Tribute bands-why?

I have just received the listings of upcoming  events for my local theatre for the next six months. I am amazed to find the majority of them seem to be for Jukebox musicals and tribute acts. We have tributes to Elvis, the Eagles, Buddy Holly, Rod Stewart, Dire Straits (featuring former member Chris White, who played sax), Queen, Pink Floyd, Roy Orbison, Simon & Garfunkel, ELO, Level 42 (!), Take That, David Bowie and T.Rex, not to mention more Jukebox musicals than you can shake an ice lolly stick at. And my local theatre is actually quite classy, a neighbouring, less fussy one, recently had a Proclaimers tribute act and a guy playing the music from Genesis keyboard man Tony Banks' solo albums! Bet that was a sell out...Mind you my local theatre does also have some proper acts, at least they appear to be, though probably only with one original member, if that. They've got Chas & Dave too, at least I think it's them and not a tribute act. It's hard to tell these days. A couple of years ago I took part in an event featuring a member of the Incredible String Band and we played some of their songs. Perhaps that makes me part of The Incredible String Band Experience?

I was in Scotland last year and saw a news item about the Alexander Brothers finally hanging up their kilts. Remember them? Their biggest hit was the mawkish "Nobody's Child", a sad tale of an illegitimate, blind orphan. (Nobody's Child was an archaic Victorian legal term for a child born out of wedlock). I remember seeing them with my parents in The Winter Gardens, Rothesay in the late 60s. Anyway, they said that they still got offered plenty of bookings, but people were amazed to find they were the real thing and not a tribute act!

I really can't see the point. I'm sorry you never got to see T.Rex at Wembley in 1972 or Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett (would you have gone if you could have?) but these things are in the past, and until time travel becomes affordable, no-one can ever experience them again. Even when the original bands have reformed, it can never be the same. You can enjoy recorded music many years after it was first created but neither the listener nor the musicians are the same people.

That said, do you think there would be any demand for a Dr Strangely Strange tribute band? Bags I be Tim Booth!