In our last newsletter we mentioned the recent soaring popularity of tribute bands.  

Below are some reader comments.  But first, why is it that almost every tribute act is composed of older players?  Wouldn’t a crowd rather see a 23 year old Elvis, or Beatles composed of 20ish year olds, or a trio of young ladies doing the Supremes, even if the audience is much older?  If younger musicians want to earn some serious cash they can do a tribute to any artist from the 50’s to current.  They have over 60 years of stars to pick from!

Am I correct that almost all classical orchestras are merely performing tributes to the masters of old?  They are not interpreting Mozart pieces in their own way – it’s always performed exactly as written.  But you never see the word “tribute” with an announcement of a Mozart concert.  Hmmm….anyway, here are some replies to our last newsletter:

Unfortunately, tributes/cover bands are pushing out local original artists on every level on all sizes of venues from small to large. My band gets stuck between being an opening act and not being able to play festivals. Back in the 80’s in the Northwest it was a much different game for original artists.

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The one thing boomers did well was music. Gen x had some good music but not as much. Millennials and Zs make a horrible excuse for music. People crave great music and  better times when concerts were life. No cell phones, no social media,  That was a truly magical place in time.
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Given that popular acts have thousands of fans and followers there’s more of a demand for what fans crave and even though those acts tour it’s not like in the 80s when bands played every town that were 2 hours apart from each other and every year put out an album then a tour, rinse and repeat. Now to see the actual act you often have to wait a couple of years or travel significant distance to see them so fans want their fix by seeing a knockoff.
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The proliferation of bands being covered now is pretty amazing. A number of them don't have enough really well known songs to play a whole night, hence the rise of a 3 act tribute show so they only have to each play the hits and not the alternative album release version etc.
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Giving the listening public something more than expected is the reason great music will always be fresh and relevant.  Tribute and cover bands simply attempt to fill the void for a lack of strong creative writing (overall) for a good 30 years, at least now.
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Tribute bands are popular because so much of current pop music is terrible.  Over-produced and no substance. They like the old stuff.  When a song was actually a song.
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I think they are just ok but creation seems to be lost musically. I’d rather hear people that Interpret legends in their own way, not copycats.
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Frankly, I’m sick of seeing a bunch of hacks in Party City wigs prancing around on the weekend from their accounting jobs when there’s so many deserving real artists on tour that need the support.
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If I was in a tribute band, we would pick the best band we had ever heard and seen – we would want songs that we love so much we would enjoy playing them over and over for years, a band full of musicians that we would enjoy emulating over and over again for years.  Today’s tribute bands might be doing the same thing…
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