Live review: The Fading Captains & the Placemats
Friday, July 18th, 2008
Is it unfair to subject a cover band to the same kind of criticism that a real band would receive? Probably. Cover bands aren’t really putting any artistic girth on the line, so why should I point my poison pen at them for jamming on some of their favorite tunes just for the fun of it.
It’s a strange dilemma, and one that the Fading Captains, a Guided By Voices cover band from Atlanta, and the Placemats, a Replacements cover band from Columbia, SC outlined with their show at The Earl on Thursday, July 17th.
Up first, the Placemats have a rather disturbing presence. If you turn your back to the stage it sounds like the Replacements… Dead on. It’s phenomenal. But if you turn around and look at them, it’s like being a parallel universe where a bunch of frat guys are phoning in your favorite Replacements songs, like “Alex Chilton” and “Waitress in the Sky.”
It was just to weird to watch them, and as much of a proponent of anti-fashion becoming fashion as I tend to be, this is one instance where I have to say that sometimes, image does matter.
If you’re going to be in a Ramones cover band, you should dress like the Ramones. If you’re going to be in a Beatles cover band, you need the wigs. And if you’re going to be in a Replacements cover band, you need to get drunk and swagger around with much more stumbling energy than these guys portrayed.
What’s more, Paul Westerberg at least held onto a guitar on stage. This guy just held onto his drink and kept begging the pretty girls in the crowd to bring him more, and he didn’t even do that as well as Westerberg used to.
