Believable wigs and thrilling gigs: how tribute bands took centre stage

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/05/tribute-bands-bootleg-beatles-bjorn-again

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The four men slumped on sofas in the sizeable but anonymous dressing room deep in a conference centre could hardly look less like popular music legends.

But there are clues scattered about: a moptop wig on the table alongside a box of makeup, and behind them a rail of outfits ranging from sharp-cut grey suits to multicoloured, military-style jackets.

Andre Barreau, who half an hour later will be on stage singing and playing guitar in the guise of Beatles-era George Harrison, a role he has inhabited more than three times longer than did the real thing, is reeling off tricks of the trade: "If anyone says, 'What's the best advice for the tribute game?', I always say: get a good wig. Comfort's not the aim, it's being believable."

With a going rate of about £10,000 a gig – this also brings you a string and brass octet to accompany later-period tracks – the Bootleg Beatles, co-founded by Barreau in 1980, are near the pinnacle of one of the more remarkable, yet increasingly mainstream, substratas of live music: the tribute act.

While artists performing others' songs is as old as pop and rock itself, over the past couple of decades the faithful reinterpretation of earlier groups' repertoires, looks and quirks, even appropriately-accented onstage chat, has become big business and a process whereby the greats of the past are presented to new generations of fans.

"For the future, as the greats of rock and roll gradually die off and fewer and fewer living legends are around, I think the tribute industry will grow and grow," said the music critic Simon Price.

"It'll seem much more normal to us than it does at the moment. I think the rock and roll canon will be viewed as a body of work that is almost public domain, to be revived and performed for all eternity, much like the plays of Shakespeare or the novels of Dickens."

While the Bootleg Beatles were at the vanguard of this process, formed in 1980 from the cast of a Beatles-based West End musical, the phenomenon gained momentum with the arrival of mainly Australian tribute acts later that decade – such as the Australian Pink Floyd Show and Björn Again, an Abba pastiche which has mushroomed into a global franchise.

Barreau concedes his early days were a struggle: "People said, 'Why are you doing that? They're probably going to reform.' In 1980 they weren't that into the Beatles."

As audiences have grown, particularly for Christmas and New Year tours, those in the industry say younger fans are joining those seeking to relive the music of their youth.

"It's no longer seen as just a cheesy night out," said Emma Busk, who has promoted acts including the Counterfeit Stones and Ultimate Eagles. "People are starting to recognise the musical authenticity. Some people, like the Stones, still do tour, but it's incredibly expensive and you may be half a mile from the stage."

The tribute industry is big enough to encompass several sub-niches, for example revamped cover versions – a group called Dread Zeppelin achieved moderate but nonetheless unlikely fame for playing Led Zeppelin songs in a heavy dub style, fronted by an Elvis impersonator – and female bands such as Joanne Joanne, who recreate the early hits of Duran Duran.

For Barreau and his bandmates, however, the aim is exact replication of the sound, look and moves.

Adam Hastings, who moved from a smaller Beatles act in 2011 ("This is the one everyone wants to join") studied hours of John Lennon footage: "The costumes aren't necessarily the thing that makes you look like them. Anyone can wear a grey suit but they'd look nothing like a Beatle. It's the way you move in it that brings the costume to life."

They are also protective of their inspirations, especially drummer Hugo Degenhardt, who expounds at length about Ringo Starr's underrated style and the difficulty of replicating it.

He says the group can provoke particularly strong reactions outside the UK: "In Mongolia, when we played the central square in Ulan Bator, the mayor told us what it was like growing up in the 60s and how much the music meant to him – it meant freedom. We're trying to honour that legacy."

It is the area of legacy where the tribute scene can become confusing and culturally fascinating.

One tribute act, T-Rextasy, are officially endorsed by the estate of Marc Bolan and play anniversary shows for the late singer's family and friends, with the band's founder and leader wearing Bolan's clothes on stage.

Frank Zappa's son, Dweezil, tours his father's music under the billing Zappa plays Zappa. At one point two-thirds of The Jam, bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler, played behind a musician impersonating their former bandleader and singer, Paul Weller.

The most famous such example came with US singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, who went from a Judas Priest tribute band to fronting the real thing, later immortalised in a Hollywood film.

Price notes the phenomenon of 70s revival festivals where tribute bands play on the same bill as the originals: "You wonder whether these stragglers from the 70s are looking down their nose at the tribute band, or if they're looking over their shoulder – these might be people who still look the part and sound the part, and look the right age. Maybe the audience don't really care if it's the real flesh and blood who had those hits in the first place."

In the dressing room,Barreau says that even for a veteran of the scene like himself, the impersonation ends at the stage door: "We're all very much only a Beatle onstage. I don't go to Sainsbury's with the wig on."

Better than the real thing? Some of the best-known bands

The Bootleg Beatles

Australian Pink Floyd Show

Björn Again

The Counterfeit Stones

Cloned Stones

Stoned Again

Ultimate Eagles

Dread Zeppelin

Lez Zeppelin

Joanne Joanne

T-Rextasy

The Smythes

Novana

Absolute Bowie

Jean Jeanie

Pizza Underground

Fleetwood Bac

Fake Bush

Antarctic Monkeys

Knot Slip

The Sex Pistols Experience

U2-2

Mentallica

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