Tribute bands you've enjoyed (or not)

[Ray Travez]

I've seen The Sussex Pistols. Enjoyed that- the singer was kind of caricaturish in a fun way, but at the end of the gig got serious and intense, and it was thrilling.

Also seen The Railing Stains. They had two guys in 'security' t-shirts just standing, arms folded on each side of the stage. Nice touch.

Wish I'd seen Fat Bob and The Curecats when I had the chance...

[Tarquin]

Only seen one, reluctanctly dragged to the Ropetackle in Shoreham to see The Rollin' Clones.

Lead singer, Mick Jagged, was obviously wearing a corset. I really liked that they had chosen the classic era and had someone as Mick Taylor. Nope, that rotund man is meant to be Bill Wyman.

My aresholery went down about two songs in and it was just huge fun. "Mick" even did a "Charlie's good tonight."

Really want to see Nick Mason's Saucer Full of Secrets. I saw Floyd in 1988 and they were beyond awful. Nick and his fill-in Floyd doing stuff like Fearless sounds great to me.

[jobotic]

I've seen Ye Nuns, the all-women Monks tribute and great fun it was too.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I don't see the appeal of tribute acts at all. I am aware it's an unpopular opinion.

[sevendaughters]

I saw Gary Mullen, who won Stars in their Eyes as Freddie Mercury, do a 2hr set (this was before he got a backing band) and it was a very good facsimile (if you don't mind him looking like 1985 Freddie when doing 1975 songs).

Beyond that I've thought they were all fucking drenge and I hate wedding bands even more.

[badaids]

Whole Lotta Led I've seen a few times, always absolutely brilliant.

I also saw Think Floyd, every single note and bent note painstakingly and logarithmically recreated. But fuck me it's boring.

I also saw a Queen tribute once by accident and they were brilliant, even though the singer was about 4'10".

[Norton Canes]

Saw Depeche Mode trib The Devout last year. Really good - singer had the Gahan voice and moves down, 'Martin' did a great Home and apparently they got a lot of the samples from Alan Wilder himself, so the sound was authentic. They also make little mini-versions of the band's 80's-phase tubular metal structures rigged up to trigger samples when struck, though laffs ensued when one of the branches broke off mid-song and the singer totally dropped out of character while 'Fletch' tried to make running repairs with gaffer tape (so more useful than the real Fletch, then).

Not exactly what you'd call looky-likies but would definitely recommend.

[iamcoop]

I saw The Rolling Stones Story at Newcastle City Hall a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. Granted, I had drunk about half a litre of vodka beforehand but I'm almost certain I had more fun, and heard more of their stuff I would want to hear live, than I would if I paid £200 to see the last three of them play some stadium somewhere now.

There's also a Stranglers tribute called Straighten Out who I'm looking forward to seeing later this year as by all accounts they sound more authentic than the current iteration of the band do.

[studpuppet]

The Fallen Women back all-comers at the Fall Karaoke nights. Here they are with a few guest vocalists you might know.

[LordMorgan]

But.. but ...but
The bootleg Beatles

[Neville Chamberlain]

But.. but ...but
No Way Sis

[jobotic]

Ah, The Fallen Women share members with Ye Nuns. Makes sense.

[Cleveland Steamer]

Metal Oaf - my own Meatloaf tribute act. Mainly involves me sitting in a chair and sweating a lot.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

I'm not a big Motorhead fan but Motorheadache were pretty good. "Lemmy" did a good impersonation even when speaking between songs with some knowing tongue in cheek banter.

Guns 2 Roses are another I've seen, the best bit about them was watching Axl run off stage and then back on between solos imitating what Axl of yore did but when you're running about 3m to the side stage rather than 25m at a some stadium, it does look a bit daft.

[phantom_power]

The Smyths are great fun, and less problematic than seeing Moz

[dissolute ocelot]

These days it seems one tribute band isn't enough; last year I saw Bauhaus tribute She's In Bauhaus who magically transformed into Cramps tribute Teenage Werewolves. Both bands you're unlikely to see these days so it seemed reasonable to go see a tribute. They did a good job in the costumes, and Cramps songs are easy to perform, although Bauhaus is trickier and nobody sounds like Peter Murphy.

All-girl Ramones tribute The Ramonas used to be quite good but after a period of covering lesser-known Ramones albums in their entirety now seem intent on performing their own stuff. Ramones definitely attract the tributes: there's a hilariously amateurish Edinburgh Ramones tribute called Carbona Not Glue with the least convincing Joey wig in the world, and clearly just a bunch of middle-aged guys having a laugh.

The Mexican Smiths tribute Mexrrissey are good, singing in Spanish (although the audience were singing in English). I also saw another more conventional Scottish Smiths tribute band but the singer now seems to be agreeing with Morrissey a bit too much.

May go see The Scottish Sex Pistols this year; less problematic than the actual John Lydon, and despite their advancing years will always be younger than the original.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Can tribute act: Can't.

[Dr Trouser]

The Fallen Women back all-comers at the Fall Karaoke nights. Here they are with a few guest vocalists you might know.

They seem to have a different drummer for each gig - spinal tap levels of 'incidents'?....

[Shaxberd]

Metal Oaf - my own Meatloaf tribute act. Mainly involves me sitting in a chair and sweating a lot.

If I could sing I think I'd start a tribute called Meta Loaf where I invite the audience to consider the nature of authenticity and imitation between 12-minute songs about motorbikes.

[Spiteface]

All-girl Ramones tribute The Ramonas used to be quite good but after a period of covering lesser-known Ramones albums in their entirety now seem intent on performing their own stuff.

Saw them years ago, they did "It's Alive" in its entirety. No complaints about that as a set!

Haven't seem them do their own stuff, though.

[Crabwalk]

Michael Shannon's been fronting an R.E.M. cover band featuring Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster of Superchunk.

They've been touring the US recently, just playing the band's early material. The shows have been a blast by all accounts and I think they sound pretty great in this clip:

[non capisco]

^ Shannon's a dude and adore IRS era R.E.M so would love to see a set by them, they sound spot on.

Going to see EX-TC again in a couple of months, who I've greatly enjoyed before purely for the chance to hear XTC songs played live by a whole one member of the original lineup...the drummer!!! My Glasgow based Twitter pal and occasional CaBber Fisher Goes Berserk saw them recently and sent me the setlist. Banger after banger mate, they're not even playing my one hated XTC standard Dear God any more. Dunno when I'm going to go for a piss now.

EDIT: Just realise that description made it sound like it's just Terry Chambers drumming on his own. It's not that avant garde, there are other people doing the guitars and singing.

[TheMonk]

Took my dad to see a Dire Straits coverband with the saxophone player from the last two Dire Straits tours. The Knopfler fella sounded and played just like him. The quality is all down to the frontman really.

I believe the validity of a coverband decreases significantly if the band/ artist still performs themselves.

[Pink Gregory]

I believe the validity of a coverband decreases significantly if the band/ artist still performs themselves.

Where does this put real act "The Gerry Cinnamon Experience" (playing at the Fleece this april) on that scale?

[Small Man Big Horse]

I used to go and see The Counterfeit Stones a lot in the mid-nineties / early 2000s as my sister became friends with them and used to hand out flyers and sell merchandise after the show, and so I'd get in for free. It got a bit silly though, when I first saw them it was at venues like the Half Moon in Putney but then they became really popular at one point and started doing expensive theatre shows, band members quit and now only their Mick Jagger is from the original line up, and a certain amount of ramshackle charm has been lost.

[Deskbound Cunt]

The Fallen Women back all-comers at the Fall Karaoke nights. Here they are with a few guest vocalists you might know.

Oh, they are ace!

The karaoke bit was bonkers. I love The Fall to bits but I could barely sing- "sing"- the chorus to Mr Pharmacists. Those that did have a pop could do whole MES ranting. Super impressive.

[BlodwynPig]

Ostrich Testicles

[Brundle-Fly]

I used to like Elsie Costello, a one woman and guitar homage to the Pope Of Pop.

[Brundle-Fly]

I don't see the appeal of tribute acts at all. I am aware it's an unpopular opinion.

What about covers bands?

[Ferris]

If it ain't Fred Zeppelin I don't wanna know.

Guitar player bald as fuck* so used to wear a massive bandana. They were also brilliant so had that going for em.

_{*wonder what his username here is}