The gig economy: Why rock tribute acts are big business
He knows what his audience wants and he’s still delivering after all these years. His sets will almost certainly include Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?, Hot Legs and Reason to Believe.
“He says Kiwis are some of the best audiences, if not the best audiences that he’s played to. That’s why he likes coming back so much,” says promoter Steve Tree, talking about Rud Stewart.
Rud is really Michael Dean from Yorkshire, and he’s one of the most successful acts on Topline Entertainment’s roster. Founder and manager Tree promotes “around 14″ tribute acts, including Born on the Bayou (Creedence Clearwater Revival), The Refugees(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Brown Sugar (the Rolling Stones). “The other one that’s popular is Queen. I’ve got a good Queen tribute act from a guy in Nelson.”
And nearly all are locally born and bred.
“I bring the odd act in from overseas, but only if the act is not here in New Zealand, because I want to support New Zealand musicians,” says Tree. “That’s the No 1 priority. The one I probably bring in the most and is very successful here is Rud. I was with him last night and we’re heading off again shortly. He’s got a sold-out show at the Huapai Tavern this afternoon at three o’clock.”
Tree says that with all his acts it’s how well they play the original music that makes the difference, the look is less important. Rud, however is in a class apart, the complete package: “He looks like him, he sounds like him, he’s got the moves, he’s got the outfits, he’s got that cheeky banter.”
What he doesn’t have is the high ticket costs. “If you have a look at some of these prices for bands that are coming here, there’s maybe only one or two of the original members left, they carry on with the name and are, in effect, a tribute show to themselves and are still charging $300 for tickets.”
And besides, in a world where Abba themselves can perform as “digital avatars” in their high-tech show Abba Voyage, is it worth even trying to decide whether an act is authentic? Is there any difference between the Beatles and the Bootleg Beatles, apart from the fact one is alive and the other half dead?
The line between original act and tribute is increasingly blurred. Björn Again began as a semi-affectionate, semi-pisstake of Abba in 1988. They were formed by a couple of Melbourne “metal-heads in our early 20s”, according to co-founder John Tyrrell, who now oversees three incarnations performing at any one time in Europe, the US and Australia. One is coming here for a Waterloo anniversary show in August. “We used to play in bands and think, ‘How do we rise above the rest?’” says Tyrrell. “And then we just started brainstorming for a couple of months … and came up with the idea: Wouldn’t it be funny just to dress up as Abba and play those daggy songs?”
Add some theatrics and a whole lot of jokes and you get an enduring phenomenon that mashes up old-fashioned variety, performance art, nostalgia and tribute-band musical basics.