Tribute act playing your favourite band: +/-?

 

 

Those of them who are Genesis fans (the Gabriel and quartet eras) will definitely enjoy Rock Theatre Plays Genesis 1970-1977, my review to be found on Various Genres (Tributes) section.

On the other hand, I have played tribute shows and they are quite a bit of fun. I also play in an MPB/Tropicália cover band, and the wider range allows us to "curate" more for more entertaining shows, which I imagine would be true of tribute bands covering a band with a long, very consistent discography. On the other hand, it helps that most people are hearing the Brazilian stuff for the first time. 

I think that we have to give something to the originators of music that we love. To this effect we do not question the many styled variations of Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ravel, Tchaikovsky ... you name it.

The big issue with the rock band history is that a lot of these acts are coming up now as a way to cash in on the generation that loved the music, and while the feeling is honest, I am not sure that this is really a good thing to do, which, in the case of THE WALL, and many of the acts running around, it is more the idea of keeping the material fresh in the heads and ears of the public, than anything else. Unlike many of the classical counterparts, the likelihood of these folks actually recording any of it, is probably not going to happen, and in some ways, this can be sad, since some of those musicians are excellent at what they do ... in many ways they are "studio musicians", since the requirements of knowledge that they have is much higher than the average player in any rock band!

I think that the idea that some music should not be allowed to die, is a GREAT thing, but it is my taste that since I saw some of the originals, that many of them are not what I want to see anymore ... it feels like this ... I saw Nureyev and Misha ... and you know what happened? I never saw another ballet since, because it was just too cardboard and unfeeling for me ... it was just technical moves!

And the same thing happened to me, with THE WALL that I was lucky enough to see the original and then many years later got to see Roger Water's version, which was not half as good, and the "environmental ideas" that brought you early PF and THE WALL, was non-existent, by some idealistic digital sounding quality that only went left to right and back ... it wasn't even close to the beauty and creativity of the original, and now, all I can say to everyone (which most don't get, or don't like!), is that in the old days we were all too stoned, and we forgot the feeling and the experience. By that time, I was no longer getting stoned! I had grown up and did not need the excuses anymore to get a girl ... not to mention that going to UCSB at the same time and getting ripped when you work 40 hours per week, direct scenes and plays at night, and then have a paper due in the morning, has a tendency to kill your stoned time immensely, but I was already not interested ... the music scene in Europe was better than any dope!!!!! PERIOD

I remember when The Watch (not a tribute band really) toured with Genesis songs; I only had occasion to see their Nursery Cryme + Wind & Wuthering show, but I was blown away. They put two or three songs of their own somewhere in the middle, but it was mostly a tribute concert and I really wanted to see them doing other albums... never had the opportunity, though.

If we are talking about the best tribute experiences, such as described above, I could drive up to one hundred miles to see them. But I don't I'd ever buy a DVD.