By José Oliveira and Rosine Alleva – Rock At Night EU Editors
An exceptional, international and nostalgic line up, for this first ROCK TRIBUTE FESTIVAL. Four days presented with Tribute Bands, unquestionably recognized in Europe among the best. This is what ZIK’INSIDE had in store for us in Colmar this summer.
DEEP PURPLE by STRANGE KIND OF WOMEN (Italy)
PINK FLOYD by THE FLOYDIANS (Italy)
THE BEATLES by HELP (Slovenia)
U2 by TRIBU2 (Austria)
STRANGE KIND OF WOMEN
Line Up:
Alteria (vocals) – Eliana CARGNELUTTI (guitars and vocals) – Paola ZADRA (bass) Margherita GRUDEN (keyboards) – Chiara COTUGNO (drums)
Professional and outstanding musicians, the five girls of SKOW have created a huge expectation around their coming. It’s the only female group that made a Tribute to one of the most iconical Hard Rock bands.
‘This preference for DEEP PURPLE was the most natural thing in my musical choices. My father worked at a radio and there was always good music at home. At 9 years old I received my first guitar and the riffs of Hard Rock excited me. Later I became a die-hard fan of Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and of course DEEP PURPLE’ said Eliana (the guitar player)
Her guitar play seemed much closer to Richie Blackmore than Steve Morse. She perfectly conquered the most skeptical DP fans.
Their set retraces the prosperous periods of the band at GILLAN. Singer Alteria’s breathtaking technique transforms covers into personal performances. It is not a question of imitating IAN GILLAN and she adds…“Yeah ! Tribute Bands are a new fashionable business. But musically and above all, it must remain a tribute. That’s the real thing. It’s not just to play the notes but making something to celebrate the power of this music. For us, it’s such a great pleasure to play DEEP PURPLE but also doing it with our personal approach. Not imitate or destroy what they did. The most important to us is showing that we feel the music and that we play it our way”
Without betraying the original. Paola, on bass, and Chiara (drums) magnificently provided the rhythmic section on stage. “We invited Ian Paice to join us on stage in Austria and he played a full show with us!!! What a night!!!
We’re still waiting for the videos of that concert” said Chiara.
Margherita, the Keyboard player was able to transport us with great success, to the Hammondian universe of John Lord.
Strange Kind Of Women is without doubt, the best thing that happened in the Deep Purple universe for a long, long time.
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THE FLOYDIANS
Line Up:
Salvatore ANDRIANI (lead guitar) – Matteo MAZZONE (Bass & vocals) – Vincenzo RAPANA ( Rhythm guitar & vocals) – Dario SCIANCALEPORE ( Drums, vocals & programming) – Nicola TROCCOLI (Keyboards & programming)
The second day, the audience lived a great time with the arrival of THE FLOYDIANS. This Italian group, originally from BARI, was formed in 2006 and is probably the best PF tribute band in Italy. Their music is simply brilliant, as close as possible to the perfection of Pink Floyd. Everything we love about Pink Floyd is reproduced here with a particular care to detail and very much operating in the visual spirit of the original Floyd machine.
PINK FLOYD and QUEEN are among the bands with the most Tribute Bands in the world. We have seen several. Some are excellent and of course others who were a bit far from the original musical spirit. This can provoke negative reactions from the public and amplify the reasoning of purists against Tribute Bands.
Before the concert, when José met the guys at the hotel, the musicians were still discussing about the set list to choose, but a large part of the concert was orientated to the “Dark Side Of The Moon” and “The Wall “albums.
Their technical quality and requirements contributed to Durga McBROOM-HUDSON and Scott PAGE (backing vocals and saxophonist who worked with Pink Floyd) to agree to tour with the band, as guests, from 2015 to 2018.
Musically we felt a huge cohesion between all the musicians but we were particularly seduced by the leader guitar play of Salvatore ANDRIANI. A superb player. He plays with the joy of someone for whom the guitar has always been his happy place. Without a doubt, his greater experience and longevity within the band has something to do with it. “The original idea to put this band on the road came from Salvatore, sixteen years ago.
I’ve joined the band one year later. All of us joined him for our endless love for PF music. Not for money or business. We consider that PF’s music is also nowadays a strong connection to other music styles. Our focus goes specially to the PF sound because every musician knows that PF’s music isn’t the hardest one to play but is very hard to sound closer to the original. There’s a lot of sound research, very deep inside in all instruments. It’s very difficult to be sounding like PF” said Dario SCIANCALEPORE (Drums). The Band did a stellar job of packing the most known and desired PF titles. People were up on their feet for “Comfortably Numb” and “We don’t need no education”. Dressed in black uniform jumpsuits, the CHAM choir of the “College Victor Hugo” of Colmar took the stage to better amplify this anti-educational oath.
“We’ve taken so long to discover the little details of PF musical universe. We spent so much time to create these versions we perform on stage” added Nicola TROCCOLI (keyboards). Paying homage to a band that has such a vast musical catalog, it was interesting to know where their preferences went. Matteo MAZZONE (Bass and vocals) said “Animals” and “The Wall” reflected the artistic maturity of the Band. The period between 75 and 79 reached a highest point. It was also the beginning of the crisis in the Band.
“Dark Side Of The Moon” gave them greater international recognition but I don’t consider it as the most representative of the PF sound”. “It’s difficult to choose an album because I like certain atmospheres scattered in different albums but if I have to choose only one, my choice goes to “Animals” said Nicola. Vincenzo RAPANA’s (Rhythm Guitar and vocals) choice goes to “The Wall”. Over more than two hours THE FLOYDIANS gave a fantastic show at the GRILLEN that night.
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HELP
Line Up:
Ernie MENDILLO (Bass – vocals) – Ziga STANONIK (Guitar – vocals) – Matic PELCEL ( Rhythm Guitar) – Anze SEMROV (Drums)
HELP…Could be a cry! But this music has changed the world. This BEATLES Tribute Band coming from SLOVENIA is perhaps the band that tours the most during the year in Europe. Just see it by visiting their homepage. Incredible.
With more than five hundred concerts across Europe since 2013, HELP! A Beatles Tribute is one of the most exciting and true-to-the-Beatles universe to date.
The acclaimed performances of BEATLES songs by HELP take viewers on an unforgettable show that brings to life the greatest hits that have become classics like “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “Day Tripper”, “We Can Work It Out”, “Yesterday”, “She Loves You”, Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Here Comes The Sun” , “Hey Jude”, and many more.
The costumes and the cult haircut of the “Fab Four” of Liverpool are not to be outdone and brilliantly and energetically serve the care given to the sound quality of the interpretations using the same instruments as the BEATLES. Having already played a dozen times in Alsace, the magic still works. Ernie Mendillo may be the hyperactive one on stage but the other members form the other pieces of the shell! The incredible scenic and musical fidelity, the illusion is striking, and transports us to the Beatlemania era.
On stage, HELP show their passion for the music of the BEATLES, as well as the friendship that binds them, which makes each of their concerts a show where osmosis, pleasure and energy are palpable. The ovation which crowns all their shows constitutes an undeniable proof of it.
For two hours, HELP performed all the big hits of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The audience was delighted by this high musical performance which plunged them into the boom years of the 60s.
This is one of the reasons for the current great success of the Tribute Bands.
For Ernie a lot of tribute bands are representing bands that no longer exist and for people to give an opportunity to imagine what it is to go to a concert.
“The tickets are becoming unbelievably high nowadays, production costs are up and it’s just convenient to see a tribute band if you’re a big fan and you wanna hear that music. I think that’s maybe why you see more tribute bands throughout Europe! I didn’t know this was the first Tribute Festival! As you said earlier, these tribute bands are really catching on! This music is classic, whether it’s us or whoever. Yeah, it’s nice to see and we certainly hope that it does well and continues. Many of these tribute festivals are asked back as it seems to be a trend. Congrats to Patrick and ZIK’INSIDE for this lovely musical bet”
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TRIBU2
Line Up:
Michael MOLD (Bono – vocals) – Gernot SCHODL (The Edge – Guitar) – Florian SCHMID (Adam Clayton – Bass) and Reinhard SCHWARZINGER (Larry Mullen – Drummer)
To close this first ROCK TRIBUTE FESTIVAL, ZIK’INSIDE convoyed a great Austrian band called TRIBU2. They often perform all over Europe and especially in Austria, Italy and Germany.
Normally the Tributes are particularly aimed at no longer existing bands. The Austrians of TRIBU2 pay tribute to a group still largely active, but all you have to do, is close your eyes and you will find all the sound and visual ingredients to have the feeling of being at a U2 concert. And that’s what we all did. A new step is done. All the audiovisual technology deployed on stage proves that, like the appearance of the first lasers in the sixties, it will be necessary to bet on the most powerful visual means to satisfy the demands of the public.Musically, they did a great job. It was totally fun. “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, One”, “Pride”, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “Beautiful Day”, “Where The Streets have No Name” and many other U2 hits delighted the audience.
Led by “frontman” Michael Mold as Bono, TRIBU2 spared no effort to deliver the most accurate tribute to U2, the greatest rock and roll band of their generation! Alongside Gernot Schodl, who recreates the tech guitar magic of “The Edge, bassist Florian Schmid is providing Adam Clayton’s melodic low end. And true to his real-life counterpart Larry Mullen, drummer Reinhard Schwarzinger brings the heart, soul and attention to detail that makes this Austrian quartet unmatched except perhaps by U2 themselves! The guitarist Gernot Schodl insisted on the importance of the singer in a tribute band, and
Michael Mold excels perfectly in this role! Although U2 played regularly in Austria, the band never had the chance to meet them. Actually, the only contact the Austrian musicians had was with the management lawyers after they claimed the trademark registration for the logo and the name TRIBU2…in a letter that it wasn’t a good idea and to stop it. They finally kept the name but never register the trademark.
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Probably not the biggest crowd pleaser you would have had along these four days but, the bourgeois of Colmar (the real and the fake ones!) have lost a great opportunity to have fun. Let’s hope that Colmar’s public and beyond will understand that this commendable initiative must continue!
In parallel with the Festival during the weekend, the ZIK’INSIDE Team wanted to perpetuate a Guitar Fair, created in 2004 by the GUITARMANIAKS Association, inside the venue (the Grillen). An unmissable event for all the guitar lovers. Event which brought together the best luthiers and guitar craftsmen, even coming from many further French departements.
Many thanks to ZIK’INSIDE for their welcome and for the organization of this first Rock Tribute Festival! Looking forward to the next one to hopefully become a must in the region! Fingers crossed!
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PHOTO GALLERY
I was born in Portugal and lived the Sixties exploring the great UK Rock magazines: "The New Musical Express" and "Melody Maker". Ray Charles and Pat Boone were my father’s fav. I became “The Great Pretender”. Cliff Richard was our Elvis Presley. As a beach boy, with my first guitar, I met a beautiful French girl on the beach! It was the Summer of 69!! We got married and rock music was our dowry. In France, I became a Wine Genetic Research Scientist. One of my works contributed to the decoding of the genome of the vine! As a rock journalist, I’ve worked twenty years for the Portuguese and Brazilian Rock Press. I ‘ve interviewed so many great artists. Then, one day I met FRANK ZAPPA! I got into trouble for introducing my wife to "Uncle Meat"!
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