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Tribute bands


Roger2611
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Mrs2611 and I have been to see a few tribute bands recently, we have seen Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, The Illegal Eagles and last night we went to Bedford to see Abba Reunion.....I have to say I was totally blown away by the musicianship and the quality of all of the bands

I will probably never get to see any of these as the original bands but having seen these tributes I come away happy in the fact that I doubt seeing the original line up would be a much better experience.

I think in this day and age where the selling of music is almost becoming secondary (due to the download culture) to live performance, I think these guys and girls have the right idea....I will be pushing both of my bands to make live performances something special.

I don't know if any of the bass players from these bands are on BC but if you are, thanks for three wonderful evenings

Rog

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[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1400321307' post='2452854']
I've been to a lot of Bach and Strawinsky tribute shows. Music was always good, but they tend to dress poorly, really looking nothing like the originals. I think I'm done with this now.
[/quote]

Savile Row ain't the same anymore. Quality of the carvers batons leave a lot to be desired as well.
Don't get me started on those Wagner Horns and the depth of the conical bore these days.

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I've worked with a few tribute bands and they were uniformly excellent. The oddest one (which I won't name just in case their bass player is on here) was a group, half of whom, turned up in character and maintained it all evening.

They introduced themselves to us as if they were the original band members and all evening said stuff like "this is a song we wrote back when we were in LA in '85" or "here's a number from our last album" etc.

It was all very strange!

I've been to see a few trib bands as well and mostly enjoyed them. I guess I prefer the ones based on bands that are no longer in existence rather than current ones that are still touring.

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Aside for whether you like the concept or not, I think tribute bands are the same as any other bands - there are good ones and there are poor ones. Particularly memorable - I saw the Illegal Eagles many times with their original singer Ray Brown who was simply phenomenal. (anyone know what he is doing now?) I've seen the Counterfeit Stones who put on a really great show. I've seen ZZ Topps and was bitterly disappointed - they seemed to concentrate so much on looking the part that the music suffered, not very tight for a 3 piece and the sound (where I saw them) was terrible.

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[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1400320326' post='2452846']
... I just don't get tribute bands,why anyone would want to be in one or why anyone would want to see one.
[/quote]
Because of excellent songs, excellently played in an excellent performance ... and so an excellent night out. I think that's usually why.

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1400330748' post='2452976']
Because of excellent songs, excellently played in an excellent performance ... and so an excellent night out. I think that's usually why.
[/quote]

Fantastic response.
IMHO of course.

Looking from a distance, I feel no attraction to a tribute band gig, but I'm also aware that if I actually went to one, I'd immerse myself and most probably have a blast. IOW, I'd go if something was close enough to where I live. It's all just a bit of fun, not a philosophical debate.

For me, a vastly more important distinction is whether they play exactly like the albums or not. This is probably the reason I've never seen Genesis back in the days, as they were reportedly terribly close to the studio albums when playing live.
But I'd probably go and see The Musical Box nevertheless, for the sheer fun of the immersion blast.

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Guest bassman7755

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1400332333' post='2452996']
For me, a vastly more important distinction is whether they play exactly like the albums or not. This is probably the reason I've never seen Genesis back in the days, as they were reportedly terribly close to the studio albums when playing live.
But I'd probably go and see The Musical Box nevertheless, for the sheer fun of the immersion blast.
[/quote]

It depends on the band, if you doing a tribute of a band who "mixed it up" a bit live then it seems reasonable to do that as a tribute act e.g. if you were a maiden or rush tribute youd be reasonably expected to reproduce the album version verbatim wheres as say a zep or purple tribute probably less so as long as the vibe remained intact.

Edited by bassman7755
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I like tribute bands. I prefer them to regular cover bands, especially when they make an effort with the look and performance as well. Although some of them take it too far. Fake American accents, ridiculous between-song banter, etc. Reminded me of that movie Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg. That was rather well observed.

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[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1400323473' post='2452877']
I think tribute bands are the same as any other bands - there are good ones and there are poor ones.
[/quote]

Very much this. I've only seen four - two were outstanding; one was competent; the fourth was a trainwreck. A Jam tribute with a 'Weller' who could only [i]just[/i] manage basic open position chords and muffed every key riff.

Like most of us, I had previously viewed tribute bands with suspicion but have come to see the benefits, not the least of which is a degree of family-friendliness. One time I was watching a couple of ten year old kids at a Whole Lotta Led theatre gig, stood at the front open-mouthed and transfixed. You could just see them thinking '[i]This[/i] is what I want to do.'

Which is a Very Good Thing.
[color=#ffffff].[/color]

Edited by skankdelvar
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I played guitar as the Keef character in a Rolling Stones tribute band for a couple of years. I would say the quality has to be a division higher than for a general covers band because the audience contains a fair proportion of dedicated fans who are picky about how you play the material. I used to listen to loads of live versions of the songs to get a feel for Keef's musical mannerisms and to nail the guitar tones.

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[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1400337749' post='2453032']


Very much this. I've only seen four - two were outstanding; one was competent; the fourth was a trainwreck. A Jam tribute with a 'Weller' who could only [i]just[/i] manage basic open position chords and muffed every key riff.

Like most of us, I had previously viewed tribute bands with suspicion but have come to see the benefits, not the least of which is a degree of family-friendliness. One time I was watching a couple of ten year old kids at a Whole Lotta Led theatre gig, stood at the front open-mouthed and transfixed. You could just see them thinking '[i]This[/i] is what I want to do.'

Which is a Very Good Thing.
[color=#ffffff].[/color]
[/quote]
+1
We really need `like` buttons...

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1400335002' post='2453023']
I saw an AC/DC tribute called AB/CD a few months back. They were quite good.
[/quote]

I saw them ages ago - have they still got a really tall "Angus"?

The tall Angus made me laugh but I didn't think much of them apart from that (I don't like AC/DC though so they were never going to wow me).

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I think if the tribute in question is of a band you can no longer see there is more justification for it, once saw a Hendrix tribute which had me open mouthed, he looked like Jimi, played like him, wasn't left handed but played a left handed strat upside down, that made me smile, I prefer it when they don't take themselves too seriously, having said that I saw a Quo tribute which I enjoyed, joking about the wigs they were wearing, it was down the local pub, free to get in, decent pint, what's not to like if you're into the band?

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My current band is a mod revival tribute which works well as we dress and decorate the stage like a tribute band but have the benefit of being able to select songs from a number of bands and not have to act like one specific band member. Works well for us

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