Down Memory Lane

We went to see the Bootleg Beatles last night. They are a highly popular musical act who do a credible job of recreating a live Beatles performance. We joined a sell-out crowd at Harrogate International Center for the concert. I expected there would only be aging Beatlemaniacs in the crowd, but there were lots of young folks in the audience, besides us baby boomers. The band performed many of the fab four's hits in chronological order. Each set was preceded by a montage of black and white video clips introducing the era represented. The band members changed costumes to suit the era. They began dressed in black turtlenecks and black jeans (ala "A Hard Day's Night") and sang their earliest hits. For the next set they switched to those awful beigey military suits that I think they wore for their last concert in San Francisco. Now we were into "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" songs. Next change of costume was the "Sgt. Pepper" era, then they switched into "Abbey Road" gear. Oh, and their hairstyles changed with the outfits. But what about the music, you might ask. Welllll, it was pretty good. The instrumental parts of the songs were very faithful to the recorded music (they even included the cough at the beginning of Taxman). Vocals by "Paul" were not very good and a bit off-key, but "George" and "John" did a decent job of it. Though the band members didn't really look like the original Beatles, they sure got the mannerisms of the Beatles down pat. John's stance was spot on. For between-song banter they used comments I recognized as having been actually said by the fab four. For example, to end the concert, "John" said, "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." I hated it when the audience sprang up on their feet for the fast numbers -- I couldn't see, even when I stood up. I also wasn't crazy about the selection of tunes the band played. There seemed to be a predominance of sappy (i.e. Paul songs) and not many real rockin' numbers. I could have done without "Yellow Submarine", "Magical Mystery Tour" and "She Loves You" and would have loved to have heard "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" or "Don't Let Me Down".

I must admit, when the show began I felt a little bit embarrassed to be sitting there in the audience. Isn't this just like going to see an Elvis Impersonator? But after awhile, I let go and just enjoyed the music and the experience. As I listened to the songs, so many memories of the 60s came flooding back to me. Like when I used to play "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" over and over and over again in my bedroom. My mother finally stopped by my bedroom door and said, "How can you stand to listen that song again?" I guess it was really she who couldn't stand to hear it one more time. Or the time when my dad insisted the Beatles were a passing fad. "I love them now (I was 11, I think) and I'll still love them when I'm .... 21!" I answered defiantly, thinking 21 sounded so old and so far away. I won't confess how old I am now (you can probably do the math), but I still love their music.