This guide has been written with the experience that comes from working 30 years in the entertainment industry and 10 years booking and promoting Queen Tribute bands and I hope you will find some of the tips useful especially if this is your first time booking a band which can be quite daunting!
Here are some of the things I would advise you to check if I was booking an act:
How established are they as a Queen Tribute Band?
You can tell this by things like
- How professional is their website?
- What have they achieved in their careers eg supporting any famous names?
- Have they international tours under their belt?
- How many Facebook likes have they achieved?
- How many views have their videos got on Youtube?
Longevity has many advantages
- They are obviously making a success of things to last a long time in a business where acts often come and go
- They will be slick and confident on stage from years of experience
- Their show is more likely to be as authentic as possible to the real thing
- They will have invested more into their equipment / costumes etc over time
- They will have many contacts in the industry so if one of the musicians is ill at the last minute for example they will know many other pro performers who can fill in
- They will have experienced all of the things that could go wrong at any event and have built all that experience into making sure those things don’t go wrong at your event!
What do other people think of their Queen Tribute Band?
How many reviews do they have on Google Reviews or their Facebook page? While it’s easy for anyone to write a fake testimonial on a website, it’s much harder to fake multiple Google reviews or video testimonials. See what agent websites they are listed on also as this indicates a long term good relationship with that agent – If you just put the band name into a Google search you can easily see which agency sites are featuring them under their own name.
EG Supersonic Queen have over 230 5 Star Google Reviews at time of publishing this blog … more than any other Queen tribute in the UK
Do you like the look / sound of them vs other Queen Tribute Bands?
How good a quality is the video? High quality production shows they are investing money in their business, but I would always prefer to see some live video as well as just a studio one.
How up to date is their video? Beware acts using videos from years ago – who know what they look / sound like now!! Always ask to see a recent promo for any act. From my experience, acts that have lost enthusiasm and are counting down to retirement generally have a lack of up to date promo material!
Whether you like the look of an act comes down to personal preference with some bands marketing themselves more on looks and others on sound. Do the costumes look high quality hand-made replicas or do they look like you could buy them on Ebay?!? Do they have several costume changes? Does their Freddie perform and move in the same way that Freddie did?
Do check also that the Freddie in the video is the one you will be getting! You’d be surprised who many acts do a switch and it can come as a nasty surprise!
Supersonic Queen always feature the same top class Freddie impersonator – Phil Copping
Does their set up fit your event?
For example there are some Queen Tributes who specialise in Theatre tours / Festivals with full live band options and may not be as suited to private parties where a smaller band & PA set up may be more suitable. Similarly if you are running a small festival you might want to consider a 5 or 6 piece band
What is the style of their show?
Some Queen Tributes are performed in a tongue in cheek camp style with a lot of humour / talking, some are more serious … and some are in between … some can be more interactive with audience participation etc if you require that also – something worth thinking about.
Eg Phil Copping – Freddie from Supersonic Queen has nailed the moves down to a T through years of studying every piece of footage he can get his hands on! A lot of our reviews also highlight how good he is at interacting with the audience
Is it a professional set up – can you rely on these people?
Is your enquiry answered quickly and efficiently? Do they require a contract / deposit? Is the person on the end of the phone personable and helpful? Have they got full public liability insurance (essential at most venues) and PAT tested equipment? These things would all reflect the signs of a professional operation. Remember slow response to your enquiry could mean difficulty getting hold of them when you really need to / if anything goes wrong.
We do hear of people being let down at the last minute when a band gets a better offer / or has double booked themselves due to not being very organised so ALWAYS get a legally binding contract.
Are they flexible to your needs?
Find out how flexible they are to your requirements – eg what if your event dinner overruns and they have to go on later? What if you want Freddie to walk around the room with his mic? – can they accommodate all those sorts of things easily? You are the customer and they are a service provider, so if anyone makes you feel they are doing YOU a favour then move on quickly!
How much do they charge and what’s included?
Obviously an important point – do check what’s included though so you are not comparing apples and pears! Also it’s always worth going back to your favourite act and asking for a discount if you have a more competitive offer from an equivalent act.
If they seem very cheap compared to other acts you have got quotes from, it could be that they are what we call “semi – pro” ie working 9-5 day jobs all week and then doing the odd Queen show at the weekend. Like most things in life you do get what you pay for and most professional (ie full time) Queen Tributes have been able to make music their careers as they are very good and in demand for what they do for a reason. They will have invested much more in creating a top class authentic show from the quality of costumes to instruments and stage props etc.
Do they play and sing live?
Most Queen Tributes do sing live lead vocals but 4 piece acts have keyboards on their backing tracks and usually a lot of backing vocals too.
If It’s as important to you as it is to us to have a full live band sound then chose a 5 piece with live keys / live backing vocals like Supersonic Queen
THINGS NOT TO GET TOO HUNG UP ON:
How high they rank on a Google search
This is really just a reflection of how good their website designer is at Search Engine Optimisation rather than how good the act is so don’t let this influence you too much. Although it does show they are investing in promotion and most of the acts on the first page of google search results for “queen tribute band” have been around a reasonable amount of time.
What claims they make
Virtually every Queen Tribute says they are the no. 1 in the UK / Europe (the world even!) but again there is no way of substantiating that … Some are better known as they do more public shows eg theatre tours, others do more shows per year but under the radar of publicity … Google reviews are one of the best ways to compare acts but many bands don’t dare to have a public reviews forum in case of negative reviews.
Personally I would ignore most of these unprovable claims and see what you think from the videos, Google Reviews and the other points above.
I sincerely hope this guide has been useful in helping you chose and act for your event.
Please get in touch to get a quote and availability for Supersonic Queen – the UK’s most Dynamic Queen Tribute Band