she loves you too, man
Scott and I went to see (along with his parents and some of his parents' friends) Classic Albums Live do up The Beatles' Abbey Road tonight. Not a Beatles tribute band, so much as a group of super talented adorable fanboys reproducing a classic rock album live ("Note for note. Cut for Cut." as they say) for an eager, nostalgic audience.
A splendid time was had by all, even the husband, who, more often than not, thinks that classic is just a synonym for old.
(1) They're not a tribute band in the way it is generally understood. No impersonation, no costumes, etc. Of course, none of this kept me from assigning roles to the four main guys as soon as they came out on stage and started into "Come Together". I decided that the one singing "Come Together" (Greg Wyard) was Lennon, not only because he was singing "Come Together" but also because of his positioning on the stage. Of course, my Lennon was playing bass, and later sang "Her Majesty", so I was very amused at my choice. Doctor Mike Daley, who I decided was Paul, played guitar and sang a lot of Paul songs and was really sort of cute (as was Greg, actually), did not sing "Oh! Darling". The drummer, Marty Morin (Ringo! but not really) did that one, which I thought was odd, but he had a good voice for it. Rob Phillips - guitar, vocals, George. He had the Jesus/George look going on and was a trip on the guitar. He was pretty funny too. The keyboardist, Marcus Garrison, was none other than Billy Preston in my magical not-faux-Beatles dream world. Extras: cellist, sax player, trumpet player, violinist.
(2) Oh my God, they are such total fanboys and for this and many other reasons I ♥ them so. After the intermission, they came back on and did some of their own personal Beatles favourites. Greg (the Lennon) did "She Said She Said", Rob (the George) did "Taxman" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (the guitar solo? OMFGSOGOOD), Mike (the Paul) did "Got to Get You Into My Life", "Blackbird" etc.
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit A - Head/hair shaking during the "Whoooo!" bits of "She Loves You".
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit B - They stuck in studio chatter even when they were through with Abbey Road. GregLennon's "And now we'd like to sing, 'Hark the Angels Come'" before the band played "Let it Be", for example.
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit C - I suppose this is true of any band that enjoys playing together, but they all appeared to be having a great amount of fun. Doctor Mike Daley adorkably grinned his way through "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and appeared to be having a tremendous amount of fun with "Back in the U.S.S.R" later on during the "All Beatles, All the Time" segment. There were many smiles and much grooving.
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit D - Beatle bow at the very, very end.
(3) I'd love to hear their thoughts on Lennon/McCartney. I couldn't help but catch Doctor Mike and Greg looking across the stage at each other and smiling every now and then, and when Rob was wailing away during "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Mike actually crossed the stage and was playing next to/talking to Greg. They played the 13-hour Beatles Marathon in T.O. together, and now I'm wishing I'd been there to see that. Maybe they'll do another one in the future. Anyway, from what I gather they're good friends and the interaction was too fucking cute. ♥
(4) I got chills:
(a) Doctor Mike's voice when he sang "Smiles awake you when you rise". I love it so much when Paul sings that part and Doctor Mike nailed it.
(b) "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" guitar solo
(c) "The End" drum solo
(d) "Here Comes the Sun"/"Something"
(e) "Let it Be" harmonizing
Okay, there were many more moments, but I'm getting tired and I could probably make a pretty damn long list that wouldn't mean much to anybody who didn't see the show.
(5) They took a couple of requests. People were just shouting out song titles and I only on the drive home thought that I should have stood up and yelled, "Please Please Me" just because it would have been hilarious. I wonder if they had a harmonica up there with them. If they did the Marathon they must have had someone playing harmonica.
Ah. 'Twas lovely.
A splendid time was had by all, even the husband, who, more often than not, thinks that classic is just a synonym for old.
(1) They're not a tribute band in the way it is generally understood. No impersonation, no costumes, etc. Of course, none of this kept me from assigning roles to the four main guys as soon as they came out on stage and started into "Come Together". I decided that the one singing "Come Together" (Greg Wyard) was Lennon, not only because he was singing "Come Together" but also because of his positioning on the stage. Of course, my Lennon was playing bass, and later sang "Her Majesty", so I was very amused at my choice. Doctor Mike Daley, who I decided was Paul, played guitar and sang a lot of Paul songs and was really sort of cute (as was Greg, actually), did not sing "Oh! Darling". The drummer, Marty Morin (Ringo! but not really) did that one, which I thought was odd, but he had a good voice for it. Rob Phillips - guitar, vocals, George. He had the Jesus/George look going on and was a trip on the guitar. He was pretty funny too. The keyboardist, Marcus Garrison, was none other than Billy Preston in my magical not-faux-Beatles dream world. Extras: cellist, sax player, trumpet player, violinist.
(2) Oh my God, they are such total fanboys and for this and many other reasons I ♥ them so. After the intermission, they came back on and did some of their own personal Beatles favourites. Greg (the Lennon) did "She Said She Said", Rob (the George) did "Taxman" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (the guitar solo? OMFGSOGOOD), Mike (the Paul) did "Got to Get You Into My Life", "Blackbird" etc.
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit A - Head/hair shaking during the "Whoooo!" bits of "She Loves You".
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit B - They stuck in studio chatter even when they were through with Abbey Road. GregLennon's "And now we'd like to sing, 'Hark the Angels Come'" before the band played "Let it Be", for example.
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit C - I suppose this is true of any band that enjoys playing together, but they all appeared to be having a great amount of fun. Doctor Mike Daley adorkably grinned his way through "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and appeared to be having a tremendous amount of fun with "Back in the U.S.S.R" later on during the "All Beatles, All the Time" segment. There were many smiles and much grooving.
Fanboy Evidence, Exhibit D - Beatle bow at the very, very end.
(3) I'd love to hear their thoughts on Lennon/McCartney. I couldn't help but catch Doctor Mike and Greg looking across the stage at each other and smiling every now and then, and when Rob was wailing away during "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Mike actually crossed the stage and was playing next to/talking to Greg. They played the 13-hour Beatles Marathon in T.O. together, and now I'm wishing I'd been there to see that. Maybe they'll do another one in the future. Anyway, from what I gather they're good friends and the interaction was too fucking cute. ♥
(4) I got chills:
(a) Doctor Mike's voice when he sang "Smiles awake you when you rise". I love it so much when Paul sings that part and Doctor Mike nailed it.
(b) "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" guitar solo
(c) "The End" drum solo
(d) "Here Comes the Sun"/"Something"
(e) "Let it Be" harmonizing
Okay, there were many more moments, but I'm getting tired and I could probably make a pretty damn long list that wouldn't mean much to anybody who didn't see the show.
(5) They took a couple of requests. People were just shouting out song titles and I only on the drive home thought that I should have stood up and yelled, "Please Please Me" just because it would have been hilarious. I wonder if they had a harmonica up there with them. If they did the Marathon they must have had someone playing harmonica.
Ah. 'Twas lovely.