In its second year, Govapalooza is the closest you'll get to seeing Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers live on one stage.
Organised by Dave Skull, a man whose surname all but guaranteed him a career in rock & roll, Govapalooza puts the best '90s tribute bands onstage at one of Adelaide's favourite live music venues, The Gov.
“The thinking was to get some really good '90s tribute bands and make a mini-festival out of it,” Dave says of why he started the event.
“Twenty years have passed since we were all in our late teens with long hair, moshing to this sort of music. The kids have grown up and everyone wants to get nostalgic about their youth, and it's a pleasure to be able to do it for them.”
This year edition will feature the talents of Fighting For Everlong (Foo Fighters), Funky Monks (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and the Pearl Jam tribute band Dave fronts called FIVEagainstONE, who made their debut at last year's inaugural Govapalooza.
“I've been singing on and off in a Pearl Jam tribute band since 1993 called Evenflow, so it was great to be able to debut the new line-up with fresh, young talent and at a great venue,” Dave says.
“People were saying they had a fantastic night out and thanking us for giving them a couple of hours relief from the stress of daily life. It's very rewarding.
“When you go over that threshold with an audience where there's enough people that they don't feel self-conscious if they start jumping around, then you get that shared thing between the band and the crowd, and people start going a bit nuts, which is great.”
That, and it's a great way to see a band like Red Hot Chili Peppers without risking Anthony Kiedis throwing a tantrum mid-set and storming off.
“Everyone is invested in having a good time, so as long as the bands pay homage to their musical heroes with the respect they deserve it's a great sing-along,” Dave says.
He goes on to explain that being tribute bands, the performances tend to focus on paying respect to the music and not emulating egos. “I pick the bands to do these things with that in mind,” he says.
“For example the Funky Monks, they've been going since 1991 and their first gig here in Adelaide they played the same night that Chili Peppers played the stadium, and Flea and Chad [Smith] got up onstage with them at a local pub in town.
“They've been doing it forever and they do it with genuine respect for the music, great musicianship and it's not about the performers' egos because we're not them, so we're privileged to be able to do it.”
For his own set at the helm of FIVEagainstONE, Dave prefers to bring his own interpretation to the songs, rather than copy how Eddie Vedder performs them.
“Being the singer, I have to emotionally connect to Eddie's lyrics but it's very genuine as in 'this is how this song moves me', rather than watching what Eddie does and trying to copy that, and I think the audiences that we play to really appreciate that,” he says.
“It's the music played well and very similar to the album tracks rather than the live tracks, then it becomes a shared thing and everyone's going off. I'm 52 now, so headbanging and jumping around doesn't come as easy as it used to, so a two-hour show and I'm knackered,” he laughs.
