Imitation as flattery and practicality
U2 tribute band Joshua Tree fills necessary niche for fans of the megaband
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
It seems like a daunting task to build a tribute band around a group whose original members are still alive and playing, but the five guys from the greater Boston area who form the U2-tribute band Joshua Tree, which has been touring successfully for five years now, will tell you that it works and for a reason.

Joshua Tree will perform at The Box Friday and Saturday nights.

"A band like U2 that's been around since 1980 and that has accumulated so many fans, most people can't see them, can't afford to, and a lot of the early fans who do go to shows don't

get to hear the material they grew

up on, so we facilitate that," said

Joshua Tree bassist Joe Wilson, who also couldn't afford tickets to see U2 when they came to Boston's TD Banknorth Garden last December.

The band, which returns to The Chicken Box for its fourth year on Friday and Saturday nights, organized five years ago to play original material. "But we found it impossible to finance it ourselves, so we had the idea to do a novelty-type show, as an original band, to do the Joshua Tree album from start to finish," Wilson said. "Once we started, we saw a huge call for it, and it evolved into a full time job."

Playing songs from all phases of U2's career, Joshua Tree has toured from Maine to Key West. They're not impersonators, Wilson said. In fact, their Website even anticipates people's expectation that they might be, with a caption beneath the band photo that reads: "True. They don't look like U2, so why bother trying?"

The band focuses less on recreating an image and entirely on maintaining sonic authenticity and "getting the energy across," Wilson said. "That's what made U2 great when they were early on. They were never great technical musicians; they just had a great energy that came across. We want the audience to feel the music more than listen to the notes."

That live vigor, Wilson said, is the advantage that attending their live performances has over listening to U2 CDs.

"There's something the songs have live, something about watching and listening to the band, and feeling the

energy of the crowd, that's a

huge element," said Wilson, who added that songs like "Where the Streets Have no Name," "Bad" and "Pride" invigorate audiences almost without fail.

"I don't like boasting," Wilson said. "But we had somebody who saw us before the Garden show in Boston, and they said that they wished they hadn't spent the money on the Garden ticket, because they realized they didn't need to spend what they spent to see the songs live."

I When: 10:30 p.m., May 5 and 6 Where: The Chicken Box, 14 Dave St., 228-9717, www.thechickenbox.com Cost: $8

For more information on the band, go to www.joshuatree.com.

JOSHUA TREE