Is TSO it's own tribute band?

[TSOd]

I was curious what people thought about this:

A friend of mine was telling me about a TSO tribute/cover band that was playing near him. Seems there are dozens of them these days. He attended and said it was really good - on many of the songs, the only difference he could hear between the "real" TSO and these guys was the tempo (TSO slows their songs down when playing them live).  But then my buddy says to me "I think I will stick to the real thing though".

But what is "the real thing"?  Is it whatever has the TSO name stamped on it?  Look at their first album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Middleton, Pitrelli and Plate are the only musicians on stage that played on the album (Caffery only played rhythm guitar on Sarajevo).  So when TSO East plays "Mad Russian's Christmas", for example - only Jeff Plate is "the real thing" - everyone else on stage came along after.  All of the vocalists from that first album, and most from pre-Nightcastle albums are long gone also.

So when does TSO become it's own tribute band?  What makes seeing them "the real thing" musically?

I think the answer lies in that TSO is not a real band.  It is a handful of guys that write and record songs in the studio and then hire a bunch of musicians and singers to perform those songs live.  But even when looking at them that way, it is hard to say what is "the real thing" when virtually the same number of people on the TSO stage played on their Christmas albums as the number of people on a TSO Tribute band stage.  

I just find it curious.

I'm just seeing this thread now 12/21. I'm surprised this thought surfaced in 2015 last commented on 2018. My thoughts exactly. When you become as repetitive as they have become yes. Nothing new musically after TGOCE. The "show" is the same thing only more to excess every year. They are only paying "tribute" to themselves every year with more of everything. "Aren't we great!"