes after 8 pm.  We joked that it wouldnt be very rock n' roll if they were punctual.  They came out, said "hi" and tore into the first song.

Their set was short, maybe 40 minutes, but they made the most of it.  Very high energy.  The singer is the son of Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and every so often I could hear his Dad in his voice.  He sings in a bit of a lower range than his Dad, but occasionally he'd reach for a high note and I could really hear the family resemblance. 

This must've been what it was like in the early 90's.  I felt like what I was witnessing was not unlike Soundgarden's rise from the basement stages of clubs in and around Seattle. 

I would expect big things from these guys once their LP is released and they do a proper US tour.

Check them out on Facebook.