Boss tribute band on fire
Reviewers praise performance: Close your eyes . . . you’d think it was the man
The chances of Bruce Springsteen performing in Palmerston North are about the same as the streets of Philadelphia suddenly appearing at the end of Fitzherbert Ave.
But we do have Dean Shaw, who grew up in Feilding and now lives in Palmy.
Shaw is the lead singer in The Boss Bruce Springsteen Tribute Show, which is playing in Palmerston North on Saturday. The concert will end its North Island tour.
Kapiti reviewer David Haxton said Shaw “was strikingly similar in voice and looks to the music legend, too”.
Manawatu¯ Guardian reviewer Damian Thorne said Shaw was so much like Springsteen “that, if you closed your eyes, as we did often, you’d think you were listening to the man himself”.
Shaw grew up loving music but didn’t get serious about it until his late teens. He started learning to play the guitar at 19 through Google, YouTube and persistence.
When he was about 20 he started a band without being able to play the guitar and a year after that started singing.
He says he threw himself in the deep end and has been gigging solidly since.
Shaw is a member of four-piece bands Nothing Beyond and Six Chairs Missing, who play at pubs, bars and parties.
The Springsteen tribute show is a ninepiece founded by Adrian Dittmer. Shaw says Dittmer had assembled the necessary musicians but couldn’t get someone to perform as The Boss.
He went through five singers before asking Shaw to try out for it as a last resort.
“It went quite well, so we kept going.”
The 37-year-old considers himself a much better singer than a guitarist.
On his way to a gig, he will sing to himself in the car to warm up. He keeps his voice in good shape by eating well, staying healthy, drinking lots of water, a little bit of whiskey, a little bit of gin.
Shaw, who went to Feilding High School, says the reviews have been amazing.
Tribute shows are tricky as hard-out fans will either love it or hate it; if they hate it, they really hate it for being too try-hard or not living up to expectations.
The father of three says most reviews make him feel warm and fuzzy. He’s the boss at his day job too, even his lanyard says so.
The band practises at least once a month and, in the lead-up to a show, every weekend prior for a month. A key part of practice is going over the transitions from one song to the next.
Shaw says it wasn’t until he started singing Springsteen songs he realised the extent to which Springsteen is a lyrical genius. His songs don’t usually follow the typical pop song structure with two verses and a repeated chorus.
For example, Thunder Road has a story running throughout it with hundreds of words to learn. When Shaw is learning a song, he writes the whole thing down.
“You do appreciate his writing after you’ve learned all those words.”
Shaw’s second favourite Springsteen song is Badlands or Darkness on the Edge of Town.
As for his No 1, you might have to go to the show and work it out.
Shaw hasn’t seen Springsteen play live but still has hope.
The tribute band plays the whole of Born in the USA and about 35 songs in total.
The Boss show was first performed at the Regent on Broadway almost two years ago.
“Then Covid hit us, and the short tour turned into nearly two years,” Dittmer says.
“The good side of that is that we have had heaps of time to refine and develop the show.”
The other band members are Ben Brunskill (guitar, backing vocals), Mark Hazelwood (drums), Dittmer (bass), Spex Bryant (guitar, backing vocals), Beau Richardson (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Michael Miers (piano, synths, backing vocals), Cat Reeves (organ and synths) and Connor Hurnard (saxes, percussion).