In project 3 we were designated with the task of forming a tribute band to imitate Bob Marley and The wailers.
For this project I was playing a mixture of the alto saxophone on 3 tracks and the congas on 2.
The rest of our band was made up of a Drummer, a bassist, 2 guitarists, 2 keyboardists, 3 singers and a a rapper.
There are thousands of tribute bands across the globe as people have been inspired by decades of brilliant musicians before them. Below is a brilliant tribute band to the Beatles. Not only have they matched the aesthetic of the Beatles even to the point of the paul McCartney look alike playing guitar left handed, they sound almost like a carbon copy of them. Overall they are a brilliant tribute band and therefore gather huge crowds and make a living off of touring the Beatles songs.
There are festivals dedicated purely to tribute bands, including Glastonbudget and Tribfest.
Events director at Tribfest’s Ed Entertainment, Ed Faulkner explains: “There’s a reason why the tribute band scene is as big as it is. Some tribute bands are as good or better than the real thing. You sometimes get a dozen gigs out of the real band a year, whereas these tribute bands are playing 150 gigs a year. A lot of these bands end up at even your major festivals, because it’s as good as the real thing.”
It has even got to the stage where tribute bands are gaining significant followings of their own. The Australian Pink Floyd Show, for example, are embarking on a UK arena tour later this year and have over 99 thousand Facebook likes.
What do their fans enjoy so much?
One of their fans from home, Michael Worn, says “the chances of the real Pink Floyd playing again are zero, so I see nothing wrong with a band playing Pink Floyd’s music in such an incredible way”, whereas even fans from the time of the original group are enthralled, including German fan Christian Wölm, who says: “The light show and sound are on the same quality level now as from the original band.”
At a time when many older bands are either defunct or pricing themselves out of many live music fans, it’s easy to understand why people sometimes gravitate towards the tribute band scene.
Like in any aspect of the music Industry, the area for tribute bands will be highly competitive, however as huge bands continue to retire there is a growing opportunity to make a career in tribute bands as long as you can get it right.