Who’s Bad: The Michael Jackson tribute band you wouldn’t mind leaving your toddler with. Photo from .
The show at the Saturday night was a full-blown party before the headliners took the stage. The crowd included ’80s dads, pleather-rockin’ moms, youngsters in “Thriller”-era garb and two cats looking for my approval of their ability to bench press 320 pounds. Drunken and sober revelry was on full display in all corners of the room.
I showed up about halfway through the opening set of locals . The almost-full house was already locked into a manic groove. I wasn’t expecting roadhouse soul from a group opening up for a Michael Jackson tribute band, but that’s exactly what I got. The All-Stars hammered their way through a dirty, blues-stomping set of soul covers and original cuts. A venue-rocking version of Aretha Franklin’s “House That Jack Built” was just one of the highlights of their raucous set.
Appropriately, the growing crowd sang along to a string of 80’s hits blaring from the PA between sets. Songs from Bon Jovi and Journey inspired mass sing-a-longs, and there were no signs of waning energy to be found. As the lights dimmed, five members of Who’s Bad, dressed in gear ranging from 80’s Euro-disco to “Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo” styles, took to the stage.
The sports-arena thump of Jackson’s “Jam” filled the now-packed Bluebird. Joseph Hill (Michael 2.0) ran out draped in a glitter-studded general’s jacket and high water pants with glittering stripes down the side of each leg. Everyone went wild as Hill dance like the stage was slathered in Crisco.
Hill spun, slid and howled his way through Jacko’s many moves, gestures and vocal signatures. Full force spins drilled into mini-versions of the Moonwalk, as heeee-heees and hooo-hooos bounced off the theater walls. Hill has a slightly huskier voice than Michael, making it a little harder for him to hit that sky-high falsetto, but he’s nearly spot on when singing in the lower ranges.
Not content with playing the background, Vamsi Tadepalli (sax) and Ray McCall (trumpet) joined Hill front and center throughout the night for a series of synchronized dance moves. Their reenactment of the “Beat It” video’s knife fight was a hilarious high point. The band played solid note-for-note versions of Jacko’s ’70s through ’90s catalog, only going off script during the encore to integrate various funk breaks and Daft Punk’s “Around the World” into their stretched version of “Bad.”
Best enjoyed with brains checked at the door, Who’s Bad make the most of their second tier status. After all, not everyone can be the King.
Reggie Blanding is a Denver freelance writer and Reverb contributor.
