As the curtain rises on Christmas, the streets and shopping malls are filled with Santa impersonators, all paying seasonal tribute to the jolly old man in the red suit. They're not the real Father Christmas, of course, but they do provide a pleasant illusion, keeping the children amused until Santa himself arrives on Christmas Eve. There's another group of imitators abroad this season, and their names are as familiar as that of Mr Claus. If you head down to your local music venue during the holidays, you're likely to spot Bono, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Sting, Phil Lynnott and Jim Morrison, all alive and kicking, and all performing their greatest hits on stage. Not the real ones, mind, but a reasonable facsimile thereof. Better not cry or pout, though: it's just another harmless illusion, created by young musicians with stars in their eyes - and it's keeping the punters very, very amused at Christmas.
Tribute bands have been with us for a number of years, but instead of turning out to be a fad, they've proved to have lasting appeal on the live circuit. There's no shortage of original music out there in popland, but at this festive time of the year, punters want something they can sing along to - and what better tunes to sing along to than the hits of ABBA, The Beatles, The Doors, The Eagles and U2? And for only a tenner, too.
The tribute phenomenon began in Australia in the 1980s as a response to the drought of big-name bands who were willing to make the trek into the Antipodean backwoods. Camp copies of Madonna, The Cure and Elton John were regularly performing in the resorts around Bondi Beach, and soon the very word "Australian" came to signify the highest form of musical flattery. The biggest tribute band in the world, Bjorn Again, come from Down Under, although they prefer to speak in a rather suspect Swedish accent when being interviewed.
It wasn't long before everybody got in on the tribute act, and soon the UK circuit was clogged with bands such as The Counterfeit Stones, The Australian Pink Floyd, The Australian Doors Show, The Jean Genie, T. Rexstacy and Fleetwood Bac. The idea was to recreate the feel of being at a live performance from the past, and bands usually picked classic but defunct acts to imitate, such as Led Zeppelin; if they paid tribute to a still-extant act, they chose a long-established artist with a colourful career, e.g. David Bowie.
In 1996, however, one band broke the unwritten rule by creating a successful tribute band to a group which itself had only been in the public eye for two years. No Way Sis were dedicated to the music of Noel and Liam Gallagher, and they hitched themselves to the runaway train of Oasis-mania, pulling in crowds of punters and even scoring a Top 20 hit with their Oasis-style rendition of I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing.
Although Noel Gallagher gave No Way Sis his blessing, the Oasis songwriter had his own favourite tribute band: The Bootleg Beatles. The world's finest Beatles tribute band was chosen as the support act for Oasis's legendary concerts in Knebworth in 1996, and 250,000 fans watched as The Fab Four came back to life right before their eyes.
"It was a fantastic break for us," says Neil Harrison, who plays the part of John Lennon in the faux Fab Four. "The leading band in British music picking the Bootleg Beatles to support them in Loch Lomond and Knebworth. We were a bit worried playing outdoors, though - if there's a gale we might lose the wigs. It's strange for us coming from theatre to playing alongside big contemporary acts like Oasis, but it has certainly helped our career. Looking at the audiences we have now, there's a lot more of them and they're much younger."
Pretending to be John Lennon every night might mess with your sense of reality, but Harrison says he doesn't suffer any identity crisis as a result of his chosen role. "It's like being in a soap - I'm like an actor playing the same part over a long period of time. Sometimes the fans have more of a problem with it - when they come backstage to get autographs they expect me to be still in character."
The Bootleg Beatles came together in the early 1980s, following a West End run of the musical, Beatlemania. "After the show ended, we were all out-of-work moptops, so we decided to have a bash at it ourselves until we could get proper jobs. Now we're doing over a hundred shows a year, playing to audiences of one and two thousand at a time, so it's a full-time job. We do have other projects going on the side, just to keep our sanity and also to have some creativity. That's the drawback, that we don't get to play original music. We met George Harrison recently and he told us, `you guys are so good you should be playing your own songs'. My reply was, `yours are more popular, George'."
The tribute band phenomenon has become so popular in recent years that Irish versions of well-known international acts have sprung up to meet the demand. Perhaps it's the lure of easy money, or maybe it's the realisation that they can out-perform the better-known tribute acts, but the Irish circuit is now teeming with some rather good tributes. And the biggest of the lot is, would you believe, a tribute to ABBA. Paula O'Reilly is the singer with ABBAesque, who play Midnight At The Olympia on St Stephens's Day. Playing the part of Agnetha every night, says Paula in a suspiciously Swedish brogue, causes her no identity crisis whatever. "When I get up on zer stage, I am Agnetha. I feel I have her soul. It is so good to be her; I think herself and Frida are the best thing to come out of the Seventies. I love Seventies music, it was zer best time ever, don't you think?"
ABBAeque was the brainchild of Paul Wonderful, who also created The Glam Tarts and The Joshua Trio. Paul has since dropped out of ABBAesque to concentrate on his latest creation, Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly, but his brother Kieran Woodful now leads the stylish Swedes as they cut a platform-booted swathe through the pubs and venues around the country. "It is wonderful because everyone knows what they are getting when they come to zer show," says Paula/Agnetha. "Although you'd be surprised how many people think we are zer real thing - they are all the time thanking us for coming to Ireland."
Another 1970s revival band, Boogie Nights, are booked in for a 12-week residency at the Olympia, starting on Saturday January 2nd. Led by Leroy, aka Paddy Cullivan, Boogie Nights recreate the greatest hits of the disco era, donning afro wigs, shiny flares, medallions and wide, flapping shirt collars. It's all in step with the current 1970s revival, which has seen a resurgence of interest in Saturday Night Fever, Blaxploitation movies, cheesy interiors and The Bee Gees.
The blurb for Boogie Nights says it all: "It's 1999, and Boogie Nights are here to give the Nineties one last shot at being the Seventies". With a potential audience of more than 10,000 for their Olympia stint, it looks as though the last year of the century is rising the challenge.
"We're not bringing the Seventies to the people - we're bringing the people back to the Seventies," insists Leroy. "It's a huge show, with a full band, dancers and guest stars from the jet-setting world of disco, including Big Barry White, Brother James Brown, The Las Vegas Elvis and Rhiana Ross. A good way to describe it is a 1970s live revue. Anyone can play records from the 1970s as a DJ, but we're taking you back to see how it was done."
Leroy bristles when I suggest that the 1970s revival might be losing its shine. "I firmly believe that as we come closer towards the millennium, it will accelerate nostalgia for the 1970s. People are trying to hype up a 1980s revival, but that will go kaput because it was so crummy. Everybody wants to look like John Travolta - no one wants to look like Nik Kershaw."
The 1980s, however, are not dead yet, and one Dublin band, The Gardai, have apprehended the music of The Police, one of the biggest bands of that decade. There's a twist to it, though: instead of dying their hair blonde a la Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, The Gardai line up in regulation cop uniforms, complete with hats, badges and wayfarer shades. "We wanted to do something a little different, because we don't look a bit like the original Police," says Ramanuja, who plays bass and sings with The Gardai, and also happens to be a Hare Krishna. "I'm too big, the guitarist is too small, and the drummer is too hairy. They're not real police uniforms - my hat is actually a postman's hat. We got the blue shirts and ties from a friend who is a retired cop, and an old English bobby hat from a theatrical prop store. With the shades on, we could never be mistaken for real gardai."
Which is probably just as well, because the band recently performed a Christmas show at Wheatfield Prison, where a blue uniform might usually be a red rag to a bull. Instead, The Gardai went down a storm with the cons, and Ramanuja reveals that negotiations are in place for the band to play The Garda Club some time in the future. Should be an arresting experience.
Bjorn Again and The Bootleg Beatles play New Year's Eve at The Point. ABBAesque play Mid- night At The Olympia on St Stephen's Day. Boogie Nights bring Saturday night fever to the Olympia starting on January 2nd. Upcoming tributes at the Olympia include Limehouse Lizzy (Jan 1st), Achtung Baby (Jan 8th), LA Doors, (Jan 29th) and Dexy's Midnight Soul Runners (Feb 5th).
