The Bay Area is a hotbed of original music. But there are times when locals want to relax, settle down, dance to the hits of their favorite artists and drift off into reverie. Among the many popular tribute bands playing sets at local clubs—including Petty Theft [Tom Petty], Stung [the Police and Sting], Haulin’ Oats [Hall and Oates] and Foreverland [Michael Jackson]—Super Diamond and Fleetwood Macramé stand tall as two of the perennial favorites.  Super Diamond has played Neil Diamond hits since 1993. They’ve moved from local venues to music festivals, symphony halls and the Hollywood Bowl. Randy Cordeiro, a.k.a Surreal Neil, leads the band. “I started playing guitar around 12,” Cordeiro said. “When my folks got me a stereo, they included an 8-track tape of Neil Diamond’s hits. I played it constantly.  “I had a band in college, doing original songs,” he continued. “One night, at an underground club, I threw in [the Neil Diamond hit] ‘Sweet Caroline.’ I wanted to get under the skin of the grunge, punk and alternative people, but they went crazy. That was the start of it all.” Cordeiro frequently returned to the club, adding more Diamond songs every time. After graduation, he kept playing gigs, sitting in with bands and blending his music with Neil Diamond hits. One night, he sat in with friends in a band called Simon’s New Blue Diamonds and sang “Crackin’ Rosie” and “Done Too Soon.” Members of another band, the Psychedelic Lounge Cats, were at the show. “We were all young retro-lounge fans and decided to start a Neil Diamond tribute band. We never set out to make a living; we were just having fun,” Cordeiro said. “When my earnings from Super Diamond surpassed the salary of my day job, I quit and did music full time.” The quintet enjoyed a slow, steady rise, sometimes playing three nights a week at Bimbo’s in North Beach. One night, before a show in Hollywood, Diamond came into the band’s dressing room. He sat in with them and sang a couple of songs. “It was wonderful and surreal,” Cordeiro said. When Super Diamond plays clubs, they play the hits. “Early on, we did songs we liked that weren’t hits, but I’d notice people leaving the dance floor to get a drink,” Cordeiro said. “So we stick to the hits, arranging them with mashups of riffs from Led Zep, Kiss, Guns N’ Roses and the like.” When he’s not leading Super Diamond, Cordeiro stays busy writing and recording his own songs. “I’m making a new album that will be done next year. It’s my first album under my name, but I hate selling myself. Artists that are great salespeople tend to get further, but I’m pretty shy. With Super Diamond, all I had to do was sing and it happened on its own. I didn’t have to be much of a salesperson,” he said. SUPER DIAMOND Randy Cordeiro has played Neil Diamond’s hits since 1993. (Photo by Mitchell Glotzer) Keeping ‘Dreams’ Alive “It was unintentional to start a Fleetwood Mac tribute band,” said Linda Moody, who plays the part of Stevie Nicks in Fleetwood Macramé. “I’ve played in original bands all my life. I met [drummer] Jai Bird by chance. She recognized me and asked if we could jam sometime. We got together and I fell into the song ‘Dreams,’ by Fleetwood Mac. Jai knew every nuance of the song. None of my bands wanted to do covers, but I always enjoyed doing covers.” After the song, Moody and Bird spoke of their love of Fleetwood Mac and realized it might be fun to play a Fleetwood Mac tribute show. They put together an ensemble and played a short set at The Lucky Horseshoe in Bernal Heights. The bar was packed. “We had a blast—everyone singing together and smiling,” Moody said. “We even walked home with a little money. After all that fun, we wanted to keep it going. Most of us being queer in the band, it’s been important to us to create a space for the LGBTQ+ community to come and dance and sing. “We practiced a lot in the beginning, two or three times a week for a few years,” Moody continued. “We represent the different eras of the band, playing tunes from the Peter Green and Bob Welch periods. People come for the sing-alongs—to hear the songs they know well—and that’s what we have the most fun doing. Stevie Nicks’ sister-in-law has attended many of our shows. She said she gave Stevie one of our shirts, and that she loved the name.” Moody also plays in Chaos Fiction, a post-punk band she started with Tori Fulkerson-Jones (John McVie in Fleetwood Macramé). They’ll release their debut album early next year. For more info visit: superdiamond.com; fleetwoodmacrame.com. Listen to Randy Cordeiro and Linda Moody at: soundcloud.com/randycordeiro/albums and chaosfictionmusic.com.