Dedicated to the Ones We Love
When it’s done right, there’s something really special about hearing songs you’ve lived with for decades played at full volume in a room full of people who know every word.
I've been going to concerts since I was around twelve years old. I’ve seen at least a thousand shows in venues including tiny clubs, amusement parks, outdoor festivals, theaters, arenas, and stadiums. Big names like Neil Young, The Eagles, Springsteen, Journey, Rush, Metallica, and Van Halen all the way to legacy acts like The Guess Who and Kansas which only had one or two original members.
Friday night, I’m heading to Mickey’s Black Box with my metal show buddy Eric. We’re seeing Dio Rules, a show in a fast-growing category: Tribute bands.
Entire venues build their programming around tributes. Regional circuits exist. Some of these acts tour relentlessly and draw consistent crowds. The sheer number of tribute bands and their appeal is new, even though the music isn’t.
Don’t confuse tributes with strictly cover bands (which I also love). The serious ones, like Solar Federation (Rush) or Lez Zeppelin, obsess over tone, dynamics, and sequencing. Some replicate appearances or stage mannerisms to one degree or another. I can’t imagine how many hours of practice and how much money they sink into production. Next time I see that The Iron Maidens are playing locally, I'm getting tickets. Can you imagine?!
(I suppose somebody could push back and say that a tribute band is just a cover band with branding, but that ignores the fact that the originals bands themselves often traverse decades of changing styles and brands)
Yeah, the greatest hits are there (Tom Sawyer), but Rush fans really get excited when The Necromancer makes an appearance. Deep tracks are expected. Shortcuts aren’t. If you’re taking on U2, you need to master how delay shapes the architecture of the band’s guitar-driven sound. If you’re fronting a Dio tribute, you must respect both the theatrics and the vocal discipline. You can’t fake the level of detail these bands practice for long. Audiences notice quickly.
Solar Federation - One of the best Rush tributes out there
When it’s done right, there’s something really special about hearing songs you’ve lived with for decades played at full volume in a room full of people who know every word. For an hour or two, everyone’s in the same memory at once and nobody’s afraid to break out the air drums or air guitars.
I’ve got a few other tribute shows on the calendar too: The Machine doing Pink Floyd, and Unforgettable Fire channeling U2. But in between those, plenty of original bands.
I still love seeing original music. We are spoiled for original music options in Lancaster county, including Tractor Jerry and the Mudbuckets, Bobby Gentilo, Zoey Noble, Jon Smith’s Voyages, Jessica Smucker, and so many more. I like not knowing what the next song will sound like. I like watching up and coming bands figure themselves out in real time. And we’ve got the Lancaster Roots & Blues Festival, which from a fan perspective is an all-you-can-eat buffet of original music spread around the city over two or three days. If something’s not for you, you just move on to a different venue, sometimes right across the street. Less risk leads to more exploration.
Regardless, there’s something to be said for walking into a concert hall already wired for what’s about to happen. Friday night, Ronnie James Dio won’t be on that stage. We all know that. But if Dio Rules locks into “Holy Diver” and the room initiates the head-banging in unison, that energy will be real.
After seeing so many original band shows, from the titans of rock like Foo Fighters down to the hard-working legacy acts like Skynyrd, in small clubs and stadiums and everything in between, the value proposition of tribute acts is easy:
It’s a bit like suspension of disbelief in fiction and film. I know I’m not seeing the real thing. Dio’s long gone, sadly. But chances are, Friday night’s performance is going to make me and Eric and all the devil-horn-waving fans around us spill our beers from jamming so hard. Everything else is a technicality.