The four ram through costume changes, donning monochrome suits from the Ed Sullivan Show era and the kaleidoscopic uniforms of the 1967 album cover for Sgt. “Wherever they are, you don’t want to be in the same city at the same time,” Linkin said. Nationally, the Fab Four and Rain dominate the Beatles tribute market. The wannabe British Invasion is everywhere, in Southern California, Las Vegas and New York City. He studied live footage and interviews to hone the McCartney character in MANIA!, a Sacramento Beatles tribute band. The toe-tapping, head-bobbing bassist sports a rounded British cadence and an upright demeanor onstage. It took Aaron Linkin three years to become Paul McCartney. Why pay for the sweat-drenched antics of the real AC/DC, or the sonic-love ritual of Fleetwood Mac, when the tickets are cheaper, the parking isn’t a headache and the feeling is good enough? With audiences hungry for a blast from the past, can Reno and other trib-adours give the people what they want?

Meanwhile, bands resurrecting the live performances of old music giants such as Tom Petty and the Beatles, down to the note and bowl-hair wig, are selling out saloons, theaters and restaurant-bars. The closing of longtime venues and sparse crowds mean it’s hard to be an up-and-comer in Sacramento. He’s not the only Elvis in town, nor the only local musician reincarnating the golden years of rock ’n’ roll.īut are tribute bands and artists keeping the old music alive? Or are they keeping new bands from getting their big break? Or is it both? Formerly based in Las Vegas and Reno, he’s now known as the Sacramento King. He got his start as an Elvis impersonator in 1979, which means Reno has been Elvis longer than Elvis.

Helena and this one at a dinner party before a golf tournament at the Northridge Country Club in Fair Oaks. One at a classic car show in Stockton, another in St.

Reno straightened his disco collar and adjusted his gold medallion, He was strapped in a replica of the King’s white jumpsuit, a relic of the 1970s after his rockabilly days and a decade of kitschy Hollywood musicals. In a few minutes, he’d return to the stage as Elvis Presley. The full-haired 66-year-old had just done his Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash impressions. Johnny Reno paced a storage room thick with dust, lit only through a single window.

Krewella live backstage