Eric idol

12:10pm Friday 9th May 2008

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In the 21st Century, when even lookalikes become celebrities, how does it feel still performing another man's music after 23 years? Owen Amos speaks to Mike Hall, of tribute band Classic Clapton

GLASTONBURY acoustic tent, 2002. On stage, a band play to six fans. That's right: six fans. Mike Hall and his band are up next. It doesn't bode well. "They closed the curtains and we set up," says Mike, from Durham. "We were ready to play and they pulled back the curtains. There were 3,000 people there. It was a massive success. People knew what they were going to get."

What they got was Eric Clapton. Well, his music at least: Layla, Wonderful Tonight, Tears in Heaven, and the rest. Mike and his band, After Midnight, also known as Classic Clapton, are one of Britain's longest-running tribute bands. In fact, when they formed in 1985, the term 'tribute band' didn't exist.

Celebrity is 21st Century currency. It is worth millions. Imitation, done well, can be valuable too; anything to catch crumbs from the celebrities' table. Accordingly, tribute bands and lookalike agencies are a modern boom industry. Fake Bands, a tribute band agency, has clients like Coldplace (a Coldplay tribute), Blackest Sabbath (have a guess) and Oasist (no, not sure). Splitting Images, a lookalikes agency, has doubles for everyone from The Queen to Omid Djalili (give him a tenner and he'll come himself).

But . back in 1985 . celebrity was less valuable and less widespread.

"It started after Live Aid. Eric Clapton played and was as good as ever," says Mike. "People always came up to me and said 'Are you Eric Clapton', because I looked like him. Unlike now, there were no tribute bands then, except for the Bootleg Beatles. We started partly because I was a big fan of his music, and partly because I looked like him, and it was extra publicity for the band.

"It mushroomed pretty quickly. At the time, the fashion in North-East clubs was Motown and dance.

We came along and it was a breath of fresh air.

There were all these old hippies like myself who hadn't heard this since the 60s and wanted to again."

Mike is not a modern lookalike, he doesn't desperately scour papers to see if Clapton has cut his hair, or shaved his beard, or had a tattoo. "It's a tribute to his music," says Mike. "Our fans like his music . they don't think I'm Eric Clapton and I don't think I'm Eric Clapton. Back then, people said I looked like him, but it doesn't happen now. He has changed his image, but I haven't changed mine to match."

Mike, 56 . seven years younger than Clapton . was a chartered surveyor until he retired in 1998. The band pays well, he says, but not enough to live on.

Organising gigs and travelling mean they play only 30 a year, usually to a few hundred fans. This month, they've played in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, and are due in Masham, North Yorkshire, tomorrow.

But it does get more glamorous than Masham. Madrid, for example.

"We played in Madrid in January, we're playing in Ukraine in July," says Mike.

"We've been to Estonia twice, toured Ireland seven times, been to Wales, Scotland, countless times."

As Mike candidly accepts, it wouldn't have happened without covering Clapton. "I have no talent whatsoever when it comes to writing original music," he says, bluntly. "I have had a couple of attempts at it over the years. One, I was no good at it. Two, I didn't enjoy it. Most local musicians cover music . maybe 25 per cent write their own. It's much more difficult. I admire people who can do it, but it's not a talent I have."

He can't write like Clapton, but he can play like him. The band . Vince Mason on drums, John Forster on bass guitar and Paul Warren on keyboards . have the sound spot on. Even that opening riff in Layla. "The band knocked out some tough numbers with aplomb," one review declared. "Wonderful tonight," said another, more predictably.

So has the County Durham Clapton ever met his inspiration? "Twice," says Mike. "The first time, in 1987, I went to the NEC with three mates to see Clapton play solo. I'd had a good drink and my friend said 'Bet you couldn't get in the VIP'. We wound down the window at the entrance and they guy said 'Come in'. From there, we went to the stage door and the guy again invited us in. I said 'Sorry, I'm not Eric Clapton', but security took me to see him anyway. When I met him, his jaw dropped and he stared at me. I was pretty drunk, so I left pretty quickly."

A mutual friend . former Dire Straits keyboard player Alan Clark, from Great Lumley, Durham .

introduced Mike to Eric a second time at the Albert Hall. Alan, who toured with Clapton after leaving Dire Straits, also provided Mike his favourite Clapton momento, a signed Concorde menu, which reads: "To Mike Hall. I've heard all about you man!

Best wishes, Eric Clapton." The menu is now framed in Mike's house.

The band's set lasts two hours and promises all Clapton's big hits, including a 20-minute unplugged section. But does Mike ever get bored? Does, after playing Layla for the thousandth time, he ever think 'B***** this, I'm going to play Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'?

"You can get fed up and get fed up with the travelling, but then five minutes in you get the same buzz," says Mike. "You hear the crowd and you realise it's all worthwhile. It's fantastic playing the songs, because you're playing your favourite music with great musicians.

"There have been a couple of times where I've thought 'I can only do this for a couple more years'.

But I've known people who have tried to give up in the past and a few months later they're back with another band. There are guys who have given up, you see them down the supermarket on a weekend and they say 'I wish I was still playing'. It's like a drug."

* Classic Clapton plays Masham Town Hall tomorrow, 8pm . not Monday, as stated in this week's 7Days. Tickets are available from Masham Community Office on 01765-680200 (10am-3pm) or the Freemasons Arms, Nosterfield, near Bedale. Or phone promoter Shaun Whelan on 07850-000042. For more information, see www.classic-clapton.com, or see the band play at www.youtube.com/ classicclapton.