What does a band do when it reaches its goal?
Relax, and enjoy the ride.
Local U2 tribute band The Joshua Tree’s biggest dream was to play at the House of Blues, or in Las Vegas.
Known for its spot-on take of the boys from Dublin, from costume to attitude to sound, The Joshua Tree has well surpassed that goal — yet its members are content to enjoy their fan base and regular gigs.
The Joshua Tree will perform in an arena at the Orange County Fair tonight, followed by a smaller show at the Blue Café in Huntington Beach in August.
The idea for the band first came in 2003, when singer Jason Thiesen and guitarist Chas Alm were playing in a band that performed original music together. They got into a conversation about U2’s music, and soon found themselves doing covers of “Kite” and other popular U2 tunes.
The response to the music was shocking, Alm said.
Thiesen already sounded and looked like Bono naturally.
He had been told so his entire career.
“I learned to sing from listening to Bono,” Thiesen said.
So they began to take the idea a little more seriously. Very seriously.
They brought their drummer friend Mike Knutson into a practice, and were amazed at the sound. Practicing began in earnest.
Eventually, after one of the bandmates’ wives had a child, the timing was right, and The Joshua Tree was born at a first gig in a church.
Following early performances, like one in a wrestling ring (“Don’t ask,” Alm says), The Joshua Tree has graduated to shows at the Los Angeles County Fair, Las Vegas resorts and an assortment of other venues.
One of Thiesen’s favorite memories was performing on a flatbed truck in San Diego for several hours before a real U2 concert that evening.
The spectacle caused severe traffic in the area, as drivers craned their necks at what they thought was the “real” U2.
The group then went into the “real” concert together.
“We wanted to try to be as authentic as possible,” Alm said.
Authenticity for a tribute band isn’t just in the sound, they said.
Thiesen has collected everything from the same microphone stand Bono uses to one of his tour jackets, purchased from a collector selling it on EBay.
He even carries around a crate of designer sunglasses, paired to match each stage of Bono’s touring career, which famously started with the “Anti-Bono” Fly character in the Zoo TV tour.
