Blü Egyptian turns The Breakbeat into a Led Zeppelin Halloween on Saturday

Chico's homegrown prog-jam quartet comes back from Reno to play a Zeppelin tribute with special guests downtown on Oct. 31.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and Chico's own Blü Egyptian is spending it doing Led Zeppelin. The band's site lists a Zeppelin tribute featuring special guests at The Breakbeat on Saturday, Oct. 31, for $10. The Eventbrite listing, titled "Blü Egyptian Led Zep Halloween," gives a 10 p.m. start.

There's a history here. Blü Egyptian's Halloween sets have a habit of turning into concept nights. A past Halloween party at the Chico Women's Club, a KZFR-hosted party covered by The Orion, opened with the band covering Talking Heads' 1980 album *Remain in Light*. Going from Talking Heads to Zeppelin says a lot about the band: it is willing to dive deep into somebody else's catalog and come out the other side still sounding like itself.

That self is hard to pin down, which is the point. Listings describe Blü Egyptian as a quartet that pioneered "Prog-Jam," and as a band that pulls funk, Latin, reggae, bluegrass and rock 'n' roll into one set. Grateful Web covered the release of their debut album. In practice it means long-form songs that can turn sharply in the middle of a jam, which suits Zeppelin material well. Those songs were built for stretching out.

The Breakbeat is familiar ground for them. In June the band ran the Breakbeat Sessions, a Thursday-night residency at the downtown club. If you caught one of those, you know the room. If you didn't, think of a downtown club where a hometown band has spent a summer learning exactly how loud it can get.

The Halloween date sits in the middle of a run. The band plays Reno–Tahoe the night before, Oct. 30, and in December heads north for Bend, Portland, Seattle and Olympia on consecutive nights, Dec. 9 through 12. Saturday is the hometown stop between them, and hometown shows from a touring band tend to be the loose, generous ones.

Zeppelin songs were built for stretching out, and stretching out is what this band does.

What to know before you go. Costumes are the obvious move on Oct. 31, and a Zeppelin night practically writes them for you. The band hasn't named the "special guests." Check the Eventbrite page for this show's age policy and whether tickets are still available, because the band's own listing showed a "Notify Me" button when we checked. At $10, it's one of the cheaper Halloween plans in town.

Wear the wig, show up by 9:30 and let a Chico band play you some Zeppelin.

Sources: Blü Egyptian — official site (bluegyptianband.com); Blü Egyptian Led Zep Halloween — Eventbrite (eventbrite.com); Blü Egyptian The Breakbeat Sessions — Eventbrite (eventbrite.com); North Coast Journal — Blü Egyptian (northcoastjournal.com); Blü Egyptian just released their debut album — Grateful Web (gratefulweb.com); KZFR cures Chico's Halloween blues with brilliant mayhem and dance love - The Orion (theorion.com)