Tribute bands occupy an odd space on the fringes of the pop world — a realm where wedding bands and cover bands can earn a surprisingly good living by giving people what they want. And what people want are the songs they grew up on mixed with a modest dose of the hits of the day, all played note for note the way artist who popularized the songs recorded them by musical mercenaries with the chops to pull off anything from Sinatra to Styx. It’s a strange living, sure, but tribute bands, as anyone who saw the film Rock Star knows, are a special case in that the members of these groups tend to be fervid fans of the band whose songs they perform. Often these true believers even dress like particular members of the band they’re covering. And many tribute bands take themselves and what they do very, very seriously. It’s as if, having given up on being actual stars, they find solace in acting like their favorite rock gods once or twice a week. And as we’re all painfully aware, the line between acting and delusion can sometimes wear mighty thin.

A whole lot of acting went on at the Paradise last Saturday night when a Neil Diamond tribute band called Superdiamond took the stage in front of a frothing full house. But there wasn’t much delusion involved in this particular act. No, Superdiamond exemplify the new breed of tribute and cover band that has emerged over the past decade — like the Abba tribute band Bjorn Again and local phenoms Rock Bottom, they make it clear that they’re in on the joke. After all, in a rock landscape populated by reunion tours of classic acts featuring only a couple original members (not to mention a Guns N’ Roses where the singer isn’t backed by any of the musicians who made him a star in the first place), the line between the real thing and something that’s not quite it has been blurred. It’s in this gray area that outfits like Superdiamond thrive.

And thrive Superdiamond did as they took the stage in tight blue jeans, big belts, and glittery shirts to navigate suavely through the Neil Diamond songbook (with the aid of two synth players to handle the horn and woodwind parts). From the epics "Shilo" and "And the Singer Sings His Songs" to the classics "Cherry, Cherry" and "I’m a Believer," they capitalized on the kitschy revival Diamond has enjoyed since Urge Overkill’s cover of "Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon" made it onto the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Still, there was something a little too knowing and maybe even a little nasty about the way the Superdiamond dudes fed these Diamond nuggets to the ravenous crowd of thirtysomethings. What might have begun as a joke has become Superdiamond’s livelihood. And even they must know that the line that separates their knowing shtick from the reverence of your average Led Zep tribute is also mighty thin.