‘I feel more like myself when I’m Morrissey’: the bizarre lives of tribute acts

With tickets for big-name stars at a premium, it’s a great time to be a tribute act. Artists from ‘Tina Turner’ to the Arctic Numpties take us into their bizarre lives

Jon Bon Jovi is eating fish and chips. Axl Rose is hugging Tina Turner. David Bowie – bald and Scottish – is mooching around, while something seems off with Erasure’s Andy Bell. His bandmate Vince Clarke is head down into his keyboard, belting out electropop, as you may expect, but despite the blond wavy hair, overly tight-fitting patterned T-shirt and slight club singer vibe, Bell seems strange. “This song I actually like,” he says several songs in, as Ship of Fools begins.

It’s Saturday night at Tribfest, which claims to be the biggest tribute band festival in the world, held at Sledmere House in east Yorkshire. It turns out the singer playing Bell was brought in last minute to replace Dave Tyler, who normally sings in the Erasure tribute band A Little Respect but has just had a stroke. It turns out his replacement is not a fan. Things take an even stranger turn when Tyler is brought out mid-act, dressed in a red sequinned jacket, leather trousers and sunglasses. He sings a few songs about as well as anyone who has just had a stroke could manage, before leaving the stage again. His replacement is so desperate to leave that he begins arguing with Alan Bicknell, who performs as Clarke, when Bicknell announces there are two songs left. “I’m doing one and that’s it,” he declares.