Not the Real Thing, But an Incredible Simulation

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A lot of people think that tribute bands are a modern thing, providing the opportunity for the younger generation to see a "tribute" to the real bands that we middle-aged folks got to see in the 70's and early 80's (and at a cheaper price than the tribute band is charging!). It's really not new: you can more or less "credit"/"blame" (depending on your point of view) "Beatlemania" and Elvis impersonators for popularizing the "tribute band." Beatlemania's slogan was, "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation." Tribute bands have become almost as big as the acts they are mimicking. When you consider bands never getting back together again, either through death (the Eagles, the Doors, the Grateful Dead, the aforementioned Beatles), health (Poco's George Grantham was sidelined with a stroke ten years ago), age (Chuck Berry is 89 years old), people who never tour (Barbra Streisand had so many impersonators making hundreds of thousands of dollars that she finally decided to do some shows....at an average ticket price of $500), or hardheaded members (David Byrne with Talking Heads, Peter Cetera with Chicago), it's the only way for some to have the "feel" of a "concert experience." These tribute acts, to their credit, do far more than the cover band down the street deciding to have a night of nothing but Ramones tunes. Some of them (the Elvis impersonators, the Beatles bands) get very close to authenticity in their manner of dress and haircuts (even to the point of getting a southpaw bass player [think about that: if you're left-handed, play bass, and bear even a passing resemblance to Paul McCartney, you're set for life! ] for Paul's part). I've seen video of Talking Heads tribute bands where the lead singer even puts on a "big suit" to reflect the one Byrne wore near the end of Stop Making Sense.. With a tribute band to acts like the Dead, however, there's no real need (so no one go out and chop off a finger in hopes of getting the Garcia part! ) because they dressed casually. But is it worth it? I would imagine that a youngster (yes, you 20-year-olds, I'm talking to you...my socks are 20! ) who never got to see the Clash, the Ramones, or a Bon Scott-era AC/DC (not to mention any of the above-named bands) would take the "incredible simulation" because that's as close as they'll ever get. Watching their videos on You Tube, I must say that a lot of these people doing the tributes are very talented. I'm not a big AC/DC fan, and most of the AC/DC I do like is Bon Scott era, so a Bon Scott-era tribute band really amazed me with how closely the lead singer sounded to AC/DC's late vocalist. How about people who did see those acts, however? If you got to see Elton John back in the 70's would you go see an Elton John "tribute" singer?