So my brother and his wife are in town, and it’s just about her birthday. So I agreed to go with them to a “Showstoppers” performance at Casino Arizona with them. That entails four different impersonators doing their stuff. What did I think? Read on …
The show started with Elvis. He was adequate and competent. but really mailing it in. I don’t get the impression that he particular likes Elvis - but his appearance probably led to a Halloween costume which led to a night gig. I’m not 100 percent convinced they didn’t have him running through autotuning software and being matched by a backing track. He kept pulling his mic really far away from his mouth without much of a volume loss during sections of the song when he wasn’t really moving a lot of air. And he wasn’t really playing his guitar. Suspicious. Bruce Campbell was a way better Elvis in Bubba Ho Tep. But Bruce Campbell … well, let’s put it this way: You pray to god. I pray to Bruce Campbell.
Garth Brooks was next. He was portly and dressed right, but looked nothing like Garth Brooks. He sang well, though, and delivered the most genuine performance of the night. Now, let’s face it: Garth is country’s Don Dokken - if he fell off the face of the earth, you could find dozens of country singers to take his place. This guy among them. I noticed that he seemed genuinely enthused, and connected with the audience with the vibe of being a guy acting Garth’s part and enjoying it, and trying to get everyone to buy into the illusion. Well done. Another thing I noticed: Replace Garth with a less twangy dude and heavier guitar sounds, and you essentially have a late version of Bon Jovi. And except for one tune, the engineer totally cut Garth’s guitar out of the mix.
Next we had a comedian. Eh. Move along. Nothing to see here.
Tina Turner took us on turn to the distaff. She was competent, but lacked articulation. She was often hard to understand and had difficulty cutting through the mix. Amazing, considering that the backing band was really, really quiet: The drummer had a light touch; the guitarist was good, but playing through a solid-state rig that absolutely disappeared through most tunes; the bassist was pretty sleepy and unambitious. Didn’t miss a note, but wasn’t exactly letting it all hang out.
The Four Tops closed the show. They were very accurate, but the style of music does nothing to move me at all. And I hate it when anyone tells me to “put yo’ hands together” at least once per song. Dude, you’re the performer. You are the show, not me. Hung Dynasty only requests audience participation once per set, usually during Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” or a Priest or AC/DC song. Use that schtick sparingly, and remember that you’re getting paid to be the entertainment. Not the audience.
Now, if Casino Arizona ever has a Showstoppers performance featuring Immortal, Hammerfall, Nightwish and the Scorpions, I will SO go back.
