Brilliant and terrible tribute acts

[cobra_gordo]

I saw East 17 one December a few years ago and it turned out to be just Terry and three random nobodies. They were atrocious but the opening act was a Mariah Carey tribute act who got so in to it, even berating her DJ for not giving her the correct water, that it made up.for how bad East 17 were. It was 3 quid a ticket and we got free Christmas hats on arrival.

[Surf Digby]

2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Wasn't there a tribute of a tribute of Peter Kay? Imagine how shit that would be.

I've got a weird showcase gig in a month or so, and there's a Peter Kay tribute act on the bill. I'm not 100%, but I believe it's Lee Lard.

I've seen a couple of Beatles tributes recently that were both good. I can't remember the name of the first, but apparently the bass player taught himself to play left handed for extra authenticity. 
The others were The Vox Beatles, who did three sets, each in a different era. Their John looked more like Gerry Marsden, and didn't play the harmonica (which was pointed out in disgust by my son). During set 2 when they were in their Sgt Pepper gear, a chap next to me said how much their George looked like the real one, and yes, I'll admit that there was some resemblance. However, in the break before set 3, I passed him on the platform, where he was in double denim for the 67/68 look, and it was like looking at a ghost.

The first of those Beatles acts was at a festival of purely tribute acts. There was an Oasis one, who were actually very good with a decent frontman. An ABBA tribute, who were somewhat less so. Benny kept taking shortcuts because he wasn't good enough to play the proper piano parts, and Bjorn sounded like he'd forgotten to change his amp back from when he was playing some Metallica earlier.
There was an Elton John tribute, who was pretty decent, but just went way overboard with the innuendos about bumming.

There's an Oasis tribute near me called Two-Aces, that are just two guys and an iPad Mini on a stand. I was genuinely amazed by how poor their backing tracks were. It was like they were being played down the phone, or they'd recorded them by having the iPad in the same room that it was being played on the stereo.

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, TheBurningRed said:

More than one Peter Kay tribute exists. 

 

4 minutes ago, Surf Digby said:

I've got a weird showcase gig in a month or so, and there's a Peter Kay tribute act on the bill. I'm not 100%, but I believe it's Lee Lard.

No, I'm aware of Peter Kay tributes, but this was a tribute OF a Peter Kay tribute. 

I can't find it now.

[Rockbus2]

R.E.M. tribute band Stipe are fantastic. Close your eyes and it's like listening to the real thing. 

[Statto]

6 hours ago, Surf Digby said:

I've seen a couple of Beatles tributes recently that were both good. I can't remember the name of the first, but apparently the bass player taught himself to play left handed for extra authenticity. 

The others were The Vox Beatles, who did three sets, each in a different era. 

Now this has unlocked a memory!

New Year's Eve 2014 (I think), I was single, none of my mates were so no one was going out. Some friends of mine had very recently taken over the bar/restaurant on a posh campsite about an hour away, said they were doing a party for the lodge owners/residents and I should come down. So I did. 

I walk into not only said lodge owners party, but someone's WEDDING RECEPTION. The band at the reception were a Beatles tribute who played 3 sets in era appropriate costumes (I don't think they're were called Vox Beatles, but maybe). As they were packing up, I had to ask "Paul" if he was really left handed.

"No mate, but the pictures made my skin crawl every time I looked at them so I had to learn it that way round."

They'd come from Scotland for the gig, by the way. Finished after midnight, packed up the van and headed back home. From the Suffolk coast. On New Year's Eve. Those lads must've made THOUSANDS that night. I hope. 

[BomberPat]

Lee Lard used to be a regular fixture at the hotel where I worked 90% of the wrestling shows I worked in Jersey, never went to see him though.

I saw a Rage Against The Machine tribute act a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking there were few bands less suited to the tribute act set-up than RATM, until they mentioned a gig with a Cypress Hill tribute band. They played all of Battle Of Los Angeles, and at one point did a "who remembers?" about buying it on CD, and asking people in the crowd where they bought it from, leading to him going, "oh yeah, HMV, who remembers HMV, yeah?". I don't know what it is, but I can't really picture Zack de la Rocha leading a crowd in fond reminisces of commerce.

My older brother was in a few bands when I was a kid, usually just different combinations of the same three or four blokes. Their drummer went on to be part of a reasonably successful death metal band, and guest with plenty more, while the bassist went on to play for ZU2, a U2 tribute act that used to play all over the world, he was getting gigs in Russia, South America, all over the place last time I spoke to him. No idea if they're still together, but they were one of my first gigs.

[chokeout]

I did photography for a few of the tribute festivals that have popped up. The quality on show varied and enjoyment was directly linked to how hammered everyone was. Best bit about them is the effort they put into the names. Beastie boys tribute act called the Beast Decoys. Gold star!

 

[Merzbow]

13 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

I’m sure there’s something dodge about the venue but can’t remember what it is. @Merzbow have I got this all arseways. 

There's been talk of some weird financial things going on over the past couple of years, but to be honest I think they were real unlucky taking over the place just before Covid hit. I mainly just don't like their booking philosophy, they turn down anything that's not local or a tribute act so it's the same bands over and over.

[Bettencourt]

Saw The Complete Stone Roses in December. They were magic. Looking for a new Ian Brown now though.

 

Got to say Frankly, The Smiths are a great time!

[TheBurningRed]

The Smyths are a great tribute band as well. I saw them at the Half Moon in Putney. They always sell out, you can barely move. 

I saw a great American band at the Dublin Castle. Stones n Roses. They are a Guns n Roses, Stone Roses and Rolling Stones tribute. Singer calls himself Ian Brownstone. A lot of gimmicks in one and a few of the songs were all three bands songs merged into one. But they were really fun and his Ian Brown is spot on. 

Went to a festival a couple years back in Walton called Just A Tribute which was an all tribute festival obviously. A couple of them had crap names for bands such as Pearl Jam (Brain of J) and Nirvana (simply called Nirvana Tribute). They also had Meat Loaf, Linkin Park, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Queen and Aerosmith. The Nirvana tribute was fucking terrible. Probably the worst one I’ve ever seen.
 

The Meat Loaf one was equally as bad. He got halfway through I’d Do Anything For Love and decided he wanted to start again. Then proceeded to do the whole 12 minute version from the start. So 18 minutes of it. This was early in the set. Then, he fucking closed with it!

The same festival was meant to return last year with the Nirvana and Pearl Jam tributes coming back as well as Foo Fighter, Green Day, Bon Jovi, Paramore, RHCP and a Slash and Myles Kennedy tribute. They cancelled it on the morning despite giving my girlfriend a £30 bar tab in a competition the night before. I was pleased as it sounded dreadful.   

[Keith Houchen]

1 hour ago, chokeout said:

Best bit about them is the effort they put into the names.

I’m sure there’s a Kraftwerk tribute called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hütter” but if not I’m starting one. 

[Scratch]

I know they're not the most popular band on here, but we're big fans of Queen and saw a really good tribute called The Bohemians on a cruise a few years back.

We found out this morning they're playing our local theatre next month and my wife's just messaged me to say she's got us a couple of tickets.

I pass a pub when I go to Aldi and they've been advertising an Ed Sheeran tribute for what seems like forever. He sounds dreadful:

https://www.theedsheerantribute.com/

[Sergio Mendacious]

Might be a bit rose-tinted as a memory, but I saw Magic, the Queen tribute band, in a Butlins showbar in about 1991, and they absolutely peeled the paint off the walls. I think they were made up of a bunch of old session musicians; when I saw them another time in Nottingham, they launched into "Beach Baby" by First Class, announcing that they were the band from that record (Tony Burrows wasn't in Magic, sadly).

[gmoney]

29 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

I’m sure there’s a Kraftwerk tribute called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Hütter” but if not I’m starting one. 

Shed Seven tribute Rick Shitter

[Statto]

20 minutes ago, Sergio Mendacious said:

Might be a bit rose-tinted as a memory, but I saw Magic, the Queen tribute band, in a Butlins showbar in about 1991, and they absolutely peeled the paint off the walls.

Yep, I saw a LOT of Queen tributes in the mid to late 90s (I was a Queen obsessive in my high school years) and these were always by far my favourite. 

I always enjoyed that they did half & half dress up too - "Freddie" was in full Wembley 86 attire but no fake tache or similar, "Brian" had a Guild Red Special & a wig, "Roger" wore a black & white striped top not dissimilar to one the real thing wore in 86, "John" just didn't bother, and then there was the second guitarist (who also covered keyboard parts with a synth pedal, so "Spike Edney?" who had no one to really try to dress up as anyway.