Slither around in black leather pants and call yourself the Lizard King long enough, and you are bound to start believing you actually wrote “L.A. Woman” and bedded Nico. At the very least, you’re likely to develop a competitive relationship with the subject of your tribute. Consider the New Zealand U2 tribute band Even Better Than The Real Thing – a pretty cheeky name, even if it is based on a U2 song title.
| UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY 9pm Friday, August 29 Sin 13 1902 McCullough 785-9461 |
Even Better is only one of dozens of bands devoted to imitating U2. They range from NU2 (Scottish blokes gone faux-Irish) to Zoo-2 (Australian) to the intriguing Exit, probably the only all-female group in the business of impersonating Bono and his mates.
Under a Blood Red Sky, a tribute band scheduled to play at Sin 13 on August 29, is not prominent along the U2-tribute circuit. In fact, they’re so devoid of even a replicated identity that Sin 13 has found it necessary to use an actual photo of U2 (see above) to promote the show. But even if they are near the lowest depths of the U2-tribute food chain, they’re still loaded with a close facsimile of passion – and if they walk away, walk away, we will follow. The truth is, where tribute bands are concerned, we can’t live with or without them. •
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2003.