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Saturday night you were either out
watching your favourite tribute and recording this show for
viewing later or you were at a loose end and watched it anyway
because there was nothing else on TV! But the show's title, "Into
The Limelight - Tribute Bands" was pretty much self explanatory.
The Limelight Club is based in Crewe and
it's the place where many tribute bands and artists play. In fact
you could call it a bit of a pilgrimage for music no longer
performed by the original artists on stage because the Limelight
Club is actually a converted church!
It's obviously a big success as
"Arena" decided to dedicate a full hour to what it has achieved
over the years amongst the many changes and backdrop of the city.
The club itself is very well supported by the locals with tribute
nights packed out. There is also great camaraderie with some of
the local tribute bands in the area as well, lending out stage
equipment, depping for band members when needed and so on. Just
goes to show that people can work together even if in a 'rival'
band.
Throughout the show it is interspersed
with live performances from "Are You Experienced?" - A Jimi
Hendrix tribute where 'Jimi' himself sets fire to his guitar and
later a tribute band fan buys it for £70 as a memento of the gig
because he wasn't born the first time around!
"The Jamm" - I assume it's them because they didn't get a named
mention - where the members are asked if they had seen "The Jam"
live. One of them says that he saw them at Newcastle City Hall
1982-ish only because he got the wrong night and originally went
along to see "The Police" in concert. Ooops!. "Free At Last" make
an appearance along with "Stairway To Zeppelin", "AB/CD", "Pink
Fraud", "Purple Snake", "T-Rextasy" and "Limehouse Lizzy" which a
number of people have said I have got to see.
For some of the show it's like being
taken back to a time when "Spinal Tap" was splashed across our
screens and other times you are left wondering if tribute acts do
have a sell by date and members should be made to move on to make
way for younger blood and looks. I don't mean this disrespectively.
It's not an age thing more the way you look the part and carry
yourself. It's just that some bands and artists are in a time
warp, an era never to be repeated where people never age. Many of
these artists are unlikely to perform again in their current
generation, unless you happen to be Cliff Richard, The Police
(reunion I know), Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, U2, Status Quo,
Elton John or Tina Turner for example who continue to perform on
TV or on the live circuit.
With bands such as "AB/CD" and
"Stairway To Zeppelin" for example should one or two of the
musicians hand over to the younger looking guy and become a mentor
to ensure that the craft is passed on responsibly? There are some
bands members who no longer look the part because they look older
than the genre they are representing. For example you could be
fifty but look thirty-five and still carry the part off well and
yet another person could be and look fifty and just not fit the
part they playing any longer. Or they are not as fit as they could
be and let the beer bellies get the better of them! Are they
really still able to convince the audience that they are the
closest you will ever see to the real thing? In some cases no. But
that is no reason to put these people on the scrap heap. They
would still have a role to play because they were there when it
happened, they have the experience of story telling and the
memories, they lived it and therefore would have a
guidance/mentor/management role with the tribute band they were
in.
The other thing that came across was
that with a number of bands featured, some members were also
holding down a full time job, although their number one chosen
career was to be a musician but not necessarily in a tribute band.
Which raises the question: Are they really playing tribute to
their favourite band and doing it in the best way possible or is
it just a hobby/interest that distracts them from their everyday
lives?
Of course there are others that were
featured and being in a tribute band was their livelihood and
nothing else interfered with that. The plan being: To be the best
tribute to the band or artist they were portraying. Some were fans
first time round, studied everything down to a T and in the case
of "T-Rextasy" original Marc Bolan clothing, guitars and other
trinkets are used to get as close to the real thing as possible.
That is dedication for you. However hard work, study and research
of a band or artist is just as important along with getting it
right and adding a piece of yourself to the equation. Not everyone
is lucky enough to use and own original stage props but you can
copy them for authentication. It is that leap of faith and giving
up the day job that helps towards you achieving your goal to be
the best possible tribute.
The TV show kept to the heavy end of
the music business and cult status bands which I don't think gives
a fair assessment of tributes overall. It seemed a bit dark and
sorrowful in parts against the backdrop of Crewe and it certainly
didn't make things look easy. One person claims 'you can smell the
tribute bands' as the camera shot follows someone through the
corridor with stage equipment. 'It's a brilliant place for tribute
band, a sanctuary'. Another talks about the anonimity a tribute
band can give you because after a show you take off the costumes
and wigs and then just mingle with the crowd and no-one knows who
you are, whilst another says that fans want to 'talk to Dave
Gilmour'.
The Limelight Club boasts a membership
of over ten thousand people and that is quite something for a club
and even the owner admits "it's like turning back the clock twenty
years" with the venue atmosphere being "perfect". And there is a
great summing up of what tribute bands mean to an uncredited band
member (this is continually done throughout the show which I find
annoying). "In my fake parallel Universe of tribute bands anyone
that call's themselves a tribute band and thinks that it begins
and ends just learning songs and doing them on stage, for me they
are miles off the mark. It's not a case of donning outfits and
learning notes. To me there is something more tangible than that".
And whoever this guy was I totally agree. It is so much more.
The lead singer with "Limehouse Lizzy"
and he didn't get a name check either came out with some great
quotes about being in a tribute band and what he really wanted to
do. He has been a fan of 'Thin Lizzy' since he was fourteen years
old and being in a tribute to them he said "You have to use your
intelligence about it. It needs to be subliminal. Think what they
would do and what you do naturally without parodying it".
And how he see's himself now, because
tributes were seen as a fad, it would fade away and die but it
hasn't: "I want to be a true artist, a bass player, but now I am
an entertainer. I wanted to be something bigger than that" and I
think that is what many want. To be a successful musician and
artist in their own right. However some find it through
being other people and it is not always the conclusion they
wanted.
He then adds about the artists that
are portrayed: "You remember them at their best, you never see
them growing old disgracefully" and he's right unless you happen
to be "The Rolling Stones" and in that case there is a great quote
form a tribute band member called Hughie who wants to be "A fully
fledged rock dinosaur and proud of it!". Keeping rolling on
"Rolling Stones"!
The Limelight Club is certainly a
pilgrimage and long may it reign. As for tribute bands,. well they
are here to stay because there will always be a demand for a
certain era, genre or band and artist. People will always want to
relive their youth and the next generation want to be part of that
too. It's human nature. However once you look
too old for the part of a tribute member you should step down
gracefully and pass on your wisdom, knowledge and craft to the
next person to step into your tribute shoes. After all you still
have a role to play even if it's not out on that stage, in the
bright lights and facing the adoring audience.
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