Leftapalooza shows what it takes to be a successful tribute band

By Quentin Young

Cover bands often don’t get the respect they deserve. Some of the most venerable symphony orchestras are basically huge cover bands, so why should music snobs sniff at their pop counterparts?

You’ll find no such dissing at Leftapalooza, the rare event where a cover artist has an opportunity to win official honors.

The core of Leftapalooza is the Mile High Tribute Band Competition (the term “tribute band” has come to mean a cover band that focuses on one artist, and it implies a higher standard of fidelity and respect), and the winner gets to play a show at the Fox Theatre in Boulder.

Leftapalooza, now in its fifth year, is produced by Left Hand Brewing as a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. When the benefit started, it was one of the first big events for the Longmont brewery, which now is also known for its Oktoberfest and Hops & Handrails annual events.

About 900 people turned out for the inaugural Leftapalooza, which raised $15,000. Lefta 2014 drew about 1,900 and raised more than $30,000, said organizer Josh Goldberg. In that first year, much of Goldberg’s energy went into recruiting bands, but tribute acts now come to him looking for a spot on the Leftapalooza ballot, he said.

“Every year the bands get better, the stage gets bigger,” Goldberg said.

The nine bands on the lineup this year, in the order they will appear:

• Paradise Theatre (Styx), noon

• Eclipse (Journey), 1 p.m.

• Dirty Femmes (Violent Femmes), 2 p.m.

• REMember (R.E.M.), 3 p.m.

• Rush Archives (Rush), 4 p.m.

• Hey Lady! (The B-52s), 5:10 p.m.

• My Blue Sky (The Allman Brothers Band), 6:20 p.m.

• Under A Blood Red Sky (U2), 7:30 p.m.

• Dead Floyd (Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd), 8:50 p.m.

There was no competition at the inaugural Leftapalooza, but Hey Lady! won in 2012, Rush Archives in 2013 and My Blue Sky in 2014.

Here’s a review of the characteristics that make each of the original artists represented at Leftapalooza 2015 worthy of tribute:

Styx

• High vocal harmonies that sound Auto-Tuned, except they didn’t have Auto-Tune in the 1970s

• Perfected the rock mustache

• Fluent in Japanese

Journey

• High vocal harmonies that sound Auto-Tuned, except they didn’t have Auto-Tune in the 1980s

• Never stopped believing

• Made shirt optional under vests

Violent Femmes

• Popularized the acoustic bass

• Expanded the possibilities of the rock trio

• Not afraid to confront uncomfortable facts of male puberty

R.E.M.

• Indie-rock personified

• Made unintelligible vocal delivery a qualification

• The Peter Buck swagger

Rush

• Sick drums

• Crazy vocals

• Amazing guitar

The B-52s

• Camp was never so cool

• Brought back the beehive

• Band’s first rule: Have the best time ever

The Allman Brothers Band

• Defined Southern rock

• Full-time work for not one but two lead guitarists

• 30-minute songs totally allowed

U2

• Sounds best during gigs at Red Rocks

• Stellar record on social issues

• Given names discouraged

Grateful Dead/Pink Floyd

• Fanatic fans

• Great soundtrack for light shows

• Genre that gets most benefit from legal weed

Quentin Young: qyoung@aespotlight.com or twitter.com/qpyoungnews