We don't usually pimp cover bands in Best of the Bay unless we're calling them cheesy. This year's different. Encore plays at Shephard's Beach Resort on Clearwater Beach, Thursday through Sunday. Their job is to show a good time to a diverse crowd of folks, many of them tourists, ranging in age from 7 to 87. Grannies and kiddies and hotties and studs and boomers all commingle on the outdoor deck's dance floor. Encore has something for them all: the latest R&B/hip-hop, a killer disco medley, classic rock fare like Free's "All Right Now" and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me," and a lot of other stuff. All of it's energetic and exactingly executed to sound as close to the original as possible. Is it art? Not really. But it's entertainment that fills the bill.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2003.