“The Insiders: A Tribute to Tom Pett”y will be at the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts in Manistee on July 28. Photo courtesy of RRCA.
By Gordon Berg
Tribute bands are everywhere in the region this summer. At the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts in Manistee are “Revival: A Tribute to the Allman Brothers Band” on June 29 and “The Gambler Returns: The Ultimate Kenny Rogers Tribute Show” on July 14, followed by “The Insiders: A Tribute to Tom Petty” on July 28. The line-up at Interlochen Center for the Arts includes Dark Star Orchestra (a Grateful Dead tribute) and “The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA”.
I recently spoke to Max Lockwood, a member of “The Insiders: A Tribute to Tom Petty” and the group’s lead singer, about tribute bands and, particularly, The Insiders.
“We bow down to the feet of The Heartbreakers, one of the greatest bands of all time,” he said of Tom Petty’s band, adding, “It’s a gift.”
Lockwood shared his enthusiasm by offering an invitation to “… come out to the show and see how genuinely we love the music.
“… It’s actually coming from a really pure place. We love playing music together and playing the songs and having a really great night with the people who love Tom Petty’s music like we do.”
According to Ticketmaster, tribute and cover bands sell an average of 1.7 million tickets per year in the U.S. ProTributeBands.com reported in a 2020 survey of more than 1,000 music fans that 79% would attend a performance featuring a tribute or cover band in their local area.
But while it seems like there’s been an overnight explosion of tribute bands, it’s a phenomenon that’s been around for some time.
Rock tributes go waaayyy back
The first recorded Elvis impersonator was Carl Nelson who got started in 1954, just a few months after Elvis himself began gaining traction nationally. Estimates now suggest there could be as many as 400,000 Elvis imitators worldwide.
In the late 1960s, Jackson, Michigan became a hub for garage bands. Good ones. Among them was a group named Toad. They came to our high school to play at a Saturday night dance. Like most bands of the day, they performed covers of a lot of current popular songs. But when the three of them played Cream, they were on fire. They single-handedly transformed our high school cafeteria into Detroit’s Grande Ballroom. When they performed, “Toad,” “I’m So Glad,” and “Sunshine of Your Love,” the crowd when wild. They weren’t just three kids from Jackson anymore. When the lights were down and the volume was up, they were Cream. Every guitar riff, every harmony, every drum fill – pure Cream. Years later I saw Eric Clapton play “Sunshine of Your Love” live and Toad’s version was better. Hands down. No question. More raw. More power. More heart. Fifty-five years later the magic from that moment still echoes in my head.
Music that carries on indefinitely
Members of a truly good tribute band can love an artist’s music so deeply that performing it becomes their way of paying homage to it. In some cases, the artist has died or they’re not recording any more, or they simply don’t have it in them to deal with the grueling demands of touring. There is no way to see them “live” anymore. Should that music be allowed to become a distant echo?
The best music is timeless. It deserves to be kept alive. Entire symphonies are based on this premise. Some orchestras go to such pains as to fill their string sections with vintage instruments to more accurately replicate the original sound. Or they might have their string musicians perform without vibrato if the piece was composed before that technique was popularized.
And what about classic jazz artists such as today’s Count Basie or Duke Ellington orchestras? It’s quite unlikely that any of those original members are still performing with them today, even if they’re alive. Yet, these orchestras are still going strong.
So, who better to carry on an aging artist’s legacy than those from a new generation who have a deep passion for the music they’re re-creating? This can be a genuine and vital role a great tribute band can have — to keep the music alive for those hearing it for the first time and for those who grew up with it.
Mood and magic artfully re-created
Enter The Insiders: A Tribute to Tom Petty. They’re a group of seasoned musicians from Grand Rapids who began covering some of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ songs when Petty died in 2017. They loved playing Petty’s music. Max Lockwood, Phil Barry, Eric O’Daly, Mike Lynch, Daine Hammerle and Joe VanAcker never intended to become a tribute band. It just happened. Over time, they dedicated themselves to more than just playing Petty’s music. They homed in on his life through books, documentaries and podcasts. More importantly, they wanted to re-create Petty’s sound in live performances. That included playing a Rickenbacker guitar, a Ludwig Vistalite drum kit and even home-built Leslie speakers for the Hammond organ. Barry (lead guitar and vocals) even strives to replicate the tonal quality of The Heartbreakers’ distinct sound.
“We just try to be six guys on stage playing rock ’n’ roll the way it’s meant to be played ⸺ really being there and being engaged with the audience in a clear and heartfelt way,” Lockwood said.
In the end, there’s no better tribute to tribute bands than that.
Tom Petty once said: “Music is probably the only real magic I have encountered in my life. There’s not some trick involved with it. It’s pure and it’s real. It moves, it heals, it communicates and does all these incredible things.”
The music we loved lives on in tribute bands. Tap into some of that magic this summer.
Tickets for each of the Ramsdell performances are sold at: ramsdelltheatre.org. For tickets to Interlochen performances, go to: https://tinyurl.com/2axxf7m2
Gordon Berg is a descendant of Manistee’s Bergs, Swansons and Martinsons. His debut book “Harry and the Hurricane” is about his father’s life as a young boy and how he survived the Miami Hurricane of 1926. Gord plays guitar, loves The Beatles, and has booked musicians for a concert series and his alma mater.
More stories by Gordon Berg HERE
