A Fitting Tribute

The first time I saw the billboard, I honestly believed Rod Stewart was going to be playing at the Casino Queen on New Year’s Eve.

But as I drove away, I started thinking about it.  Sure, maybe Rod’s not as popular as he used to be . . . but a riverboat casino in East St. Louis?  On New Year’s Eve?

My suspicions were well founded -- on the second pass, I caught the fine print.  “A tribute to” preceded “Rod Stewart” on the billboard in a font the size you could easily overlook while driving past on the interstate at 60 miles an hour.

This New-Year-welcoming tribute to Rod Stewart will be delivered by a gentleman named Rob Caudill, whose nom de guerre, according to a radio ad I heard a few days after spotting the billboard, is, naturally, “Rob Stewart.”

I should hardly have been surprised by this deception.  A few weeks earlier, I’d opened my weekly email ticket alert from Ticketmaster to find that Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers were coming to town and playing at The Pageant -- a 2,000-seat venue in St. Louis.  I was so excited I nearly wet myself.

Only, in truth, neither Steely Dan nor the Doobie Brothers are playing there -- instead, a band named Groovethang is paying tribute to both bands.  This may seem like an odd double, until you consider that last year Groovethang paid tribute to Steely Dan and Earth, Wind & Fire.

If Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Earth, Wind & Fire or Rod Stewart aren’t your thing, fear not -- if you’ve got a favorite band, there’s a tribute act somewhere playing their entire catalog, including the B-sides.  And lucky for you, you can find them in just a few clicks at Tribute City, the self-proclaimed “World’s Best Tribute Band Directory,” whether your particular mania is for ABBA (21 bands listed, including Abbalike, Abbalanche and Swede Dreams, Aerosmith (10 listed, including Aeroforce, Eurosmith (“The Oldest Italian Aerosmith Tribute Band) and Draw The Line) or Alice in Chains (13 listed, including Sludge Factory, Alice Unchained, and Facelift) -- and that’s just the A’s.

The number of tribute bands listed on this site alone -- and though it may in fact be the world’s best tribute band directory, it is surely not the only source for tracking down tribute bands -- and the list of artists they’ve chosen to cover is truly staggering.  There are two Dokken tribute bands.  There is a Humble Pie tribute band.  There is an Oingo Boingo tribute band.  There is a Mike + the Mechanics tribute band.  There are 11 Toto tribute bands -- eight of which are in Italy.

All of which raise the question:  Why?

Covering other artists’ songs makes perfect sense.  Most musicians start out by playing other artist’s songs, covers are fun to play, and most crowds enjoy the well-done, well-timed insertion of a cover into a set list of originals.

By that same token, it’s fun to go to a bar and hear live music from a party band that plays exclusively covers -- it’s like a live jukebox.

I also understand the impersonator phenomenon.  Take a truly iconic artist, à la Elvis Presley, with a unique look, a dynamic personality and a universally-loved song catalog, and you’ve got the perfect formula for impersonation.

But a cover band -- I’m sorry, a “tribute” band -- that plays only Oingo Boingo?

Certainly, almost any band will, over the course of their career, earn themselves a small cadre of passionate, rabid, clinically-insane fans.  Indeed, these people are why message boards exist.

But to form an Oingo Boingo tribute band, you not only have to find people who are that kind of Oingo Boingo fan, you have to find musicians -- and in the case of Dead Man’s Party, the Oingo Boingo tribute band in question, nine musicians -- within some sort of geographic approximation who are that kind of Oingo Boingo fan, play the appropriate instruments, and are willing to commit themselves to learning the Oingo Boingo songbook well enough to perform it live.

Which raises another question:  How?

This one has a simpler answer:  the money.

Sure, to some of us, it may seem pathetic to devote yourself to dressing in short shorts and platform shoes and performing ABBA tunes.  (Although for some of us, that may be a lifelong dream.)  But according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald from June 2004 about ABBA tribute act Bjorn Again, the payday is more than worth it.

“Bjorn Again are the world’s most successful tribute band. A product of Melbourne and officially blessed by Abba of Stockholm, their act has been franchised in the UK, Australia and North America. On any given day, somewhere around the world, it’s likely that one of five Bjorn Again line-ups in satin jumpsuits is about to launch into ‘Waterloo.’ They are a question in an edition of Trivial Pursuit: ‘What nationality are Abba soundalikes Bjorn Again?’ Last year, according to BRW magazine, they earned $8.6 million, or more than Kylie Minogue.”

I don’t know if that $8.6 million is US dollars or Australian -- but does it matter?  Holy moly!

Undoubtedly neither of the Dokken tribute bands is pulling in that kind of dough, particularly since few people are willing to hire a Dokken tribute band to play their wedding anymore, but clearly, there’s money to be made in tributes.

Which raises yet another question:  Why?

Why are we as fans willing to fork over our hard-earned cash to hear a band merely mimic another band?  Are we so hopelessly devoted to our favorite artists that we’ll settle for a reasonable facsimile?  Are we so nostalgic that even if the artists themselves have broken up, relapsed, retired or died, we still want to revel in their music, even if it isn’t actually performed by them?  Will we pay $20 to see one of 31 Rolling Stones cover bands because we can’t afford to pay $120 to see the real thing?

I’ll be honest with you -- I have no idea.  But I’ve decided that if this tribute tent is big enough for a black man from West Virginia to call himself the Black Diamond and make a living covering Neil Diamond songs, it must be a good thing.

Meanwhile, I’m going to see about getting that Oingo Boingo tribute band to play at my wedding.