Tribute acts continue to be a contentious subject  on this site. I had seen The Jean Genie fifteen years ago and had enjoyed his show very much, but I was intrigued to discover what my reaction would be now in a tribute market which has been transformed in recent years.

Two things have changed . Firstly the quality of the show, calibre of the act, and performance, have improved immeasurably to the point where they are now touring  playing theatres ( and in the Australian Pink Floyds case Arenas). Secondly , Abba’s  virtual Voyage show has revolutionised what a Tribute show can be.

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So, who is “The Jean Genie” ? He  was created by John Mainwaring  in 1993. An original recording artist in his own right, John Mainwaring had been signed by numerous record companies throughout his career – twice with Warner Bros. In the 1980s  Tony Visconti produced some of John’s songs when he was signed to WEA.

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John has worked with  with Jarvis Cocker on his ‘Bad Cover Version’ single, singing and starring in the video, and recorded all the music for Beverley Callard’s (  aka Liz McDonald in Coronation St)  work-out fitness DVD entitled ‘Lasting Results’. As well as performing as David Bowie in Jean Genie, John is currently signed to Bucks Music Publishers. He wrote 3 songs for Tony Christie’s million selling album ‘The Definitive Collection’, plus numerous theme tunes for BBC radio.

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In the late 1990s John was approached by  ‘The Spiders from Mars’  to tour with them, which he did. John remains to this day to be one of only a few tribute artists to tour and perform with that  original artist’s band.  He has been a regular fixture   with Trevor Chance’s  show of ‘Legends’ in Blackpool.

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His credentials are fine, but how would he do in this celebrated, wonderfully cramped, sold out music venue in Derby on an Easter Saturday night ?

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I had forgotten what a gregarious and friendly crowd Bowie fans are with pre gig drinks a whirl of reminiscences with new acquaintances.

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As the house lights dimmed the band sauntered on stage to an electronic reworking of “Ode to Joy” , a nice nod to  Ziggy era Bowie shows. No costumes, no look  alikes, with John dressed in a dinner jacket the only concessions to razzmatazz  being a few puffs of dry ice and guitarist Steve Gardiners handsome  Gibson. They perform as a three piece, drums, bass, electric guitar and John on occasional acoustic guitar.

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 There were some very discreet backing tracks with keyboards. This comes with advantages and disadvantages. The advantage  is that, particularly in the first hal,f the vibe of an early  Spiders show was conjured up very persuasively. The disadvantage is that  some songs sans overt keys suffered, as did the fullness of the sound. But in the real world, touring with another musician takes another chunk of  door revenue and they got away with it, just, mainly because of the musical dexterity  of the band.

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The show was divided into two halves, the first half was resolutely Ziggy era Bowie plus the welcome addition of  a very good “Valentine’s Day”

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Five years

Changes

The Man who sold the world

Space oddity

Queen bitch

Suffragette city

Valentines day

Moonage daydream

Starman

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The second half was an eclectic  Bowie smorgasbord, bravely opening and closing with two of David’s most vocally demanding songs.

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Wild is the Wind

Medley including Dancing in the street/ Sound n Vision/ Boys/ Fashion/ Ashes  various

Jean genie

Heroes

Lets dance

Life on Mars

encores

Rebel Rebel

Ziggy

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Early on John declared that the show was simply about keeping Bowie’s music alive, and playing it properly. You could not fault the musicianship, and the clever arrangements to compensate for the limited on stage instrumentation were superb. That success was almost entirely due to the real star of the show, Steve Gardiner and his Gibson Les Paul Gold Top.

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Steve looks every inch the classic rock star with his lithe frame and flowing long hair, the perfect Ronson doppelganger. A very accomplished guitarist, he switched effortlessly from Robert Fripp’s parts in Heroes, to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s in lets dance. He also squeezed every second of drama out of “Moonage Daydream” and a raucous “suffragette City”.

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Presenting Bowie songs  is the greatest challenge for any Bowie tribute. David’s arrangements , vocal style and fashion changed over his forty years of live performance, it is an insurmountable task for any one person. John sings them pretty straight, with Gardiner and bassist Dan  Clark singing occasional harmony vocals. Frustratingly these were oddly absent during “Moonage Daydream”, ”Ashes to Ashes” and some others. John eschewed  David’s reflective original delivery  of “Heroes” opting boldly for the bombastic post 9/11 version.

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A special mention is due bassist Dan Clark, who in the absence of a keyboard or electric rhythm guitarist had to work doubly hard to fill out the live sound- he did so admirably, to a rock steady drumbeat.

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It would be true say that the medley section divided opinion in the crowd post gig. It enabled extra songs to be shoehorned into the set, but was a bizarre Jive Bunny/ Stars on45 hybrid, however I accepted John’s ill judged  affected take on “Dancing in the street”  as a price worth paying for a superbly reworked “Sound and Vision”.

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Overall it was a hugely enjoyable evening, much appreciated by a knowledgeable, discerning and enthusiastic Saturday night crowd at a great live venue. . A touching and unexpected highlight was when the volume naturally dipped during “Ashes to ashes” enabling the entire crowd to be heard singing; “I’ve never done good things, I’ve never done bad things, I’ve never done anything out of the blue-whoa”. Live magic.