There's nothing wrong with them... They're just uncreative, cringeworthy, cheesy, corny twats who have no business playing Sunday Bloody Sunday because the lead singer were Bvlgari sunglasses on stage.
Well, finally we agree.
Seriously, the OP in this thread asked what we thought of tribute bands, and now a couple of you are freaking out because some of us answered in a way you didn't like. Everyone's entitled to their opinion right? Why take it so personally?
And yeah, while I think they are mostly just fun & harmless, I do think performing SBS while playing dress up as rock stars is a little cringe-worthy, I don't care if your audience are a bunch of drunks at an Irish day festival...give me a break. Some guy playing Bono singing
"Broken bottles under children's feet, bodies strewn across a dead end street" while stoned people pump their fists in the air? No thanks. U2 can do that, but not some naff tribute band.
And BTW, it's well known that U2 struggled whether they should continue to play that song after the War tour. They almost didn't include it in R&H (though I'm glad they did). In his monologue during the song in R&H he even commented on Americans who don't know WTF they're talking about when it comes to the "revolution back home". And U2 expressed, many times over the years, their hesitancy to play the song, particularly in Ireland. Yet it's somehow a "tribute" to U2 for a bunch guys one step removed from Elvis impersonators to play the song? Um, no.
And even U2 realised the song had to be updated to keep it in context, and this helped them resolve their issues with playing SBS....hence the evolving themes of the song related to gun violence, religious violence, etc.
So yeah, if you're in a tribute band, and are afraid to NOT play the song, or because you want to please the guy paying you for the gig, you probably do have an issue with your own principles, and certainly don't understand the band or music that you're paying "tribute" to. I'm sorry, but it's one thing for an artist to cover a song because it means something to them, but for a tribute band whose whole point is mimicry, I think it's a bit unseemly. And the playing dress up part does make a difference...context is everything.
Again, don't misunderstand me, I think there's a place for these bands, it's just for fun, so whatever. And some of these guys are genuinely talented (like the band in Chile). I'd rather just see some musicians up there in normal clothes banging out some U2 in their own way, but to each his own. But crikey, U2 has a huge catalogue of hits, so how about these guys just show a bit of judgement and stay away from songs like SBS...to me at least, they'd be a little more fun and look a little less ridiculous up there.
Just my opinion.