It’s Thursday night in Abu Dhabi’s least pretentious watering hole, and, on stage, a group of people appear to have got lost en route to a fancy dress party. They are, in fact, PJ O’Reilly’s’ house band, White Rabbit – a five-piece tribute act hailing from South Africa who specialise in delivering musical salutes to the rock fraternity’s biggest acts.
Even if you haven’t bothered to read the poster on the door, it only takes a glance at the band as they tune up to realise that – with big black hats and red bandannas all present and correct – Guns N’ Roses are the subject of tonight’s homage. And from the moment lead vocalist Johan flicks a lock of his blonde Axl Rose wig aside and launches emphatically into ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, it’s clear the group have done their homework. Even despite the burden of their cumbersome costumes, their renditions are tight, tuneful and full of energy, with ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and ‘November Rain’ proving particular highlights.
As the set wears on, it has to be said that, although PJ O’Reilly’s is by no means enjoying a capacity crowd – scheduling the show for the first day of Womad might not have been the brightest idea – the merry few who have made the journey are having a blast, stomping along to the solos as though their shoes are on fire.
As we found out when we caught up with the band after the show, however, it wasn’t as effortless as it looked. ‘Playing with all that hair was a nightmare’, guitarist Devlon tells us, black top hat now doffed. ‘I don’t know how Slash manages it.’
At least there’ll be fewer props to worry about for the second show in the series, coming up next week. This time round, ’90s grunge outfit Nirvana are the subject matter, meaning shabby cardigans, ripped jeans and tattered Converse should be enough to convey the don’t-have-to-impress-you attitude favoured by Kurt Cobain and his not-so-merry men.
‘We’ve been trying to find the green and brown T-shirt from the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video,’ says Louis, the group’s bassist. Maybe we’ll go down to Hamdan Street, there’s a lot of ugly, out of date stuff there.’
With or without the uniform, next week’s gig promises to get just as raucous as the first. But, as Louis explains, it’ll also have a more intimate side. ‘We start off the first half with some of the acoustic songs from the Unplugged in New York album,’ he says, referring to a live record Nirvana released in 1994, which features a medley of stripped-down versions of their best-loved tracks and covers of their favourite artists. So if you thought you’d never hear the likes of ‘Something in the Way’ and the Meat Puppets’ ‘Plateau’ here in the capital, White Rabbit are about to prove you very much wrong. ‘We’ll light up some candles and create a little vibe before we move into the heavy stuff,’ continues Louis, now sporting an excited grin.
This, in case you hadn’t guessed, will be the cue for you and the grubby faithful within PJ O’Reilly’s to go absolutely nuts. ‘We’ll be playing stuff such as ‘In Bloom’, ‘Drain You’, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’,’ explains Louis. ‘We might even throw in ‘Scentless Apprentice’ from the In Utero album. We’ve played that one in South Africa before. Sometimes people get it and sometimes they don’t. The middle section [where Cobain repeatedly screeches ‘go awaaay! Go awaaaaaaay!’] doesn’t make sense.’
So the music’s certainly been thought through, but what about the stage show? Will we be seeing any rock star stunts? ‘We’ll have to see how many people turn up before we think about stage diving,’ the band laugh, the memory of the Guns N’ Roses show’s meagre attendance all too fresh. But with no major world music festivals to contend with (we’ve checked), we reckon this could be the best alternative Thursday night out you’ve had in a long time.
White Rabbit’s Nirvana tribute show takes place on May 5 at 9pm, at PJ O’Reilly’s, Le Royal Méridien (02 674 2020). AC/DC and Metallica tributes are scheduled for June 2 and July 7
