The Bootleg Beatles @ Birmingham NIA – 16th December 2009
When I first reached my seat in the NIA to see The Bootleg Beatles, I looked around and wondered whether I was at a pop concert or a night at the bingo. I was by far the youngest person in the audience and I looked around to see a brigade of elderly fans, all of whom seemed to be tucking into their individual dinner trays. This made me wonder about the night which lay in store, as I modestly consider myself to be the biggest Beatles fan in the world, I was unsure whether to expect a faithful rendition or a cheap parody, would it be a hollow spectacle or a true tribute to the greatness of the Beatles?
With no support band on offer the evening kicked off in true rock and roll style, as the show started a whole three minutes after the scheduled 8:00pm. The audience were treated to an array of early sixties images on the stage screen, accompanied by suitably swinging music from the likes of Freddie and the Dreamers. Then from the side of the stage, four overblown mop tops came into view from the shadows and the crowd went moderately wild. In Shea stadiumesque military jackets, the band kicked off with ‘I want to hold your hand’ and I was immediately impressed; the vocals, the performance and the guitar sound were honed down to a tee.
The band went on to showcase their in-between song banter, as the pretend Paul addressed the audience, with a tilting head and a pouting mouth he proved to be just as annoyingly loveable and awkward as the real thing. Meanwhile Lennon mocked and swaggered from the sidelines, his dry wit and laugh chillingly realistic, the audience chuckling along at this perfect recreation. The band pressed on through the early material with ‘I Feel Fine’ and a raucous ‘She loves you’ proving the highlights, the immaculate musical performance was matched by the individual mannerisms from Paul’s bass playing to Ringo’s head shakes.
Towards the end of the part one I was happy to see them perform some lesser-known tracks, such as Harrison’s ‘I need you’ and the downwardly reflective classic ‘Nowhere Man’. A string quartet was then introduced to the set up and when ‘Eleanor Rigby’s dramatic intro sprang into life, it happily dispelled my previous concerns that they would focus purely on the early pop years. The band went on to crank up the electric and blast out ‘Paperback Writer’ and Georges pulsing rocker ‘Taxman’. The undoubted show stopper from this section though had to be the introspective masterpiece from Rubber Soul, ‘In my life’. Again the musical performance and instrumental sound was bang on the money in respect to the original, even including the fabulous piano solo originally played by George Martin. To see this song played live, with such justice done to the original was breathtaking, bordering on the emotional.
During another short visual intermission, the psychedelic sixties were introduced with the help of Pink Floyds ‘See Emily Play’ and the band returned to the stage in full Sgt Peppers attire and to everyone’s surprise opened with the thumping, ‘Sgt Peppers lonely hearts club Band’. After a delightfully comic romp from Ringo as Billy Shears, the string quartet were joined by a complete horn section to play ‘Strawberry Fields’. The unexpected show stopper before the break was the quaint ‘She’s Leaving Home’, where the harp of the original was recreated by the fake George and the string section came into their own, their subtle elegance perfectly complementing the vocal dialogue of Lennon and McCartney in the chorus. It was during this piece that the Bootleg Beatles came into their own, as they were beyond a parody but a new experience, performing songs that the Beatles thought impossible to perform at the time.
After the break the band came back to a suitably warmed up audience and began to cover the final years of the Beatles, opening with ‘Hello Goodbye’, which got the crowd going with the fabulous breakdown at the end. John then announced that the band were about to a perform an Oasis cover which appeared to tickle the crowd, the song in question was the monumental ‘I am the Walrus’. Again, to see such a tune played live with full horn and string accompaniment was a sight to behold and reaffirmed the songs underlying power.
A highlight in the last section of this show had to be ‘While my guitar gently weeps’, as George came into his own, proving his worth as a guitarist as he took on Clapton’s solo with consummate ease. Other hits such as ‘Get Back’ and ‘The ballad of John and Yoko’ got the crowd to their feet and clapping along, before the climax was reached with a predictable but nonetheless brilliant ‘Hey Jude’. With a throat still hurting from the several minutes of ‘na na na na’s’, the pretend John centered stage in Lennon’s imagine style long hair and pure white suit for the encore. Going solo as he was, he proceeded to add some reflectiveness to the festive period with the timeless ‘And so this is Christmas’ and it was in this performance that it struck me how great a song this actually is, as everyone’s voices rang out ‘war is over, if you want it.’ Moving to say the least.
With the whole arena rocking, the show came to a close with the pulsing ‘Back in the USSR’ to an overwhelmingly rapturous applause. So what did I make of the band who are currently celebrating their thirtieth anniversary covering songs of undoubtedly the greatest band who ever walked the earth. Well by nature cover bands are never going to be the real deal, but the Bootleg Beatles are the closest any of us will ever come to seeing the Beatles live. Parody though they are, the band put as much attention and passion into performing the Beatles songs as the rest of us do in listening to them. In short, they were fab.
Review – Tom Reid
Photos – Andy Watson