| Author | Message | ||
     Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.19.145 |
Do people enjoy these - think they're worthwhile? Or parasites? I enjoyed the Pink Floyd tribute band (Off The Wall) last night. Amazing experience... visually and audially. Never seen the real thing, nor likely to. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
Never wanted to see one, but then again I've never wanted to see many of the originals. I suppose they're OK as simulacrum, especially if the original band or whatever has split or has deceased members. As you say, the physical experience of a decent performance is probably pretty close anyway. But I can't understand folk hiring celebrity look-a-likes for their weddings, etc. That seems to me a bit like ordering a cake made of out of soap. (It will all end in tiers.) | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
Des - we saw Off The Wall a few years back and thought they were good fun, although it was a strange feeling somehow (I've seen Pink Floyd several times, but I don't think that's why it felt slightly odd). They are the only tribute band I've seen, and that was merely because we were staying in Kendal and they were playing locally. Still, I never thought I'd get to hear Echoes or Bike played live, so that was something. Plus, the singer on "The Great Gig In The Sky" was excellent. I don't have a problem with tribute bands and judging by this one experience they can be great fun, and often the only way you're going to hear such music played live. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.225.68 |
I much prefer the real thing. A new band playing a single well-known tune by an established mega-selling act I can stomach. The Moody Blues were in town last Tuesday and I thought they were bloody good. I was surprised and a little saddened, however, that the crowd consisted mostly of 'elderly' people. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
I much prefer the real thing. As do I and as would most folk, I guess, but you've a lot more chance of seeing The Bootleg Beatles than the originals, and a lot more of seeing Off The Wall than Pink Floyd. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.108.63.152 |
Difficult business. Artists paying tribute to other artists is fine – Julie Felix's recent superb CD of Bob Dylan songs is a fine example, as is Steve Gibbons' bluesy tribute band The Dylan Project. But they're not mimicking the artists as such. Where a band no longer exists, tribute bands can offer some vicarious relief to the needy fan. Where a band is struggling to mature with dignity and develop new material, being shadowed by tribute bands whose act is frozen in the past is unhelpful – especially when they command bigger audiences than you can. Having said that, Robert Plant allegedly loves Black Country tribute band Fred Zeppelin. The biggest single problem with tribute bands is that they are dominating the small venue scene and making it impossible for new bands to start on the ground floor. If you're trying to get pub gigs in the West Midlands, the venue's first question is "Who do you do?" By dressing up like someone famous and playing only their songs, you can multiply your audience and income by a factor of ten. Small venues can't resist statistics like that, and neither can many musicians. Increasingly, it has to be said, rock is predominantly a nostalgia experience for the middle-aged. It's a recreation of the dominant popular music mode of the sixties and seventies, not a living musical culture. Tribute bands are the extreme symptom of a wider process of commodification and sentimentalisation. And then there are faded bands who get back together, often using session musicians to make up the numbers and the sound, and go on tour purely to offer a retread of their glory days. They have become their own tribute bands. Not every ageing band or artist does that, however, and the continued creative vitality of the likes of Fairport Convention, Nine Below Zero and Bob Mould (to take three examples from different musical genres and times) proves that getting older does not mean you have to lose the edge. The general problem with the ageing rock demographic isn't age as such: it's the replacement of passion and rage with sentiment and safety. People are going to dance music for unease, challenge and mystery; they are going to rock for the feelgood factor – even if the album's title is RAPING SATAN'S GOATS WHILE HIS BACK IS TURNED. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Aren't they on telly every week, tribute bands? Something called THE X-FACTOR? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.19.145 |
That excellent essay by Joel has got me thinking. Hmmm. Some interesting points there. (None of this happens in Classical Music, btw). | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
"The Moody Blues were in town last Tuesday and I thought they were bloody good. I was surprised and a little saddened, however, that the crowd consisted mostly of 'elderly' people." Thats something we have to accept if you want to see the 'classic' bands from that period...I went to see The Zombies & Ray Davies recently and I felt like a teenager compared to some of the audience! -But we have to accept that the band members are the same age as much of their audience even if they spend more time maintaining an illusion of youth - But it's the music that counts. Joel's comment about the 'couple of original members plus session muso's is true to a degree, The Who in their current incarnation fall into that catagory...but equally, they are still a fine musical force both live, and most recently in the studio as their recent album 'Endless Wire' attests. Endless Wire is a better album than say...'Who Are You' and both the late Moon & Entwistle played on that one. I often argue this one with a mate of mine, but at the end of day, when a band can sell out a venue and give the fans what they want and give a fine and inspired performance I say..that good for me. While on the subject, I hate the disrespect given to musicians who dare to contune performing into older age....Fucking go for it I say, if you still want to and have something to offer. gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
A bit more... i do think these days their is a growing gap between us 'oldies' and the kids again...Back in the nineties, we were all wearing the same bootcut jeans and the teens looked no different to us (then!) 30-somethings. Nowadays, the teens have latched onto the 80's style...Hey presto! -its' great, because no-one over 30 can get get away with it without looking a twat, so they have their own look and style - even if it is lifted from what we used to wear in the 80's. And its great! - they have their thing, and us old farts can chortle knowingly. teens and oldies shouldn't look the same or, really like the same music. gcw | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
Fucking go for it I say Exactly... rock is predominantly a nostalgia experience for the middle-aged. That's probably partly because they're the only folk who can afford current gig prices... Back in the 'seventies and early 'eighties, gig going was cheaper than buying an album. Not now it ain't, although Seasick Steve at the RAH, at £16 a ticket, nearly gets there. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
>>>Fucking go for it I say Cliff Richard? There are exceptions to everything, yes? | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
Seasick Steve? - my fellow Wymondham-ite! Ah yes Mick, remember when we used to get the winter gig list and picked 4 or 5 bands to go and see? And some of them were wild card choices. Nowadays, we can't often cant afford to risk taking a chance on bands we may not like...So we often remain in our comfort zones because we know what we are going to get. A shame really, but tickets are SO expensive. gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
Not even Cliff Gary, he's enormously popular, and I grudgingly respect him for his success. gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
(Tea is served -back later!) gcw | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
Yes, but...Cliff Richard. >>>and I grudgingly respect him for his success Your rock credibility has just gone right out the window.  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
>>Tea is served -back later! He's round at Daniel O'Donnel's now, having a nice cup of tea. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
(Sigh..You boys...) I have nothing to prove by trying to be cool lads... gcw | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
He's round at Daniel O'Donnel's now, having a nice cup of tea. :-) Seasick Steve? - my fellow Wymondham-ite! Indeed! You'll have to let us know if he plays the Queen's Head! He's appearing at Hammersmith Odeon at the end of January, so we booked up for that too. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I find the whole concept of tribute bands a bit sad, to be honest. I saw a Doors tribute act a few years ago, and despite the performers being musically adept the whole thing was hollow. But much of what passes for modern rock music is hollow, particularly what they're calling indie these days. Safe, homeogenised pap. I've actually recently turned to a lot of older stuff - Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan - in order to find the passion and danger I always loved about rock and indie music. A lot of Classical also seems to have the qualities I enjoy. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.173.12 |
Zed, if you enjoy Coltrane it's worth listening to Archie Shepp, who was the Matheson to Coltrane's Bradbury. And if you can find any Coltrane album with 'Alabama', that's an essential track – an eloquent and downbeat protest song without words. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Joel, I just bought BLUE TRAIN (on your recommendation, actually). It's beautiful stuff, and I surprised to find that I was already familiar with the title track. |