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Topic: Tribute acts revive classic rock Return to archive
24th January 2007 05:47 AM
Ten Thousand Motels Tribute acts revive classic rock
By KYLE MUNSON
REGISTER MUSIC CRITIC
Des Moines Register
January 21, 2007


Classic rock is alive and well - even if many of its bands are not.

Exhibit A is the Rolling Stones, classic rock's flagship band of the concert scene that according to multiple industry publications scored last year's top-grossing tour - also the most lucrative tour by any band to date - by raking in more than $425 million with its sticky fingers.

But the original Mick and Keith don't have to deliver classic rock to the newer generations all by themselves, one arena or stadium at a time. Fresh talent has been replenishing the genre's ranks on the tour circuit in the form of tribute bands proliferating in nightclubs, theaters and ballrooms nationwide.

This weekend in Iowa alone we have seen a Guns N' Roses cover band in Iowa City, an Elvis impersonator contest at a casino in Sloan, an Allman Brothers act in Des Moines and, tonight, the Grateful Dead-channeling Dark Star Orchestra at the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines.

Bruce Iler of Johnston, 46, is a first-generation classic rocker who grew up with the music and boasts more than 50 Grateful Dead shows on his concert resumé - not an extraordinary number among dedicated Deadheads.

He has attended about a half-dozen concerts by Dark Star Orchestra, a Chicago group that re-creates entire Dead shows from start to finish with careful attention to detail.

"I think that they have captured a lot of the essence of the Dead," Iler said. "A couple of members have stood in with the Dead, played with the Dead. ... If the original members - Bob Weir and Phil Lesh and those folks - respect them enough to treat them as peers, then you know they must have something going for them."

So classic rock tributes today have been embraced as an essential means to carry the music forward - not as cheap copies of the original perpetuated by second-rate musicians looking to cash in.

Iler's four kids range in age from 7 to 21, and they're getting hooked on his musical library as the handing down of the classic rock canon continues, one dusty vinyl LP collection at a time.

"I think it's the classical music of our time, of our generation," Iler said of classic rock.

Nick Fetty couldn't agree more. The 18-year-old senior at Valley High School in West Des Moines also will attend tonight's Dark Star Orchestra concert. He won't be trying to relive a specific Dead show, since he was in elementary school when Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Fetty, like many of his peers, is nostalgic for a golden age of rock that he didn't get to experience.

"I just remember as a kid that (my parents) always listened to (94.9) KGGO," he said. "I remember hearing Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and stuff. I just think a lot of music back then actually had meaning."

There's plenty more evidence to track the boom market for classic rock:

• Billboard's Pop Catalog Albums chart shows the enduring appetite for Guns N' Roses, Queen, Pink Floyd, the Beatles and the Doors.

• Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is among iTunes' top 100 album downloads.

• Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Grateful Dead and Carlos Santana are suing Wolfgang's Vault (www.wolfgangsvault.com) over rights to the Web site's digital warehouse of vintage concert recordings.

• Classic Rock Central launched in December at www.classicrockcentral.com as an online hub for addicts of the old school.

• The Ames School of Rock was founded last year as Iowa's first formal, large-scale curriculum for young, aspiring musicians to learn to play in the classic rock tradition.

• Mr. "Old Time Rock and Roll" himself, Bob Seger, has generated brisk sales and glowing reviews on his current comeback arena tour.

• Tom Petty told the Los Angeles Times in December that retiring is the last thing on his mind - rock's fortunes look too good.

• There has been intense speculation in recent weeks that the Police will reunite to tour in celebration of the Sting-led trio's 30th anniversary.

"Time will tell, I guess," Iler said of whether the classic rock canon will be enshrined with the prestige of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. "I like it as much as I did 30-some years ago, more and more."

Reporter Kyle Munson can be reached at (515) 284-8124 or [email protected]



24th January 2007 08:57 AM
glencar It's all over now.
24th January 2007 11:11 AM
fireontheplatter cool
24th January 2007 11:20 AM
Saint Sway c'mon man! Now your resorting to posting lame 'news' stories from an Iowa newspaper.. WTF??

of course they've noticed a surge in classic rock cover bands - ITS IOWA!!
real bands dont stop there on their tours
24th January 2007 11:29 AM
glencar LOL It's like Nebraska but a bit more populated.
24th January 2007 12:56 PM
Starbuck
quote:
So classic rock tributes today have been embraced as an essential means to carry the music forward - not as cheap copies of the original perpetuated by second-rate musicians looking to cash in.



AMEN to that!



24th January 2007 02:54 PM
Saint Sway
quote:
glencar wrote:
It's all over now.



quote:
JB wrote:
The 2 have nothing to do with one nother..no one sid Keith is dying...and I did not post he had a stroke...but I truly beleive it's over....axcept it and move on....Life is not about living vicariously through a band....

24th January 2007 04:35 PM
Saint Sway
quote:
glencar wrote:
LOL It's like Nebraska but a bit more populated.



quote:
JB wrote:
The U.S. is made up of 2 cool places..New Yok and Californai(the middle states are very backawrds in their thinking).

24th January 2007 07:20 PM
glencar
quote:
Starbuck wrote:


AMEN to that!





LOL
24th January 2007 07:29 PM
Ten Thousand Motels

[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels]
24th January 2007 07:34 PM
Ten Thousand Motels
24th January 2007 07:36 PM
Ten Thousand Motels
25th January 2007 11:47 PM
Fiji Joe
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:


[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels]



Like those 70s action figures come to life...that said...they ain't bad
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