POP MUSIC REVIEW : Dread Zeppelin Twists Classics

Sure, there are plenty of reggae-style Led Zeppelin tribute bands fronted by Elvis impersonators, but there’s a reason why Dread Zeppelin is the one with a recording contract.

At the Palace on Tuesday, the six-man band (plus singer Tortelvis’ omnipresent towel- and water-boy) stretched one joke into more than an hour of fun. The Zeppelin songs that make up most of Dread Zeppelin’s live repertoire (as well as its new album “Un-Led-Ed”) retain their name, but they sure don’t remain the same.

From a medley of “Black Dog” and “Hound Dog”--complete with canned barks--to an elaborate, toasted “Stairway to Heaven,” the group twisted the sacred classics into laugh-inducing caricatures, placing heavy emphasis on guitar excess and Tortelvis’ Vegas song stylings.

But for all their cleverness, such parodies might grow tiresome if it weren’t for the group’s visual appeal.

A “Gilligan’s Island”-meets-”Blue Hawaii” stage set provided a suitably skewed backdrop for the wildly attired band, whose members range from the dreadlocked, caftan-clad Ed Zeppelin on percussion to bassist Put-Mon, who on Tuesday sported a barely-there bathing suit. Tortelvis himself was resplendent in an electric blue jumpsuit anchored by a freeway-wide white belt. Funniest of all was the interplay between Tortelvis and his surly valet, who never failed to interrupt a performance in order to comb the ersatz King’s hair.

Dread Zeppelin is a labor of a whole lotta love, but you don’t have to work hard to appreciate the results.