Amid Sky-High Concert Tickets, Tribute Bands See Boom

Hi, I'm Connolly with The Epic Times.

One of America's largest independent newspapers.

Today's story is about how expensive live performance tickets are making tribute performances

a popular and cheaper alternative.

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In 1989, Mike Morose and Darren Kaperna were trying to make it in the Los Angeles music

scene.

They loved performing and dreamed of being full-time musicians.

There was just one catch.

We weren't making any money, Kaperna told us.

So in 1990, they changed to impersonating famous musicians.

36 years later, we caught up with them sitting in the green room of a beer garden in Frisco,

Texas.

They and members of their current band, back in black, said they feel blessed to finally

be able to make a living as an AC-DC tribute band.

There was a time when tribute bands were considered novelty acts at best.

They were musical impersonators, a step above garage bands, but not quite professional.

Now, tribute bands are exploding in popularity.

Public relations and entertainment marketing firm AMW reports that live musical entertainment

raked in $12.6 billion last year in the US.

The average cost of a concert ticket is $144.

For popular artists, tickets can go for $300 to $1,000.

Industry watchers say that because of the high cost, consumers are becoming pickier.

TSC entertainment is based in Austin, Texas.

It reported that many consumers see tribute bands as affordable alternatives to the more

expensive headliners.

Top tribute artists will meticulously research the artist they portray.

That way, their audiences have an experience similar to that of seeing the big name,

but without the big price.

TSC predicts that demand for live music will grow between 6 and 8% over the next 7 years.

But demand for tribute acts, it puts at 17.5% growth.

TSC says on its website, that gap reflects a structural shift in how fans are consuming

live music.

Following the emotional experience of a great show, without the premium price tag of his

superstar tour, Ronda Medina sports a red western skirt, accented with silver bling.

She's got matching boots, a cowboy hat, and carries herself with the same swagger as

Patsy Klein.

The legendary singer was at the peak of her career when she was killed in a plane crash

in 1963, at the age of 30.

Medina has been bringing the western and country singer back to life for the past 15

years.

In between songs, Medina, as Klein, shares stories, jokes, and anecdotes from Klein's life.

Medina stresses that she is not a musician, she's a celebrity impersonator.

She said she moved to Texas to get out of show business altogether, acting wasn't

paying the bills, so she decided to find a day job.

Then one day, an agent called her and asked if she could sing like Marilyn Monroe.

She said that initial gig turned into other gigs, and now she regularly portrays a slate

of about 15 celebrities.

It wasn't her goal, but it was, and is, a paying job.

Kathy Wilson saw Medina's show with her friends.

Wilson said Medina is keeping an important era of the ever-changing country music genre

alive.

Wilson told us that when Medina sang Klein's song, Crazy, it almost made her cry.

That was her mother's favorite song.

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About 450 miles north, Clint Neavar and Justin Sassanella prepared to portray the fictional

musical duo The Blues Brothers.

The characters Joliet, Jake, and Elwood Blues, developed by Dan Akrod and John Belushi,

debuted on Saturday Night Live in April 1978.

They later became the main characters in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

Sassanella and Neavar said they feel a responsibility to portray the characters as authentically

as possible.

They said The Blues Brothers did more than provide comic entertainment.

The duo highlighted musical pioneers, such as Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Ray

Charles, and Cab Callaway.

Many of our said, John Belushi and Dan Akrod, being comedians who respected the craft of

The Blues, wanted to take these songs and artists that had kind of fallen by the wayside

in the culture.

They wanted to bring back actual musicians, and they were successful.

Another tribute artist, Ryan Pelton, feels a similar responsibility.

As Elvis Presley, Pelton has found the Memphis rocker to be a complex artist with a dedicated

fanbase.

He makes it a point to be as honest in his portrayal as he can.

Pelton's son turned onto the stage in Branson, Missouri, in a white jumpsuit reminiscent

of Elvis's 1968 comeback.

The audience greeted him with shrieks and cheers, much like teens in the 1950s.

One of them screamed, I love you, Adam.

Pelton paused for a moment, then answered in the velvety smooth tones of the King of Rock

and Roll.

I love you too, he said, with Elvis's mischievous smile.

I'm just not ready for a relationship.

The Elvis fan club that night was made up of teens on a school trip from Jonesboro,

Arkansas.

They were born more than 30 years after Presley died, but they had seen the 2022 film, Elvis,

and have fallen in love with his work.

Fourteen-year-old Sophie McDermott told us she really liked Pelton's energy and the way

he sings.

She said, I don't know what it is about it, just like how he performs in all that.

It's just like the whole of him.

I love it so much.

Cindy Brown came from Indiana on vacation with her granddaughters.

She said the tribute performers brought back happy memories, especially the Blues brothers.

She remembered watching them on Saturday Night Live.

She said, they were just really entertaining.

They were a lot of fun, reminding me a lot of the real characters.

TSC's website says the audience for these tribute performances is mostly between 35 and

65.

Digital marketing agency Amra and Elma says that's the demographic that responds most to nostalgia.

audience reaction to back in black seems at least anecdotally to bear this out.

On a cool March evening, the beer garden in Frisco is full of mostly middle-class and

middle-aged audience members.

They've been singing along to their favorite ACDC songs.

The opening notes of ACDCs for those about to rock grabs the audience's attention.

As the temple builds and cappernah portraying Brian Johnson, let's loose with Johnson's

crawling roar of yeah, the audience rises almost as one.

To the casual onlooker, it's a gathering of suburban couples having a good time, but

those who are about to rock know that in their hearts, they're 17 again.

It's the spring of 1982 and they're standing around a bonfire or at a house party or sitting

on the hood of a 1973 Camaro, watching their friends cruise the main drag in their hometown.

Their cars doors are open and ACDC is blasting from the cassette deck speakers.

They are young and wild and for the duration of that song, they have no real cares.

They're back to being among those about to rock and they'll return cappernah and Johnson's

salute as enthusiastically as they responded to ACDC 40 years ago.

It's this tribute to the band that gave them a taste of their youth.

Well thanks for listening to our report, if you'd like to read in detail, the link is

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Thank you.

This is Connor Lee with the Epic Times.

We'll see you next time.