a bit over-familiar now perhaps but still a great show - musically, impressionistically and comedically!

I especially liked the bootleg John's cheeky intro after they'd played Penny Lane - 'and now here's the A-side'...

Two excellent acts I've seen who didn't try to do an impression of the original are Nearly Dan (Steely Dan tribute) and Keith James & Rick Foot (Nick Drake tribute with some John Martyn material). Nearly Dan do an amazingly accurate reproduction of the original, while Keith and Rick are more interpretative.

In terms of best tribute band names

Bjorn Again - the original and still the best
Champagne Vauxhall Nova
The Antarctic Monkeys
Irn Madein (geddit?)

are the only one I've ever seen and they are brill. Never seen the real stones so don't know how they compare :-)

and Beep Purple are two of my favourites.

that when I perfect my C, G, D, AM chord changes (I've been strumming ham fistedly on and off for a year or so) I can perform on a street corner somewhere as "Dave Amitri".

PS can someone please tell me how you're supposed to play an F on a very cheap guitar where the strngs are about an inch away from the frets? It really hurts!!

I've seen Zappa tribute band 'The Muffin Men' many times, often with the late Jimmy Carl Black as featured vocalist. They used to start off playing a set of the more musically complex late-period FZ material and then Jimmy would come on to sing some Mothers Of Invention and Beefheart stuff and a couple of his own songs. Haven't seen them since Jimmy died, so I don't know what form their shows would take now.

It takes excellent musicianship and plenty of balls to play Zappa's music convincingly but they've pulled it off admirably every time I've seen them.

Saw them about 20 years ago. Can't remember anything about the show, but still love the name.

in Belfast but can't remember their name. My best fictional tribute band name would be 'The Jimi Hendrix Inexperience'. I'll get me coke.

neither of which try to look like the originals. APF much better than Whole Lotta Led - and play much bigger gigs.

Have any of you been to Glastonbudget?
http://www.glastonbudget.net/home

Any Good?

Ex Mothers of Invention members playing Frank Zappa's 60's and 70's material. I got to meet them all after their set, Roy Estrada was esepcially great to talk to.

Ex Mothers of Invention members playing Frank Zappa's 60's and 70's material. I got to meet them all after their set, Roy Estrada was esepcially great to talk to.

...but isn't Oasish a great name?

I like a lot.

(Madness tribute) and Imagine … The Beatles are both spot on.

...get my award for the best name.

Supporting The Maximum Who at The Bottom Line in Shepherds Bush (now the Walkabout) - both terrific fun. DIDN'T play Smoke on the Water. They thought it passe. Blinding versions of Hush and Strange Kind of Woman.

AB/CD at the Railway Tavern in Worcester Park - only played Bon Scott era stuff.

Australian Pink Floyd did an awesome show - very professional - sold out Shepherds Bush Empire populated by Floyd heads and they play EVERYTHING. From Piper through to the Division Bell

Best of all....one of my friends was/is very heavily into U2 to the extent that he'd corrall us into following a, to be fair, pretty good tribute band around London and the South East. About 5 or 6 of us used to get roped in and as ZU2 (do you see what they did there?) were based in Nottingham, gigs in the provinces were pretty few and far between. One evening we traipsed up to a hellish chrome chain bar (Brannigan's I think) in Braintree. We were the only 6 people in there as they cranked into Ultraviolet an old dear walked into the pub - up to "Bono" in full Fly era gear, interupting a line of "light my way" and calmly asked what time the bingo started and would he mind awfully, if he had to continue, to sing a "nice" song. "Bono" collapsed in a fit of giggles and gig ended there.

These were hugely profitable little ventures. This U2 band were a pro outfit. All their time was spent traversing the UK, Europe and the States taking bookings. The kit they used was, to my eyes, some nuclear grade top end systems - the PA and pedals looked like a NASA launch module. I suppose this is pretty rare occurence/plain good luck that this band, all U2 nuts, could make a decent living out of something they so clearly loved so much. To be fair, if you closed your eyes, it WAS U2. They were good. The tribute circuit seems to have tailed off alarmingly in recent years so just hope they're out there still living the dream somewhere. Walk On. (taps chest twice, fist salute)

Special mention to Limehouse Lizzy - terrific band and Phil Lynott's mum turned up to one of their shows at the John Bull in Chiswick, bringing the place to a standstill.

Never seen them but have listened to quite a few shows on Internet Archive.

Their premise must make them the Mother of All Tribute Bands: play a complete Grateful Dead concert, note for note, from any night in the band's thirty year history.

Hat duly doffed in their general direction.

The Bandit Beatles
Generation Preachers
The Beautiful Couch

Fragile - very enjoyable Yes tribute

The Musical Box (twice, once doing the full Lamb with original Genesis screens)

G2Genesis

ReGenesis

Think Floyd

Australian Pink Floyd

Two different Led Zepp tributes... the names of which elude me

I saw Ian Brown fronting a Stones Roses tribute band at Claremont Gardens in Surrey a few years ago. That was surreal, amazing, totally unexpected and I believe the first time he had played any Roses songs since they split up.

and they sound damn good as well

Album on spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/album/6kTKatDLQfs5SGm2ADJ2Qi

No puns on the name, but a great Jethro Tull tribute - they were truly excellent

(Steely Dan tribute - geddit ?)- used to gig around West Midlands. Had a horn section and did the stuffy well. Saw them a couple of times - very good musically, but poor on stagecraft - spent a lot of time setting up, sound checking and posing, which diluted the impact somewhat.

Whitesnake UK - Excellent - Singer is great front man. Guitarist has his own blues-rock sound, doesn't imitate the original too slavishly. Good showmen.

Rainbow Rising - V. Good - great singer, very good bass player and drummer. Guitarist has a Blackmore fixation and sound - solos aren't always clear.

Queen B - Phenomenal singer - great presence and a superb voice (you'd have to in order to do Freddy properly)- very good band - all good players. A good show.

Pure Purple - wasn't over impressed - drummer is a good player.

is a Blondie/Debby Harry tribute - haven't seen them though

Fred Zeppelin are very popular in the Midlands.

Cosmic Charlies - good Dead tribute - mostly instrumental.

Crowded Scouse
Robbing Williams
Definitely Mightbe
The Other Smiths
The Clone Roses

I'm now a fan of these guys who took me on a nice trip down memory lane last Saturday at Shepherds Bush. They have nailed the Lizzy guitar sound cold, the guy's got a very passable mellow Lynott vocal and they delivered great versions of Chinatown, Cowboy Song and Don't Believe a Word. Finished with a heart warming Whisky in the Jar too. Go see them if you get the chance.

than a couple of pints and The Smyths.

'Nearly Dan' are superb in a soundalike way.

But if you want to experience pure 'uncanny' then go and see 'Bootled Zeppelin'

Absolutely remarkable in every way.

Oh, and if you are sniffy about tribute bands, you are a dick.

at my 25th Wedding Anniversary last weekend - they were superb. Guests loved them too!

Perfect Alibi (Pink Floyd - about 2 weeks after Syds passing. Opened with 'Crazy Diamond'), T Rextasy (looked the spitting image of Marc Bolan) & Bootleg Beatles (great show split into the Red & Blue eras, and a tongue-in-cheek look to the future, including 'Thomas The Tank Engine' references)
Marvellous Festival at Wellington Country Park 2006

Never saw any of these 3 so the Tribute Band will do the job

Best band name ever.

Nearly Dan at the Jazz cafe this coming august pocket.

Down the front for that diminished 9th.

...I'll almost certainly not be here on 22 August. Edinburgh Fringe, innit? Take the Mrs; she'll love it!

The Beautiful Southmartins, The Beautiful Sound, and I believe there was one called Northern Scum. I really hope so.

Are we waiting for the QI type flashes and sounds when someone mentions the most famous Beatles tribute band?