Best paying tribute gigs

Kebabkid · January 2023

west said:

Kebabkid said:

west said:

sorry no money in steely dan tributes ... ask me how i know

Not from what I see and know (I have some mates in some) - there are 3 that I know of that are doing ok, especially two of them. Yep, they are large bands and there's many to pay but if you get into the decent venues e..g. central London Pizza Express gigs, Jazz Cafe and theatres, they do well

What are their names , where do they live , how much do they get ££ ?? How often do they gig .... ? show me the money ! lol

it was 15 years ago for me when i did it "the danny steel orchestra " friendly rivals where nearly dan ( gary / rob rolf etc ) still going ... i could regale you with tales of £20 / £25 a gig we did a couple arts centres maybe £35 squid for a 11 piece band .... and folks asking why you didnt play "all around my hat "

Stanley Dee, Simply Dan and Nearly Dan Mainly London and around the M25 but some are further afield. Simpy Dan are particularly busy but most gig a couple of times a month.

maltingsaudio · January 2023

These guys make a Bob or two
https://www.entertainers.co.uk/show/fastlove

Stuckfast · January 2023

What I don't understand is tributes to bands who only ever had one or two hits. I saw a poster advertising a Journey tribute a while ago. How many people could name more than a couple of Journey songs? What do they play for the other 80 minutes of the set?

Danny1969 · January 2023

Stuckfast said:

What I don't understand is tributes to bands who only ever had one or two hits. I saw a poster advertising a Journey tribute a while ago. How many people could name more than a couple of Journey songs? What do they play for the other 80 minutes of the set?

Generally if you are into an artist enough to go and watch a tribute band of that artist you probably know all the songs on all the albums. Generally a good tribute show kind of follows a career path of the artist, although there is still license to keep some biggest numbers to the end. We open with material of the first album, then the 2nd and build more modern as gig progresses which is a common trick. This is supplemented with images and film on a projector and costume changes ... which is again, very common practice on the pro tribute circuit.

I could name a lot of Journey songs, in fact I've gigged about 8 or so Journey songs in bands over the years so very popular band for rock fans of my generation and older. Plus Journey has had huge boosts with Don't stop believing being used in the last episode of the Sopranos and other big shows.

Stranger things using Running up the hill literally increased our ticket sales dramatically ..... we had young people coming who had discovered Kate Bush form that one song ....

hollywoodrox · January 2023

Jalapeno said:

DrCornelius said:

Danny1969 said:
If you can do 600 tickets at £18 a pop then you are on decent money even after paying for the venue, tech, PRS and agent fees.

Surely that would only apply if you were in a John Mayer or a Carlos Santana tribute band ?

The Illegal Eagles sell out all over the place, and they're excellent

I saw them late 90s absolutely brilliant

maltingsaudio · January 2023

Danny1969 said:

Stuckfast said:

What I don't understand is tributes to bands who only ever had one or two hits. I saw a poster advertising a Journey tribute a while ago. How many people could name more than a couple of Journey songs? What do they play for the other 80 minutes of the set?

Generally if you are into an artist enough to go and watch a tribute band of that artist you probably know all the songs on all the albums. Generally a good tribute show kind of follows a career path of the artist, although there is still license to keep some biggest numbers to the end. We open with material of the first album, then the 2nd and build more modern as gig progresses which is a common trick. This is supplemented with images and film on a projector and costume changes ... which is again, very common practice on the pro tribute circuit.

I could name a lot of Journey songs, in fact I've gigged about 8 or so Journey songs in bands over the years so very popular band for rock fans of my generation and older. Plus Journey has had huge boosts with Don't stop believing being used in the last episode of the Sopranos and other big shows.

Stranger things using Running up the hill literally increased our ticket sales dramatically ..... we had young people coming who had discovered Kate Bush form that one song ....

This is how I found out I wasn’t as big a Led Zep fan as I thought I was. Went to see let Zep theatre show, I was bored rigid for the first hour until they let rip with the hits!

John_P · January 2023

Stuckfast said:

What I don't understand is tributes to bands who only ever had one or two hits. I saw a poster advertising a Journey tribute a while ago. How many people could name more than a couple of Journey songs? What do they play for the other 80 minutes of the set?

There’s a band play in the village soon that do a set of journey and a set of foreigner. They’ve been going a while and use the tribute gig income to fund their originals band.

I always thought it was a clever idea to do both bands that have a similar sound.

I play in acdc tribute - not aiming for the big paying gigs but locally the regular cover band scene is really struggling with fewer and fewer venues and audiences so it’s been a good way to play to packed rooms and opened the door to a few small/ medium festivals.

Talking to some promoter friends, they say niche tributes can be the better sellers - eg a linkin park tribute were one of the best sellers at a local venue last year.

khaotic · January 2023

maltingsaudio said:

Danny1969 said:

Stuckfast said:

What I don't understand is tributes to bands who only ever had one or two hits. I saw a poster advertising a Journey tribute a while ago. How many people could name more than a couple of Journey songs? What do they play for the other 80 minutes of the set?

Generally if you are into an artist enough to go and watch a tribute band of that artist you probably know all the songs on all the albums. Generally a good tribute show kind of follows a career path of the artist, although there is still license to keep some biggest numbers to the end. We open with material of the first album, then the 2nd and build more modern as gig progresses which is a common trick. This is supplemented with images and film on a projector and costume changes ... which is again, very common practice on the pro tribute circuit.

I could name a lot of Journey songs, in fact I've gigged about 8 or so Journey songs in bands over the years so very popular band for rock fans of my generation and older. Plus Journey has had huge boosts with Don't stop believing being used in the last episode of the Sopranos and other big shows.

Stranger things using Running up the hill literally increased our ticket sales dramatically ..... we had young people coming who had discovered Kate Bush form that one song ....

This is how I found out I wasn’t as big a Led Zep fan as I thought I was. Went to see let Zep theatre show, I was bored rigid for the first hour until they let rip with the hits!

The problem with any kind of deep-cut tribute act is that the hardcore fans will know all the material but the more casual fans who are somewhat familiar with the band won't, and there's generally a reason why the lesser known tracks aren't big hits with the public. If the band are going for as large an audience as possible (ie not just fanatics about Band X), that's going to leave the set with a lot of bits where the audience are looking at each other and saying "wtf is this?" - eg me, at a Simon & Garfunkel Experience gig (the missus is a fan, I'm not)

p90fool · January 2023

maltingsaudio said:

Danny1969 said:

Stuckfast said:

What I don't understand is tributes to bands who only ever had one or two hits. I saw a poster advertising a Journey tribute a while ago. How many people could name more than a couple of Journey songs? What do they play for the other 80 minutes of the set?

Generally if you are into an artist enough to go and watch a tribute band of that artist you probably know all the songs on all the albums. Generally a good tribute show kind of follows a career path of the artist, although there is still license to keep some biggest numbers to the end. We open with material of the first album, then the 2nd and build more modern as gig progresses which is a common trick. This is supplemented with images and film on a projector and costume changes ... which is again, very common practice on the pro tribute circuit.

I could name a lot of Journey songs, in fact I've gigged about 8 or so Journey songs in bands over the years so very popular band for rock fans of my generation and older. Plus Journey has had huge boosts with Don't stop believing being used in the last episode of the Sopranos and other big shows.

Stranger things using Running up the hill literally increased our ticket sales dramatically ..... we had young people coming who had discovered Kate Bush form that one song ....

This is how I found out I wasn’t as big a Led Zep fan as I thought I was. Went to see let Zep theatre show, I was bored rigid for the first hour until they let rip with the hits!

This is how I found out what a huge Sabbath fan I'd been in the 70s, when I went to see Ian the Goat Sings Black Fucking Sabbath and I knew all the words.

They remain to this day the only tribute band I've ever seen and would ever bother with.

flying_pie · January 2023

I know a guy who organises Bowie tribute tours.

He got Earl Slick to play guitar for a Station to Station tour with Iggy Pop's rhythm section and Bernard Fowler on vocals. Needless to say it was an amazing show and the venue I went to was packed as I believe the others were.

And then he followed up by touring Alladin Sane with Mike Garson on piano....

So yeah. Find a dead artist with a strong fan base and get people who played on the albums and are still great musicians and you should do okay

Blueingreen · January 2023

west said:

sorry no money in steely dan tributes ... ask me how i know

Half of the tribute bands I've seen have been SD tribute bands. I've seen 4 in total, the SD tributes being Doctor Wu (French) and iirc Nearly Dan, although it was a very long time ago.

The other two were Frank Zappa tributes, surprisingly because I'm not remotely a Zappa fan. But I played in a band with two guys who were in a local Zappa tribute band, which I naturally went to see, and they also got me along to see an American FZ tribute who were touring the UK.

If only I were more typical you could have had 50% of the tribute band market.

sev112 · January 2023

The good bands who replicate current stadium artists are a great way of going to see the music/ band you like without having to fork out to pay O2 / Wembley prices and stand 1/4 mile away from the stage.

the Fillers are awesome - sound and looks and performance just like the real things, and they are endorsed by the Killers themselves and have even played at each other’s gigs.

But things such as Adele and Ed Sheeran tributes are great because you can get all the songs sung by excellent performers for good price and local.

i reckon circa 90% of my open mic and opening slots repertoire are Ralph McTell songs but apart from 2, the average audience don’t / wouldn’t know any of them, so I doubt there’s an opportunity there

Stuckfast · January 2023

I was talking to someone a while back who was thinking of doing a Charlatans tribute band. Admittedly he already played in a more general 90s Manchester covers band so maybe it wouldn't have been a lot of work, but I do wonder how many people would make the effort to go and see one. I mean how much would it cost to put on the actual Charlatans if you were that keen?

Moe_Zambeek · January 2023

Charlatunes have beaten them to it…and seem quite popular.

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