NOT the Fake Robert Plant.
Last night, Mr. Royale and I joined some friends to hear a couple of tribute bands. First up, a Rolling Stones cover band with a very spry Jagger impersonator. Then, the Led Zeppelin tribute band.
In general, I’m not a big fan of tribute bands but in the case of these bands, for which I am highly unlikely to fork over big bucks to see the remaining members totter around and play their hits from 30 or 40 years ago, this was something entertaining to do. Eighteen dollars seemed a decent price to pay to listen to some renditions of music I enjoy.
I have to admit I haven’t been to see a tribute band since, say, 1981, when I went with a friend to Arizona State University to hear whatever was the touring version of the “Beatles.” So I assumed that the gig would include some guys dressed up and aping the mannerisms of their chosen band.
Instead, we were treated to the oddist mixture of spectacle and fakery. The members were dressed up to look like the original musicians, circa 1974 or so: long-haired wigs, unbuttoned polyester shirts or suits, turquoise jewelry. And they played instruments (to my untrained eye) that also resembled those of Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. But it was the lead singer who broke my heart. While he wore the long, blond locks and the tight, tight jeans of Robert Plant, and sang with an impressive range of vocal technique, when he opened his mouth to talk, he lost me. I believe we were listening to the Joey Buttafuoco Robert Plant. Although he professed to be Robert Plant, that accent, most notable when pronouncing the /r/ sound, was just too distracting. Mr. Royale, being kinder than me, believes that it was his English accent. Ha! And then the moves. Mr. “Plant” had only four: the “Stretch the Microphone Chord Over the Head,” the “Lemon Thrust,” the “Hair Toss” and the “Modified Rock Iwo Jima.” It was tiring and lacked any sense of sex appeal.
Granted, I’ve been a few times to see a local ’80s cover band. That band seemed to not take themselves very seriously, and in spite of their Worst-of-the-1980s’ fashion stylings, were highly enjoyable.
Please help me here. How important is it for the tribute musicians to look and sound like the originals? Are you able to get past the imperfections of appearance or mannerisms in the show? Is it really only the sound that matters? What is the difference between a cover band and a tribute band?
If I’m seeing a tribute band, I want to see the gear, the costumes and the moves. The kitschy-ness, intentional or otherwise, is part of the appeal.
But how perfect does it need to be? Would you be thrown off by a mere detail like the speaking voice of the lead singer?
The singer is usually the one that makes or breaks the tribute band and it has little to do with his singing voice. I used to go see The Back Doors (Doors covers) until the singer started to read his OWN poetry between songs.
There was a Led Zep tribute band that played at GA Theatre in Athens and they had a new singer every time. The Jimmy Page ran the band and I guess he was not able to keep a singer very long at all.
I think the bands that do the “music of” fare better than the “look alikes” unless they look like a middle aged suburban garage band.
There is a pretty good Stones trib band in my town that kinda look like the stones, but in a general way. The singer has a goatee (?) and does Karate moves and has Areosmith scarves. I think they are going for a 1978 look but it’s just strange.
It depends. If I was seeing a Beatles or Sex Pistols tribute band, I’d expect them to have the visuals or mannerisms down. However, if I was seeing a tribute to a “faceless” band like King Crimson, the look wouldn’t matter as much as the music.
I guess they need to be swinging for the fences but not quite making it.
Good points!
We never really had a hip tribute band here in Mississippi. I do remember seeing a video of Beatlemania when I was in high school. I also remember thinking, “What’s the point?” I mean, I guess it was impressive they were able to pull off The Beatles Look and Sound even though the Pepper fake-staces were a little too fake and it just got silly with the fake beards. I also remember noting that “Paul McCartney” was right-handed, which I guess I couldn’t fault anybody for. But the main feeling I came away with was that I could have easily just listened to the real thing instead. I suppose there is some thrill in seeing faux Beatles as people my age will NEVER get to see the real thing. Same for Zeppelin or Moon-era Who.
While I may concede taking my daughter to one of these shows, I don’t think I would ever make the effort to spend money on these bands when I can stay home and listen to records or watch videos of the real things. It seems like the very best of these only are copying these performances anyway.
I do remember seeing some YouTube clips of a Lennon impersonator who looked identical to John circa 1968 (White Album). I mean he had the total Look down pat. But when he sang or talked, it was that comical cartoony Beatle voice. I can understand of you can’t talk like the person you are imitating, but it really was a total put off that when that dude sang, he sang in that high pitched, comical, English accent. Why why why? The Beatles did NOT sound like that.
It’s that thing, I guess, where no one does impressions of George Bush Sr., they do impressions of Dana Carvey doing an impression of Bush. This guy’s Lennon impression seemed to be based on a comical impression of the real thing, which was frustrating to me. Dude, if you;re going to put forth the effrt to look liek someone, you should also sound like him, too.
Tribute bands try to look and sound like someone. Cover bands look like themselves and just play other people’s music.
TB
Musical Box-A tribute to Genesis is perfect. They have set the bar ridiculously high and now i will settle for nothing less. Even fake Phil Collins behind the drums has the same male pattern bald mullet that real Phil had in the late 70s.
magical.
“I used to go see The Back Doors (Doors covers) until the singer started to read his OWN poetry between songs.”
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in ages.
“Yeah, man, I figure doing this Doors cover band gig will be a good vehicle for getting my own poetry out there.”
I think they actually borrowed on of Steve Hackett’s guitars and had an exact replica made.
+1
I’m with you, latelydavidband. You’d think that if you went to the effort of calling yourself Robert Plant, you’d at least make an effort to sound like him!
And, when Mr. Royale and I did a little research, we found that several members of this band also performed in a Who cover band. Isn’t that spreading your talents a bit thin? If you’re going to be John Paul Jones, how easy is it to be John Entwhistle? I guess surprisingly so.
Drop the “h,” unless you’re talking about Celtic music made by trees.
I just watched a YouTube of their schtick. I don’t even own any Genesis albums, and I was blown away. These fake dudes are for real!
BTW, at the risk of giving away my secret identity, the lead guitarist for all-female AC/DC tribute band Helle’s Belles is/was a distant relative of mine. Must be in the blood..
Oops, obviously a “typo.”
Here are two tribute bands that focus on the music and get it right: Get The Led Out and The Fab Faux.
GTLO has six members (three guit players, one who doubles on keyboards) but really nails the sound of Zep without all the cock-rocking, etc. They don’t speak with cheesy English accents and actually put on a pretty good show.
The Fab Faux (with members of Conan’s late night band — Jimmy Vivino, etc.) is pretty good. No costume changes. They have enough members (an add real musicians who play real stringed instruments and horns when necessary) to get every sound right without sampling.
While not a huge fan of tribute bands, I have seen my share of crappy ones (one of those Bruce bands is horrendous — bad Bruce moves and lame attempts to imitate his stories from the stage — “B Street Band” maybe? — don’t remember the actual name).
I’ll take GTLO and FF over any others. I don’t need all the BS surrounding the original band — just play the tunes and play them well.
My Tribute Band story was seeing a Doors act (Crystal Shit? no, I think it was something like Break on Through – a Doors Experience). It was a big room with the most drunk up drugged out crowd I have ever been part of. Wild stuff.
I’d go see The Australian Pink Floyd show. Who cares if they look like the Floyd or have 12 players on stage. It’s all about the lasers.
Sonny, I’m with your general views here 1001%! I’m a big fan of the Fab Faux’s approach. They’re really great musicians, and they simply play the Beatles’ catalog with the pure enthusiasm of fans. And they hit every expected note/lick/rhythm, but do so within the flow of their enthusiasm for playing the songs. It’s really natural and fun. Fifty years from now – no, 20 years from now – the world will crave these type of cover bands to keep the music from the rock ‘n roll age alive. It’s time we begin to deal with it.
We used to have the original Doors tribute band here in Cleveland. They were called Moonlight Drive and fronted by the late Bill Pettijohn. Bill thought he was Jim Morrison. I can remember these old Party in the Park events that used to bring people downtown in the early 80’s and Bill would be there, standing in a pile of beer cans, looking pretty ready to piss himself. You could try to talk to him, but he didn’t make any sense. They were actually pretty good, but we had another band, Fayreweather, that also did that kind of thing. They did a pretty elaborate stage show and they’d have a Genesis set, a Tubes set, a Jethro Tull set and and Alex Harvey set. Then they might do some other slightly proggy songs in another set.
I think the band I liked the best was just a Steely Dan cover band that just played the songs. I don’t remember their name, and I saw them in a dumpy strip mall suburban bar, but they were terrific musicians. It was a nice surprise when I went to a bar to meet some of my wife’s co-workers years ago. I don’t think I care if they look the same or not, just that the music sounds good. But I really limit my exposure to that stuff.
I saw a Beatles tribute band once in a park in Portsmouth, NH. I can only offer as a defense that I didn’t go there with the purpose of seeing them. I felt a little lame enjoying it even a little bit. On the other hand, the Brad Delp (may he rest in peace) fronted Beatlejuice always used to be playing just up the road from me outside of Boston and I never went. Though if Paul McCartney put together a Boston tribute band (“Don’t Look Back…A Tribute to Boston”) I would have to consider taking that in.
Wouldn’t a really good Steely Dan cover band just be Steely Dan, basically?
You mean these guys???
http://starling.rinet.ru/music/king.htm
John Paul Jones to Entwistle is not that big of a stretch.
Goddamn!
BTW, at the risk of giving away my modesty, I “dated” one of the singers.
Right on. That Doors show sounds priceless.
Good call.
Does Dread Zeppelin count??? How ’bout Beattallica?
Though there have been several incarnations of KC over the years with Robert Fripp being the one constant, yes, those guys. The greatest prog band ever.