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Rocking the Night Away with Local Tribute Bands at Sanctuary Events Center

Local Musicians Dedicated a Memorable Night to 90’s and 2000’s Music

Fans of bands from the past will oftentimes spend hundreds of dollars to relive their glory days and enjoy a blast from the past. Groups such as Weezer, Linkin Park, Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance may not be as popular as they were a few decades ago, but they’ve certainly maintained a strong following. The 90s/00s Rock Night, hosted by Jade Presents, was held at the Sanctuary Events Center on November 12.

The event has become a popular mainstay event over the years, as many locals look forward to seeing the music they grew up listening to in a live setting for a low price. I spoke with several band members of groups Low Standards, The Sweater Band and more about their process with tribute performances, their journey through the pandemic and what motivates them to honor their star-studded lineup.

The aforementioned cult following doesn’t go unnoticed as several local bands come together to put on a show to celebrate the golden eras of these groups. While attendees may not have expected a performance comparable to the original bands from tribute cover groups, it’s safe to say that the crowd was impressed with each group’s passionate performance and energy brought to each set. As each group hit the stage, different sections of the crowd grew ecstatic for “their favorite set” that they originally came to see.

“People love the tribute shows. That’s where you get the crowd’s response and you feed off of the crowd’s energy. My Chemical Romance announced its tour in 2018, but they canceled their shows for two years because of the pandemic. They still sold out most of their shows years later, so we decided to include them in a tribute night because there’s clearly a demand for it,” said one band member.

The majority of bandmates that performed in the evening’s events have been participating in varying cover bands for over a decade. Performers are in different bands, with some in multiple groups even. With each band member in sync with their group, it was shocking to hear that they don’t practice much together, as they’re all from different cities and states. “It’s usually not until the day of the show that we get together, practice and nail everything at sound check. But we’re all practicing on our own time as well,” Peterson said.

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The Lineup

  • WEEZER (PERFORMED BY THE SWEATER BAND)
  • BLINK-182 (PERFORMED BY DANGIT)
  • MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE (PERFORMED BY MAMA AND THE TEENAGERS)
  • LINKIN PARK (PERFORMED BY LOW STANDARDS FEATURING DEXTRIOUS AND JAKE LEE ASEN)
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Covering A Variety

There have been very many iterations of different groups with varying members over the years. Among the members that performed, many have done tribute shows dedicated to Weezer, Offspring, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Pearl Jam and more.

Each set was given approximately 45 minutes to perform, with brief 15-minute intermissions to give the audience a break, as well as allow the acts to transition. This allowed each act to play some back-catalog tracks for the dedicated fans and keep the performance fresh, as well as sprinkle the well-known hits throughout the setlist.

This not only satisfied the expectations of each audience member that purchased a ticket to see the hits tracks performed live, but it also showed some newer fans less popular tracks that they may not have discovered on their own.

Each set played an average of 15-20 songs, most of which were immediately recognized by large sections of the audience. One constant that became increasingly apparent throughout the set was the shared energy between the band and the audience. As the audience grew louder, especially during the well-known, popular tracks, the band’s energy grew to put on a memorable show. There was a certain “give and take” behind the energy in the building that’s most often seen at small venue shows such as this one.

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Every time we do these, each band brings a different vibe to the table. The Green Day crowd in the past is different from the Weezer crowd that we’re bringing in tonight, and both of those are slightly different from the Offspring crowd. We always try to pick the bands that have a huge draw and specific group of people, and then have them all come to enjoy the music at the same time that’s pretty much the goal.

– Bobby Peterson, Low Standards

While most band members that were involved also have their own careers and original music being released through different facets and channels, they were all adamant about the benefits of tribute shows like this. While they get people out of their houses to join them in honoring classic bands such as Linkin Park, Blink-182 and more, they also connect local musicians that may not see each other outside of events like this due to scheduling.

“A lot of us are busy with our own music and it’s hard to see some of these other groups perform because we have our own gigs. Overall, this is a really great way of collaborating for all local musicians that share some of the same interests and favorite groups that a lot of us grew up on,” Peterson said. “The last time we did this show was in The Aquarium the day before the pandemic shutdown. Then, everything was on hold for a while.

We got to that level of asking ourselves, ‘What’s the potential of what’s going on here?’ at that time. After the peak of the pandemic, we did the next tribute show at Fargo Brewing Company, and it sold out so quickly that our friends and family couldn’t even get tickets. We were all shocked because the show wouldn’t have even fit in many other venues around here.”

Many of these official bands being covered are likely to never play again. Attending events like this not only allows a specific era of music to be showcased and revisited live once again, but it also allows local musicians to be discovered and supported doing what they love.

Keep an eye out for future performances from any of these up-and-coming bands, as well as the next concerts coming from Jade Presents!

jadepresents.com

Written by Grant Ayers

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