The Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus Tour rocks on, hitting the Mathew Street Festival, Liverpool this Sunday and Monday (August 27th and 28th). We’ll be there finding out if all the Answers music experts can tell the difference between the real acts and all the tribute bands.
The Mathew Street Festival runs over four days, five stages and over 75 live acts. Liverpool is the 2008 European Capital of Culture, so the city is definitely up for throwing big events.
Mathew Street features music from a wealth of rock and pop acts but also the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra who are performing, amongst other things, a Beatles medley. It’s good to see an orchestra reaching out to the masses because in an era of mainstream youth culture it’s not clear what the future holds for classical music.
Liverpool’s most famous export need little introduction. The Beatles made the city the musical capital of the world, winning fans around the globe. But 40 years on will their appeal last indefinitely?
Certainly a band doesn’t have to have been around as long as The Beatles, nor made a similar impact, to be celebrated. If they say imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Radiohead, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and a host of others must be feeling pretty chuffed by the array of tribute bands on show at Mathew Street. From Fake Plastic Radiohead, to Coldplace, Guns 2 Roses to Robbing Williams how can we explain the rise and rise of tribute bands? It’s doubly curious when the acts being parodied are often still very much still in operation.
Some acts not seen in action for a while are ‘90s indie heroes The Lightning Seeds and The Wonder Stuff. The Lightning Seeds are arguably best known for their involvement with Euro 96 football anthem “3 Lions.” The Wonder Stuff were at their peak between 1988 and 1994, before splitting up. Both bands return to the stage at Mathew Street, which makes us wonder, as we head into the latter half of 2006 are we far enough away from the ‘90s yet to warrant a revival? Certainly given the cyclical nature of music, it’s only a matter of time before it comes back around.
Moving beyond the music, there’s much of cultural interest in Liverpool. The city’s other massive export, beyond The Beatles, is the beautiful game. With three teams in the area (Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere), few British cities feel more passionate about the national game than Liverpool. But football clubs are more than just weekend entertainment – what kind of cultural role do they play in the local community?
With all this on offer, from classical concerts to live football, you can’t help but think that perhaps Liverpool’s more recent reputation has done the city a disservice. The city is undergoing a program of regeneration though – so will it keep its identity? Only time will tell, with a little help from Answers of course.
– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team
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