Cover bands, on the other hand, are pointless entities. [/quote]

I disagree. Your live festival band that plays anything is kind of bad since they are usually not that good. However I was unable to see the Grateful Dead live being that I was way to young. But cover bands like Dark Star Orchestra allow me to hear what a live GD concert was like. if you are not familiar with Dark Star they learn every note of a GD concert and basically replay the concert live. At the end of teh concert they will announce what city and year they just played. [/quote]

Plus, Tribute bands...its people usually who are devotees of that act's catalogue, and they usually show it in their performances.

As for cover bands...hey, some people gotta work a living.