Tribute Bands Into The Limelight. Review

"Tribute Bands Into The Limelight Is Unlikely To Fade."

Screened: Saturday 6th October 2007 on BBC2

Saturday night you were either out watching your favourite tribute and recording this show for viewing later or you were at a loose end and watched it anyway because there was nothing else on TV! But the show's title, "Into The Limelight - Tribute Bands" was pretty much self explanatory.

The Limelight Club is based in Crewe and it's the place where many tribute bands and artists play. In fact you could call it a bit of a pilgrimage for music no longer performed by the original artists on stage because the Limelight Club is actually a converted church!

It's obviously a big success as "Arena" decided to dedicate a full hour to what it has achieved over the years amongst the many changes and backdrop of the city. The club itself is very well supported by the locals with tribute nights packed out. There is also great camaraderie with some of the local tribute bands in the area as well, lending out stage equipment, depping for band members when needed and so on. Just goes to show that people can work together even if in a 'rival' band.

Throughout the show it is interspersed with live performances from "Are You Experienced?" - A Jimi Hendrix tribute where 'Jimi' himself sets fire to his guitar and later a tribute band fan buys it for £70 as a memento of the gig because he wasn't born the first time around! "The Jamm" - I assume it's them because they didn't get a named mention - where the members are asked if they had seen "The Jam" live. One of them says that he saw them at Newcastle City Hall 1982-ish only because he got the wrong night and originally went along to see "The Police" in concert. Ooops!. "Free At Last" make an appearance along with "Stairway To Zeppelin", "AB/CD", "Pink Fraud", "Purple Snake", "T-Rextasy" and "Limehouse Lizzy" which a number of people have said I have got to see.

For some of the show it's like being taken back to a time when "Spinal Tap" was splashed across our screens and other times you are left wondering if tribute acts do have a sell by date and members should be made to move on to make way for younger blood and looks. I don't mean this disrespectively. It's not an age thing more the way you look the part and carry yourself. It's just that some bands and artists are in a time warp, an era never to be repeated where people never age. Many of these artists are unlikely to perform again in their current generation, unless you happen to be Cliff Richard, The Police (reunion I know), Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, U2, Status Quo, Elton John or Tina Turner for example who continue to perform on TV or on the live circuit.

With bands such as "AB/CD" and "Stairway To Zeppelin" for example should one or two of the musicians hand over to the younger looking guy and become a mentor to ensure that the craft is passed on responsibly? There are some bands members who no longer look the part because they look older than the genre they are representing. For example you could be fifty but look thirty-five and still carry the part off well and yet another person could be and look fifty and just not fit the part they playing any longer. Or they are not as fit as they could be and let the beer bellies get the better of them! Are they really still able to convince the audience that they are the closest you will ever see to the real thing? In some cases no. But that is no reason to put these people on the scrap heap. They would still have a role to play because they were there when it happened, they have the experience of story telling and the memories, they lived it and therefore would have a guidance/mentor/management role with the tribute band they were in.

The other thing that came across was that with a number of bands featured, some members were also holding down a full time job, although their number one chosen career was to be a musician but not necessarily in a tribute band. Which raises the question: Are they really playing tribute to their favourite band and doing it in the best way possible or is it just a hobby/interest that distracts them from their everyday lives?

Of course there are others that were featured and being in a tribute band was their livelihood and nothing else interfered with that. The plan being: To be the best tribute to the band or artist they were portraying. Some were fans first time round, studied everything down to a T and in the case of "T-Rextasy" original Marc Bolan clothing, guitars and other trinkets are used to get as close to the real thing as possible. That is dedication for you. However hard work, study and research of a band or artist is just as important along with getting it right and adding a piece of yourself to the equation. Not everyone is lucky enough to use and own original stage props but you can copy them for authentication. It is that leap of faith and giving up the day job that helps towards you achieving your goal to be the best possible tribute.

The TV show kept to the heavy end of the music business and cult status bands which I don't think gives a fair assessment of tributes overall. It seemed a bit dark and sorrowful in parts against the backdrop of Crewe and it certainly didn't make things look easy. One person claims 'you can smell the tribute bands' as the camera shot follows someone through the corridor with stage equipment. 'It's a brilliant place for tribute band, a sanctuary'. Another talks about the anonimity a tribute band can give you because after a show you take off the costumes and wigs and then just mingle with the crowd and no-one knows who you are, whilst another says that fans want to 'talk to Dave Gilmour'.

The Limelight Club boasts a membership of over ten thousand people and that is quite something for a club and even the owner admits "it's like turning back the clock twenty years" with the venue atmosphere being "perfect". And there is a great summing up of what tribute bands mean to an uncredited band member (this is continually done throughout the show which I find annoying). "In my fake parallel Universe of tribute bands anyone that call's themselves a tribute band and thinks that it begins and ends just learning songs and doing them on stage, for me they are miles off the mark. It's not a case of donning outfits and learning notes. To me there is something more tangible than that". And whoever this guy was I totally agree. It is so much more.

The lead singer with "Limehouse Lizzy" and he didn't get a name check either came out with some great quotes about being in a tribute band and what he really wanted to do. He has been a fan of 'Thin Lizzy' since he was fourteen years old and being in a tribute to them he said "You have to use your intelligence about it. It needs to be subliminal. Think what they would do and what you do naturally without parodying it".

And how he see's himself now, because tributes were seen as a fad, it would fade away and die but it hasn't: "I want to be a true artist, a bass player, but now I am an entertainer. I wanted to be something bigger than that" and I think that is what many want. To be a successful musician and artist in their own right. However some find it through being other people and it is not always the conclusion they wanted.

He then adds about the artists that are portrayed: "You remember them at their best, you never see them growing old disgracefully" and he's right unless you happen to be "The Rolling Stones" and in that case there is a great quote form a tribute band member called Hughie who wants to be "A fully fledged rock dinosaur and proud of it!". Keeping rolling on "Rolling Stones"!

The Limelight Club is certainly a pilgrimage and long may it reign. As for tribute bands,. well they are here to stay because there will always be a demand for a certain era, genre or band and artist. People will always want to relive their youth and the next generation want to be part of that too. It's human nature. However once you look too old for the part of a tribute member you should step down gracefully and pass on your wisdom, knowledge and craft to the next person to step into your tribute shoes. After all you still have a role to play even if it's not out on that stage, in the bright lights and facing the adoring audience.

Kathryn Courtney-O'Neill

Copyright: Kacey-O'Neill (c) 2007. All written work and photos not to be used without my permission.