Would I go see a George Harrison tribute band?

I have some strong opinions about popular music. Here are two of them:

1. The Beatles are by far the greatest rock/pop band of all time.

2. I strongly dislike cover/tribute bands.

First, no one came close to doing what The Beatles did in such a short period of time. Without their success in America, we may have never seen the rest of the British Invasion. Their influence lives on today, more than fifty years since they disbanded.

Now on to tribute bands. You may have noticed I used the word ‘dislike.’ That’s because I’ve softened my stance on this. I regularly used to use the word ‘hate’ and never felt bad about it. I finally realized that they have their place in the music world—sadly, now more than ever.

I take you back to last weekend. I was out for a ride and the radio played songs in succession by Bob Seger, George Harrison and Christine McVie. I thought that because Bob has given up touring, plus George and Chris are no longer with us, the chances of seeing their music played live are slim. Then I shuddered as I realized the solution—tribute bands. Sigh!

So I hit the old Google machine—I found a few Seger tribute bands. How about Fleetwood Mac? There are plenty of those, too. On to The Beatles—there are THOUSANDS—that’s right, there are thousands of Beatles tribute bands worldwide. You can find them in places you wouldn't imagine. We went on a cruise to Alaska a few years ago. There was a Beatles band playing every night, dressed in the outfits of the era of the music they were performing. A few weeks ago, there was a Beatles tribute band playing at my high school reunion—well, at least two members were. I never did find out what happened to the fake George and Ringo.

But, what if I want to hear all George/all night? What if I want to hear the album “All Things Must Pass” live? Where can I go to listen to that?

Time to hit the Google machine again!! Check this out..

There’s “Savoy Truffle”, who does a George Harrison Birthday Tribute Show in Philadelphia every year. “The George Harrison Project” plays his solo music, plus tunes from The Beatles and The Traveling Wilburys.

Then there’s “My Sweet George”, an annual event at Martyr’s, in Chicago. Oh man, I used to live walking distance from there. How did I miss this? The bad news is that the event occurs each February, near George’s birthday. The good news is I have nine months to get ready for the next one.

So now I’m set for George, but what about Bob and Chris? “Second Hand News” is playing at Metro, in Chicago, on July 11—another place I used to be able to walk to. “Simply Seger” is playing in Skokie, in October. The prices—well, that’s another story, another pet peeve.

But now I just listened to “The Weight” by The Band, followed by Jimi’s version of “All Along The Watchtower.”. All of them have died—every single one!! Where can I find a tribute band? Back to Google—SIGH!!