Tribute acts rock
There’s an artist called Paul Metcalfe at the Radlett Centre Friday night. He and his band have a show called ‘Some Guys Have All the Luck’. He told me all about it.
What kind of show is it, Paul?
It’s a two-hour show full of music by Rod Stewart, the likely lad who grew up in North London, narrowly avoided becoming a professional footballer and went on to become one of the biggest stars ever. In the first half I tell Rod’s story, then, after the interval, it’s basically a party. We invite the audience to let their hair down and we play all the hits.
Have you been doing it long?
We’ve been on the road with this show for six months but I’ve been taking off Rod Stewart for twenty years so I must be doing something right! There are five of us in the band and we’re on the road with a lighting, sound and stage crew. They’re great songs to sing and I love singing, I love showing off, so it’s ideal for me!
You knew I’d ask – do you look like Rod Stewart?
I do when I’m on stage! I’ve got the feather-cut hair ad at least ten outfits, all based on ones that he actually wore. I’ve got a straight, white mic stand just like Rod’s and I’ve perfected the art of of swinging that around, so it’s all pretty authentic.
Tribute acts seem to be booming. What’s going on?
So many of the great artists are dying (what a year we’ve had!) and people still want to hear the music they love and have a great night out! I think it’s going to wind up like it is in classical music. The great composers are long gone but we’re still going to see their work performed by young artists. It’ll be the same for pop and rock!
Was there life before Rod?
I discovered music on my own, as a kid, and loved it from the start. I was a drummer for a while, then thought “maybe I should try and make a bit of money” so I switched to singing. Along the way I realised the importance of the chat between the songs, the way you could charm an audience. Then someone said to me “these tribute bands are all doing well and you do sound like Rod Stewart…”
Have you toured the world?
We’ve played all over Europe and in the States. We do a fantastic gig in Malaysia regularly – a charity event with a bunch of expat Scots. And we’re doing seventy dates with the show this year.
So you’ve played some pretty big venues?
Every shape and size of venue you could imagine. We played a brilliant Xmas party at the Millennium Dome at the end of 1999 – three songs in front of thousands of people. And we’ve done a gig at the London Aquarium – we were asked to keep the bass as low as possible because “it agitates the sharks”!
Join Paul and the band at 8pm tonight. Tickets are £19.50. Buy online at the Radlett Centre web site. There’s a terrific trailer on YouTube.