'World's Greatest Tribute Bands' coming live to AXS-TV

By Randy Lewis

March 2, 2013 12 AM PT

Starting Monday, classic rock fans can tune to the AXS cable channel, drizzle buttery flavoring over lite popcorn, pop open a near beer and watch a new weekly series of live concert performances by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd ... tribute bands.

“The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” starts with a salute to the Fab Four by — not the Beatles tribute band that goes by that name — but the ersatz-Beatles group Britain’s Finest. On March 11, it’s the Ultimate Stones, then the Who Revue on March 18. Subsequent Mondays will feature performers approximating the look and/or sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Van Halen, Queen, the Doors, U2 and others.

PHOTOS: Iconic rock guitars and their owners

“Our audience will not believe their eyes and ears when they set they see and hear these bands in full tribute to legendary artists every music lover knows,” AXS TV Chairman Mark Cuban (who also happens to own a little basketball club known as the Dallas Mavericks) said in a statement.

The series, to be hosted by TMZ TV correspondent Katie Daryl, is initially slated for a 12-week run. Tickets to the performances are free and can be acquired here; shows with tributes to the Beatles, Queen and Journey are already sold out, according to the Event Brite website.

There’s no word whether at some point the show might include a tribute to the late singer and songwriter Steve Goodman, who sang his own salute to the surreal world of musical impressionists back in the 1980s with “Elvis Imitators”:

Imitating Elvis is the only way

I can make it through my imitation day...

Imitation Elvis may not be the King

But baby it’s the next best thing.

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First major Rolling Stones exhibit opening May 24 at Rock Hall

Tom Petty & Heartbreakers tour to include 6 nights in Hollywood

Follow Randy Lewis on Twitter: @RandyLewis2