Bands pay tribute to rock legends at Arena Building

The Arena Building in Cape Girardeau played host to a trio of tribute bands Saturday night. All hailing from San Antonio, the bands were Vic Vaga, a tribute to Rod Stewart, Dirty Deeds, a tribute to AC/DC, and KISSiT, a tribute to Kiss.

When the doors opened at 6 p.m., there was already a line of fans ready to hear a variety of favorites. By the time Vic Vaga took the stage, the floor seats were nearly filled.

"I came to see all of them, man; I love them all, man," said Justin T. Keller of Jackson. "I got out of the house just for this group of fine bands. I'm going to try to get some autographs on my T-shirt, man."

The bands were brought to Cape Girardeau by Paul Farwig with Midwest Productions STL LLC.

Farwig has brought other events to the Arena Building in the past and has plans for more frequent shows in 2011.

"We did Led Zeppelin last February," Farwig said. "We did Kiss a couple of years ago, and we do mixed martial arts fights."

In addition to the music, food and drinks were available for purchase. Erin Schloss was on hand doing face painting, giving those brave enough the hard-core look of the band KISS.

Mark Coomer, 10, of Scott City was already painted up and excited about the show when he got to the door. "My favorite song is 'I Want to Rock And Roll All Night,'" he said. Coomer was also in attendance when Kiss Army came to town.

Though there aren't typically a lot of presold tickets, these events do draw a good crowd.

"We had around 100 tickets presold, but there have been a lot of walk-ups," Farwig said.

Farwig said he hopes to start doing tribute shows at least every other month, "if not once a month; depending on how it goes. We need more shows like this of this size. I guess the more we do them, the better the word's going to get out."

Pertinent address: 410 Kiwanis Drive, Cape Girardeau