h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This evening - taxiied daughter to and from kayaking, then did some mother-son bonding with Pilot 747 over a few beers at a Physical Graffitti (Led Zepplin cover band) concert.


Now if only I could get that lot on the right triple letters and double word scores, I'd be laughing!

Actually, I was laughing a fair bit. Covers bands are great - this one had the necessary leather trousers, long hair, violin bowing axe-solo, and gong thwacking. Plus a 10 minute drum solo which is just the perfick loo-break. Added advantage - since Led-heads are by and large male, there was a shorter queue for the ladies. The only thing the guys on stage seemed in danger of was being blinded by the glare off the bald heads head-banging in the mosh pit

And you'll never guess what they played for an encore

Hmmm...come to think of it, the last covers band I saw was called Simply Led, and was a couple of years ago recreating (in celebration of its 25th anniversary) the first ever live performance of Stairway, in the Ulster Hall Belfast

Den Atelier was pleasantly full - for RF's benefit, that's a 1-2 deep crowd along the rail in the balcony: enough to provide an atmosphere, but still allow unfettered access to the bar

And I was pleased to note that I was not the only aging rocker there tonight who'd dragged along their teenage offspring to experience some live music.

Sounds great.

Last Zeppelin covers band I saw rejoiced in the ridiculous name of Fazed And Contused. Which is generally far too much punnery for the average 40-year-old metalhead to work out...

B

Indeed

No, covers bands have a very valuable place in the gamut of live music, as I was reasoning on the walk home (a few beers up, you understand....)

They're cheap
They're readily avaialable
You know what the set list is gonna be...
....and the encore.
They've nothing to prove really ("oh that's nothing like the album version!" that you get at the Real Band)
ANY live music is good! (well...up to a point...)
They know they're not cool. So they can be as outrageous as they like.

But yet I can't stand them. I've always seen cover bands as slightly desperate, pathetic musicians who haven't enough imagination to create their own identity.

B

Hmmm... it's a living. Or possibly just a hobby. Quite an enjoyable one. OK not glory in your own right, but hey.

Do classical musicians get to express their individual interpretation of a piece of music when they have a particular score, interpreted by a particular conductor, to play? How is that different to a covers band?

I wouldn't call them pathetic or desperate. Astute and savvy, maybe, loyal fans possibly, but then not everybody has the necessary balls, luck, and modicum of talent to become a star.

There was a one-man Led Zeppelin tribute band (well, not really a 'band' as such, obviously) played round my way recently, called Fred Zeppelin

See? Tribute bands are worth it for their corny names alone.

And also, when you know you aint gonna get to see certain bands (like Zep or XTC ) perform live...then a tribute band is as close as you're gonna get.

Coming late to this thread...

Yes, absolutely! XTC, whilst still a going concern, will never play live again (a decision they announced in 1982. Thank Bob I saw them in 1981! (Shows age))

However, there is a UK band called X-sTatiC (http://www.x-static.org/) who play XTC songs (well duh! ) and they are an abolute joy and a boon to watch. OK, they don't look anything like XTC (unlike the Bjorn Again-style bands) and they're made up of strictly amateur musicians (as in, they have day jobs, not that they're no good!)

Not sure whether I'd go and see a Queen cover band (and have stayed away from We Will Rock You for much the same reason) as part of the reason for going is the virtuoso performances, particularly from Freddie Mercury and Brian May.

My

RF

I've started a new game.

Guess who's written the journal from the title in my message centre.

This is the first time I've been wrong!!
I guessed at Mina, (she loves Scrabble)

I *was* correct at my last guess, a really l-o-n-g title about Hallowe'en which I had to unsubscribe from as it did horrible things to my PS.
Yes, it was Dragonfly.

**vaguely remember challenging Mina to a game of Scrabble**

I wonder if it's possible to play through forums? I suppose one could, if there were a neutral to pick letters for you. I've played h2g2 bridge, and the chess club is thriving, so it's not such a bad idea really...

B