When real isn’t really an option

Last November, Van Halen played L.A. for the first time in more than 20 years (never mind Van Hagar). A friend and I were there at Staples, sitting near the ceiling for $49.50 each. It was fun, but we’d seen David Lee Roth-era Van Halen perform live closer, cheaper, with more energy and a bassist out of his teens in the form of Atomic Punks, “a tribute to early Van Halen.”

Ah, tribute bands, living out their own rock ‘n’ roll fantasies while delivering nostalgia to us at bargain rates and filling that void in rock fans’ hearts when the originals have gotten too expensive, broken up or rocked off this mortal coil.

Shut out of Tom Petty and the Heartbrakers’ June gig at the Hollywood Bowl? Check for Petty Theft dates. If Bono and Co. are too pricey and preachy, there’s Hollywood U2 (even better than the real thing?).

Dreamed of a Led Zeppelin / Pink Floyd double bill? Ain’t gonna happen. But Led Zepagain and Which One’s Pink? play together frequently (including House of Blues on Aug. 29). And with Robert Plant quashing reunion rumors, keep an eye out for any Southern California dates from rock goddesses in Lez Zeppelin.

Plenty of hair metal bands reunite for gigs, but if you only want to hear the hits and are afraid of laughing at the real thing, genre tribute/parody Steel Panther (ne Metal Skool, ne Metal Shop) plays the Key Club every Monday.

Barring any future lab-grown clone tours that bring back dead rockers, your only hope to relive the glory is with guitar-wielding impersonators. Cash’d Out walks the line drawn by the Man in Black. Sure, AC/DC comes around every five years or so, but if you want an all-Bon Scott show, look for AC/DShe, the San Francisco Bay Guardian readers poll’s best cover band three years running, who did “Dirty Deeds” dirt cheap at Spaceland this year. And, of course, the King has his share, including Big Elvis at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon in Vegas and the touring “Mexican Elvis,” El Vez.

Here’s a wild one: On Sept. 13, there’s a time quake on the Sunset Strip, that legendary rock road’s eras colliding with Wild Child channeling Jim Morrison’s Doors at the Whisky and Atomic Punks running with the devil at the Key Club.

-- Blake Hennon