Tribute bands have their purpose...I guess

Tusk. Evil Woman. Rocks Off. Hotel California.

Those are the names of a few tribute bands. If you aren’t familiar with tribute bands, basically they play the music and mimic the look of the band of whom they are paying tribute. The above groups use song titles as their group name. If you haven’t figured it out, they play the music of Fleetwood Mac, the Electric Light Orchestra, the Rolling Stones and the Eagles.

Did you know there are more than three hundred Grateful Dead tribute bands? THREE HUNDRED!!

I’ve also found tribute bands for Pink Floyd, Queen, Michael Jackson, Buddy Holly. Abba, Bon Jovi and Olivia Newton-John. You name a somewhat famous musical act, chances are there’s a band doing a tribute act about them somewhere.

This isn’t anything new. It goes back decades to the start of Elvis impersonators and Beatles tribute bands. But, the genre now seems to be stronger than ever. For a time, you would find these groups mostly at summer street festivals. You could walk in, hear a couple of songs, laugh at the people dancing to them and leave. No harm was done and no money was spent. But, now it seems to be all the rage to have them play in smaller venues with tickets ranging from thirty to fifty dollars.

I admit that this tribute band thing used to annoy me. For the most part, the musicians that are playing in these bands are talented. I never understood why they would want to play the music that someone else made famous instead of trying to write and play something of their own.

But, and this is a big but, there is a place for this thing in 2023. Most of the bands that these folks are mimicking have one or more members that have died…usually more. Those that don’t are cutting back on their touring schedule if they are even still hitting the road at all. For example, let’s look at Fleetwood Mac: Lindsey and Stevie aren’t talking to each other again and likely will never be on a stage together in what’s left of their lifetime, Christine recently died, and Mick & John aren’t enough to put on a show by themselves. So, if you love their music and you want to see it performed live, your only option is to go see a tribute band. The same with almost every other group that had their heyday in the 1960s through the classic rock era. That’s why when you search for local live music listings you’ll see so many of these shows. I’m fine with that…I guess.

Plus, in an era where it’s tough if not almost impossible for musicians to make a living wage, this brings them a much-needed source of income. You have to be good with that, right?

So, the reason for this diatribe is to explain how and why I went to see "Evil Woman. The American ELO” perform last night. Basically, I wanted to hear some live ELO music, Jeff Lynne wasn’t around and this was the only option. Plus, let’s face it, the thirty-two bucks was a lot cheaper than seeing the real thing. Was it as good as the real thing? No, of course not, but you knew it wasn’t going to be going in. Does the dude in the photo at the top sound like Jeff Lynne? Sort of. Does he look like Jeff Lynne? Hmmm…I’ll leave that for you to decide.

All in all, it was a cheap night out on the town. There’s nothing wrong with that. Hey look, American English, who is actually a good Beatles tribute band with all the costumes, is playing down the street. Tickets are only thirty dollars. Naaaaaa…too soon. Way too soon.