Coming To A Refurbished Theater Near You “Almost Queen” or A Tribute to Tributes

One day Bob Dylan is going to die and biology will finally trigger a round of Ticketmaster refunds and the conclusion of his self declared “never ending tour.” And on that day the second most disappointed person — obviously Bob is going to be the most disappointed person that day — will be the fan who really wanted to see his favorite artist perform live.

But just maybe somewhere in America on that day, a scruffy, bearded, jean wearing, acoustic guitar strumming lanky midwesterner will dig deep and deliver a clear and emotional reading of Shelter From the Storm or My Back Pages and then he will follow that with a blazing full band version of Absolutely 5 Believers and Highway 61. One could or should hope for that last part because I haven’t heard the author of those songs give a recent live reading of them that was worth the current price of admission.

Now least you take issue with my swipe at the reluctant Nobel Laureate, I wish Bob another 100 years of good health and creaky singing. My point is that in 100 years do we have to live without a spot on live take of Like A Rolling Stone just because it’s author has gone on to the Isle of Wright in the sky?

I believe, great music should be heard live and in a social setting from time to time. In fact, it is one of the fewer and fewer communal activities we still engage in and — as yet — it cannot be privatized/personalized like film and television now is via phones and tablets. Moreover, live concerts link the songs and the artists to the past and to the future at once through the different generations that might attend a given live performance.

For example, wouldn’t it be better to actually catch a little bit of the living spirt of Beatlemania by shaking your head and ass and screaming at the top of your lungs once in awhile with some like minded souls, as opposed to just reading about it or watching an old video? Aren’t you missing at least part of the point? In other words, you can’t get to the museum in Cleveland without passing through the Cavern Club first. And which would be more fun? A trip to a museum, no matter how interesting it might be, or a great concert at a small venue? I know how I would answer that one.

Unfortunately, my long set up to this point only gets me partly to what I am advocating here. Let’s take an easy example to close the introductory loop. When Di Vinci died was the Mona Lisa packed away into storage never to be seen again? In other words, we don’t stop appreciating art or music just because it’s creator is no longer with us. But with music do we have to limit ourselves to only listening to the recorded record? How many of you wish you could have seen The Doors in their prime or Jimi Hendrix or even Van Halen if that is where your mood takes you. And that is where tribute bands come into play.

For years I resisted the notion of seeing these types of bands. Ironically, it was the actual artist that got me hooked on tributes. For convoluted reasons that would take me forever to explain, I found myself on Bruce Springsteen’s web site listening to his 2014 concerts not long after that tour ended. It got me nostalgic for the Boss, whom I had seen live twice, and whose work I had kind of stopped following. My wife was a fan but she had never seen him. So I convinced myself to take her to see a well known tribute band called Bruce In The USA. I say “convinced” because I was certain the real Bruce would not be taking the full band on the road anytime soon and it seemed unlikely that, even if he did, that the shows would feature his back catalog.

So off we went and the show was great. Not perfect but great. Certain songs were delivered in the exact same energetic spirit I knew the man himself would give. And the crowd was just great. Everybody was in the mood and no one left then theater less then pumped.

Now for the uninitiated, I should point out that the only “costumes” employed by a band like Bruce In The USA is the bandanna worn by the “Little Steven” lead guitarist. I mention this because some very bad wigs and costumes are employed and they can be a little disconcerting as you delve into the tribute circuit. So my first recommendation is to see a straight up no gimmick band. That way you can avoid the time warp shock of dragon pants.

Just to round out the Springsteen story, I should mention that his tribute band opened me up again to some of Bruce’s more recent work and I became a heavy rotation fan again. Ironically, he would hit the road with the full band on what can best be described as a complete nostalgia tour with the “boxed” River release. I caught two shows from that 2016 tour and they were my best Springsteen experiences yet. But I think the whole two year process was set in motion and enhanced by the live tribute experience that started it all. Oh yeah…and I had a musical blast the whole time.

So my wife and I were off. She being my tribute band running and dance partner. From Bruce In The USA we made our way over to the Stones (Satisfaction is the band name). We had seen the real thing and we were both unimpressed. Myself especially, as The Stones are my all time favorite band.

This was also a personal tribute band make or break moment — especially for my wife — as she was not completely sold on the Bruce show. When the band hit the stage there was a long pause for us. As mentioned there is a tribute tendency to attempt costuming no matter the budget. There is also the attempt to imitate signature stage moves. We were hit with both as the band opened with Street Fighting Man….Street Fighting Man??? As an opener? I was off balance for almost the entire song. But suddenly the gears shifted. Time was reversing to 1965 and 1966. The crowd surged forward and the dancing and singing began and it just didn’t stop. There wasn’t an unoccupied spot on the floor by the time Miss You brought us forward to 1978.

The band and the crowd were in the mood. We were as close to spent as we ever were at any show we had attended to date. Well that was the test and tribute bands passed with flying colors. From there it was Zoso, the Led Zeppelin tribute, followed by Wild Child (Doors), Start Making Sense (Talking Heads), Life On Mars (David Bowie), Gypsy Eyes (Jimi Hendrix) and Rumors (Fleetwood Mac) to bring it up to date. I should mention that we saw two of the bands twice with no noticeable letdown and it is that last part that illuminated what makes this genre work so well.

First and foremost, the bands deliver the essential essence of the songs to the audience and for one obvious reason: like us, they are fans. They know what appeals to fans about a particular song. For the most part the arrangements are straight forward but not completely so. The one standard variance is to keep the beat extra bouncy for maximum dancing. But there are changeups to be had for sure. Satisfaction, for example, did an extensive acoustic set that would have impressed Mick and Keith with its musicianship and song selection.

Life On Mars, in another instance, did a complete run through Ziggy Stardust. Take a look at the track list on that one. If you are a casual Bowie fan the hits are obvious but more then half the songs, I will bet, will be unfamiliar to the non-fan. That is a gutsy setlist choice when you realize that the you have to appeal to as broad an audience as possible to survive. Incidentally, check out the complete Ziggy. You won’t be disappointed.

Second, I should mention again the incredible level of musicianship in these bands. Most find a way to present the music with all of the instrumentation you would expect given the artist being covered. Some go further. The Talking Heads tribute employed a percussionist and it made a difference, particularly on the dance floor. But then you have a band like Satisfaction. They delivered a career retrospective of the Stones catalog with no extra instrumentation. No saxophone or keyboards were used but the band delivered spot on renditions of some complex — or at least varied — arrangements. The real thing, by the way, has literally never played a show without at least keyboard support (Ian Stewart was a founding bandmate and played the piano offstage from the very beginning till his early death.)

But I am not just talking about the overall arrangements. Every single act that I have seen have featured stellar individual musicianship. And what is the counter argument to that? All the wishing and hoping will not bring Ray Manzarek or John Bonham back to life — or for that matter reunite the Talking Heads. I have witnessed two different “Ron Wood’s” literally put their heads down, close their eyes and rip off one blazing guitar flourish after another while the whole band tore though All Down The Line and Bitch.

As mentioned, I have seen the real Rolling Stones — admittedly past their prime — and the copy was just better, more electric, more alive. Again, what is the counter argument to that? If you want to see an amazing guitar player deliver a classic tune with the reverence and sound it deserves up close and personal for $25 bucks, you can. As regards the real thing, be prepared for disappointment, sticker shock and a limited setlist. You might do better just watching Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones.

Finally, there is the principle performer or performers. Again, they deliver all the stage moves of the artist in question but it is conveyed with a knowing wink. You are in on the act. A subtle acknowledgment that it is all in good fun and — yes — when nobody was looking you too probably did an air guitar windmill or a gesture toward an invisible audience. But I would go one step further and point out a certain musical egalitarianism.

Most musical artists are degrees of aloof. They range on a scale from the rare extremely personable (Bruce Springsteen and Todd Snider) to the friendly, to the frosty, to the strange, to the aggressive and finally to the openly hostile. I have never seen the hostile type but almost everybody but the two exceptions I mentioned fell somewhere in between. Tribute artists on he other hand have been almost all personable and none less then very friendly.

Rumors — the Fleetwood Mac tribute — were almost fawning in their attempts to connect with the audience. There was an unmistakeable “oh shucks” kind of attitude that they were just part of some regular get together mutually celebrating their beloved Mac. Audience pictures were taken and posted mid show, recognition of regular show attendees was cheered on, there was a tee shirt give away and a meet and greet at the end. In other words, no amount of gratitude toward the audience was spared and who doesn’t like that?

On another occasion, the “David Bowie” of The Life on Mars tribute jumped into the audience for some Let’s Dancing. I have seen an extremely friendly actual David Bowie but he never would have done something like this even if he was still with us. Even if he was still with us and 25 years younger. My point here is that, perhaps, this genre should be called Celebration rather then Tribute because that is what it is, a communal celebration of an artist and that artists fans.

In the end, you can dismiss this as just elaborate cover bands and in some circumstances it becomes obvious that it doesn’t work. As to that last point, I would avoid seeing Tribute bands at daytime and outdoor venues and festivals. It is better to see these things at night and in small venues. That way everybody is on the same page. The expectation is to have a good time with a certain known set of songs. The venue and the evening hours help maintain the illusion of an actual band show. After all, Led Zeppelin never would have played the Old Town Spring Arts and Craft fair at 2:30 in the afternoon.

So go. Let the music be a living thing. Enjoy it with others. Sing along and people watch. My personal favorite moment — and I think I speak for wife as well — was an older couple at least in their early 60’s who danced next to us at the Satisfaction Rolling Stones Tribute show.

You could fill in the backstory in so many ways. Maybe they met at a Stones show. Maybe they had one of the best nights of their personal lives at a Stones show. Maybe that had always wanted to see the Stones but never did because life happens that way. But here they were reliving a moment or having that moment they had always talked about. They looked beyond happy. And they looked like my wife and I fifteen years down the line: enjoying each other and the soundtrack of our lives and announcing for all to see that they/we are still madly in love and sharing out happiness with likeminded souls.

Simultaneously tribute audiences are connecting to each other, the past and the future all at once. Maybe even thumbing our noses at time and even death. Who says you can’t always get what you want?

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade