I'm struggling slightly to comprehend the market for a Smiths tribute act. I tend to assume that the most successful tribute acts emulate bombastic, populist acts; hence the multitudes of Elvis, Queen and Oasis tribute acts. Mind, my knowledge of tribute acts is utterly anecdotal.
A former vocalist of Boston, David Victor, is now the frontman of a Boston tribute act. The act used to be called Bostyx (they used to do Styx covers as well, I believe), but they changed their name to "David Victor formerly of Boston". You can't deny that name gets right to the point, can you?
I think any situation where the band no longer exists but there's a lot of fans out there, it will generate a tribute band. It's like a dependable night out - you already know you like the tunes, hearing / watching them being performed even as a not-quite-right replica is a guaranteed good time.
To me the discrepancy between the real thing and the copy would be disconcerting, in pop / rock etc so much of our pleasure is in the specificity of the voice, the face, the way of moving. It's not like classical music where there's a score and then you just need proficient performers to actualise it. It's either that singer and their voice and presence, or it's not. You are consuming a personality.
My mum is same about biopics. "It's just not them".
David Victor is a later stage Boston vocalist, a replacement. The original singer came to a grim, sticky end. He was actually one of the examples that inspired my Wiki-Fear post. Not category #1, the artist doing something reprehensible, but category #2, where something awful happens to the artist.
So you could maybe say David Victor was already effectively a kind of Boston-tribute even when he was in Boston...
Peter Hook & The Light are a weird pseudo-tribute act: one original member and a bunch of fans and vague associates re-enacting the back catalogue of JD/NO. And oddly garnering praise from hardcore fans for reproducing the songs exactly as heard on record.
And before he came to that sticky end, Boston’s original singer, Brad Delp, was making his beans as the singer in a Beatles tribute band (the unfortunately named but actually not-bad Beatlejuice.)
4 comments:
I'm struggling slightly to comprehend the market for a Smiths tribute act. I tend to assume that the most successful tribute acts emulate bombastic, populist acts; hence the multitudes of Elvis, Queen and Oasis tribute acts. Mind, my knowledge of tribute acts is utterly anecdotal.
A former vocalist of Boston, David Victor, is now the frontman of a Boston tribute act. The act used to be called Bostyx (they used to do Styx covers as well, I believe), but they changed their name to "David Victor formerly of Boston". You can't deny that name gets right to the point, can you?
I think any situation where the band no longer exists but there's a lot of fans out there, it will generate a tribute band. It's like a dependable night out - you already know you like the tunes, hearing / watching them being performed even as a not-quite-right replica is a guaranteed good time.
To me the discrepancy between the real thing and the copy would be disconcerting, in pop / rock etc so much of our pleasure is in the specificity of the voice, the face, the way of moving. It's not like classical music where there's a score and then you just need proficient performers to actualise it. It's either that singer and their voice and presence, or it's not. You are consuming a personality.
My mum is same about biopics. "It's just not them".
David Victor is a later stage Boston vocalist, a replacement. The original singer came to a grim, sticky end. He was actually one of the examples that inspired my Wiki-Fear post. Not category #1, the artist doing something reprehensible, but category #2, where something awful happens to the artist.
So you could maybe say David Victor was already effectively a kind of Boston-tribute even when he was in Boston...
Peter Hook & The Light are a weird pseudo-tribute act: one original member and a bunch of fans and vague associates re-enacting the back catalogue of JD/NO. And oddly garnering praise from hardcore fans for reproducing the songs exactly as heard on record.
And before he came to that sticky end, Boston’s original singer, Brad Delp, was making his beans as the singer in a Beatles tribute band (the unfortunately named but actually not-bad Beatlejuice.)
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