"Tribute bands came to my attention in 1990 when my Australian friend Julie was raving about a band called Bjorn Again and how great they were. Yes, you guessed it we are both ABBA fans. I was horrified. How could someone pretend to be ABBA, my favourite group of all time? Then they arrived in the UK and were doing a gig in Bristol at The Bierkeller. Dragged along several friends including one who who was a bit of an ABBA fan himself. It was the 7th July 1991 and that is burned into my brain to this day. By the end of the evening I was hooked. We all were. They put on a fabulous show and despite me struggling to get used to their 'Swedish accents' I had to agree they did a damn good job.
Since then I've seen a number of ABBA tribute bands over the years and Bjorn Again are top of their profession. Don't get me wrong, there are some great ABBA Tribute Bands out there and I'm a stickler for accuracy but I have seen some humdingers (and not necessarily ABBA tribute bands) who need to give up trying being in any band at all! Go back to the day job please!! A number ABBA Tribute bands know me because I work in the media and they also know I'm a big ABBA fan as well. I also organise an ABBA Tribute Weekend. However I have seen other tributes to other bands and artists as well and most do a great job. I even go to the Beatles Weekend in Liverpool held during August and you get a good selection of Beatles tributes from all over the world and the Matthew Street Festival (that was sadly cancelled this year) has a stage that is for other bands and artistes.
At the end of the day, its a nostalgia trip, remembering the good that went with music we love to hear being performed on stage in front of us. I didn't see ABBA when they toured so a band like Bjorn Again is the closest I will ever get. Its a chance to see the bands we couldn't see at the time for whatever reason or were just too expensive to buy tickets for. They provide value for money and there is a genuine demand for these tribute bands. They provide us with what we want music wise.
Most of these tribute bands are genuine musicians and singers who know their trade extremely well. Its the chancers who think its easy to get up on stage and perform and then find that it isn't and do a bad job of it. I know of one act who tried to mime to the ABBA Gold Greatest Hits once and another who got the song lyrics wrong and went into a medley of songs at high speed like Pinky and Perky and we can certainly do without those type of performances no matter how funny they are!
Tribute bands do get a bad press from journalists/media most of the time and they belittle what these people are doing. For most being in a tribute band is their sole income, their livelihood and we all should have respect for what they are doing. It may get a bit repetitive at times for them and members leave bands only to be replaced by someone just as knowledgeable and into the genre of music that the band or artiste pay tribute to. Credit where credit is due respect your tribute band and they will give you a show that you won't forget and you'll be going back again.
Yes, my name is Kathryn and I love tribute bands. Confession over!"
Kathryn Courtney-O'Neill
Copyright: Kacey-O'Neill (c) 2007. All written work and photos not to be used without my permission.
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