There have been cover acts ever since rock n' roll began. Aspiring performers learn by attempting to copy their idols and fledgling bands bash out standards before perhaps going on to pen their own material. For many musicians, playing in a covers group or wedding outfit is a way of earning extra cash - the more dedicated acts may even manage to operate on a fully professional basis. The tribute show is now a popular part of concert schedules across the country, concentrating solely on reproducing the music of one singer or band as authentically as possible. These acts range from slick theatre productions to small pub gigs. Some play no doubt purely for beer money while others make a good living from comprehensive national tours.
The first tribute concert I attended was back in the mid-90s while at university in Dundee. My flatmate and I went to see the Australian Pink Floyd in a small club venue. The place was busy and I seem to remember drinking creamy Caffrey's "premium" Irish ale. Just the sort of nitrokeg nonsense I avoid like the plague nowadays. But when you're 21 you'll drink anything that's wet and I'm wagering a craft/cask beer scene barely existed in the city back then outside of a mere handful of specialist pubs. I enjoyed the show and remember my mate Gary quipping that the visual appearance of the band members didn't matter as nobody knew (or cared) what the real Floyd looked like. This argument won't apply to all tribute shows of course. The David Bowie Experience recently rolled into Dunfermline and I'm sure multiple costume changes were very much an integral part of the set. The Aussie Floyd went on to enjoy considerable success and have performed at festivals across the globe, as have a handful of other copycat artists such as the Bootleg Beatles. I've attended a few tribute gigs over the past few years:- A nice double bill of AC/DC and ZZ Top with the former act having two singers to handle the Bon Scott and Brian Johnson eras. I headed through to Cumbernauld to see Motorheadache and mainman Rob Campbell looked scarily like Lemmy. A great night! An excellent Guns n' Roses pastiche in Dunfermline marred only by a pitiful crowd. A faithful reproduction of music from The Jam. The grandest production was Rumours of Fleetwood Mac, who drew a large crowd to the Alhambra Theatre and were even signing programmes and flogging merchandise after the set! They pack out venues up and down the UK and also play a mini set of Peter Green numbers, ensuring the early days of the Green God and his disciple Danny Kirwan are remembered. A tragic fate was to befall both men, Green losing his way to mental illness and the equally troubled Kirwan drowning in a sea of alcohol.
In stark contrast, the acoustic Mac show Nicole and I saw in Glenrothes was substandard. The husband and wife duo simply weren't good enough to properly interpret some of the biggest selling songs of all time. The lukewarm audience response certainly wasn't improved by the announcement they would pad out their allotted stage time with a few numbers from their Beatles, Eagles and Police projects. The bloke asked for a request and with no answer forthcoming, I boldly shouted out Roxanne, immediately realising I'd probably just asked him to sing one of the more difficult Police songs. Credit where it's due - he actually delivered a fine rendition (duplicating Sting must be his main strength) but I made a mental note not to book tickets for the acoustic Beatles show I'd seen advertised in the theatre guide. I telephoned my mum to tip her off about the underwhelming prospect of these guys attempting to play a Fab Four set. Now to the show that inspired me to write this article. Since my teenage years, I've been a huge fan of vocalist Paul Rodgers and the two bands he fronted in the 70s - Free and Bad Company. All Right Now by Free is one of those anthemic rock standards everyone knows but there was far more to the band than playing chest-beating stompers. Free began as a blues rock outfit but absorbed elements of soul into their repertoire and penned many sensitive songs alongside the rockier fare. The four members: Rodgers, Paul Kossoff (guitar) Andy Fraser (bass) and Simon Kirke (drums) were barely 20 as Alright Now became a huge hit single and launched them to stardom.
The first two albums were promising but next effort Fire and Water was the big commercial breakthrough. Follow-up release Highway displayed a lighter sound but was - in my opinion - just as good. Strangely it failed to trouble the charts and lead single The Stealer - a punchy track not too dissimilar to Alright Now - fared no better. Utterly disillusioned, the band tragically split. Ironically, a parting shot - the jaunty My Brother Jake - rose into the top-10 with lyrics about a young man pissing his life away. "Who couldn't relate to that?" mused Simon Kirk many moons later. The record company put out a live album after the band's demise which hit the spot. Free regrouped a year or so later but the results were variable. The comeback album was a mixed bag; excellent moments like Soldier Boy, Sail On and Little Bit Of Love but also a degree of uninspired filler, whereas well-meaning misfires might have been a better way to describe the less than stellar tracks on earlier releases. Virtuoso bass player Andy Fraser (no relation to yours truly!) quit after the tour, apparently frustrated at the physical condition of Paul Kossoff, which had led to some disastrous performances where a heavily drugged Koss was way behind everyone else.
The story of Kossoff's decline due to substance abuse is an awful tale. His main vice allegedly was mandrax - a powerful sedative intended to treat insomnia but one which rendered people drooling idiots if over consumed. Free's final album, Heartbreaker, was patchy but kicked off with the now-classic Wishing Well. It's uncertain how much guitar Kossoff actually contributed and he was absent from the final shows as the band limped on before calling it a day. Paul Kossoff died on a transatlantic flight in 1976 at the shockingly young age of 25. His new band, Back Street Crawler, had been making steady progress.
Rodgers and Kirke launched Bad Company and found immediate success in America. Playing a harder rocking style, they notched up a string of platinum albums of which the first two are essential and the remainder fall victim to the law of diminishing returns. Bad Co petered out in the early 80s and Rodgers recorded a fine solo album before hooking up with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Dubbed a supergroup from the outset, The Firm suffered from the common problem of the total being somewhat less than the sum of its parts and the band made only a modest impact. The remaining members of Bad Company regrouped with other vocalists and released a few albums which blew hot and cold. A couple sold well. Eventually Rodgers returned to the fold and the classic line-up toured on and off, finding the nostalgia circuit a lucrative one. Unfortunately the band lost the services of long-time guitarist Mick Ralph, who was incapacitated by a stroke and won't play again. Rodgers took "The Free Experience" on the road but hefty ticket price of £85 didn't lure me to Glasgow.
I didn't initially intend to write a distillation of both bands' careers but there you go. Back to the Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline. I headed along on a Friday evening to watch the Spirit of Bad Company & Free. Figuring it wouldn't sell out, I bought a ticket on the door. As expected, the balcony was closed off but a healthy crowd of at least 150 assembled in the stalls. Opening with the song "Bad Company" from the eponymous debut album, it instantly became apparent that singer Alan King was more than up to the job. An impeccable set of classic material ensued with the band nailing every number. It transpired Alan was local when he quipped mid-set "I usually joke at this point I have to catch my bus home after this number. I really am getting the bus tonight but can stay to the end, as I'm just down the road in Rosyth. Mind you, I don't have my pass yet so it's costing me £2.50". Great banter! I did a wee bit of research on Alan and discovered he'd been in a signed band back in the day who had supported a few big names. That didn't surprise me as he was obviously a quality vocalist and could handle the Paul Rodgers songbook while retaining elements of his own style. I also discovered the band was moonlighting this evening and their regular identity is Hotel California Scotland - The Eagles show. They have toured this act nationwide for many years. As the houselights came on at the end, a bloke I knew from yoga classes clocked me and pretty much told me to get my arse to an Eagles event. Duly noted!
The tribute scene is certainly thriving. Some say it abstracts potential support for up and coming bands but a typical tribute audience is middle aged. Would they otherwise be out in the big city following new trends in clubs and bars? There's nothing wrong with enjoying a night of excellent music in your local theatre and having a couple of beers beforehand if you fancy. What about Free's bass god Andy Fraser? - he who played that extended solo during Mr Big. Andy faded from the live music scene in the mid-70s but penned a few notable hits for other artists in the following decade. In any case, he didn't need to worry about finances as a co-writer of All Right Now. He re-emerged as a recording artist in 2005, released his autobiography and returned to the stage. I caught him at the Green Hotel, Kinross, in 2013. This venue specialises in retro acts and Andy had the highly-respected veteran session guitarist Chris Spedding in the line-up. Sharing guitar duties was teenage prodigy Tobi Earnshaw and it was certainly an entertaining evening with Spedding absolutely mesmerising. Andy came to the bar after the show to sign merchandise and I managed a brief word with him. Upon hearing he was chatting to a fellow Fraser, Andy relayed some of his colourful family history involving a slave plantation in British Guyana. Andy is of mixed race heritage and the plantation owner was a Fraser. You can guess the rest. The upshot being Andy and I agreeing upon the Fraser clan being a "bunch of dirty fuckers"
Amen to that!
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