Thursday, January 28, 2010
By John Benson
As the visionary behind Who’s Bad, The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band, saxophonist-composer-arranger Vamsi Tadepalli admits the biggest challenge facing the cover act naturally came last summer when the King of Pop died suddenly.
“We had booked a show on June 26 of last year six months prior, and as soon as the news came out that Michael Jackson passed on June 25, our show sold out immediately,” said Tadepalli, calling from a tour stop in Charlottesville, Va. “We were getting so many requests for tickets that we actually scheduled another show that night, which we didn’t want to do at first. We thought it would look bad. But the feeling was like people just want to be a part of something and experience the music one more time and celebrate his life. And that show sold out immediately.
“We changed things up and added a memorial section with a video montage at the end of the show. Everyone was arm in arm and swaying back and forth, crying and smiling. It was a pretty amazing sight.”
Formed in 2003 on the University of North Carolina campus, Who’s Bad features five band members – including Tadepalli and Youngstown native Darion Alexander (bass), along with two Jackson impersonators – who nightly take audience members on a career retrospective that begins with the Jackson 5 and ends with material from Jackson’s 2001 CD “Invincible.”
Songs in the ever-changing set range from “ABC,” “Bad,” “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Smooth Criminal” to “Thriller,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” “The Way You Make Me Feel” and more. This 90-minute high-energy show allows fans to ease on down memory lane. With roughly 150 performances a year, Who’s Bad is scheduled to perform Wednesday at Club Gossip (formerly The Wedge) in Austintown.
“Our show includes a full band with horn section, costumes, choreography and all the dance moves people remember from the videos,” said Tadepalli, who never saw Michael Jackson live in concert. “Our main goal is to make sure all the people in the audience are having a great time.”
One audience member who did have a great time last year was Jackson’s former manager, Frank DiLeo, who told Tadepalli and company that the pop star would have loved the show and he guesses would have been proud of the Who’s Bad artists. DiLeo also told the cast stories about Jackson’s past, including a dinner party that featured Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Bubbles the gorilla.
Considering it’s been less than a year since the King of Pop passed away, Tadepalli said the atmosphere and attraction surrounding “Who’s Bad” has changed.
“I think the reach of his music is more evident,” Tadepalli said. “People all over the world are wanting to book us now. We’ve always got pretty good attendance, and now there’s just more cities and more countries that want us to perform there. So, obviously, the demand has increased, and we’re happy to play the music for people. That’s the whole purpose of the band. That’s why we started it, and now it’s like a greater responsibility that he’s gone to kind of carry on the legacy of his music.”