Beatlemania

BEATLEMANIA Presents Pepper Front to Back! Performing Sargent Pepper in its entirety.


Do any of you know about this? They are playing at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano (few miles from where I live). Is it any good? Any insights?

Thanks.

I guess no one knows about this. Hum... Maybe I should go just to see what it's about. I'm going to Vegas next week and there is a Beatlemania show at Aladdin... I might ck that out too. Hum... I'm a newbie when it comes to tribute bands. I KNOW NOTHING.

Beatlemania was the name of the Broadway show, and I've heard it is touring in certain parts of the country. Some friends in Florida saw it last month. Could be an updated version of the original show from the seventies, that now includes Sgt. Peppers.

Thanks Pattiboyd's slave... I might ck the one out in San Juan and if I have time, the Vegas show. I don't think they are the same. The Vegas show runs every night from what I heard.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier...the Vegas show is a "second cast" of a band called The Fab Four. I've seen the original Fab Four and they're excellent, so I would imagine that they wouldn't hire anybody who wasn't pretty good to share their name.

As far as "Beatlemania", there are a good dozen bands out there using some form of that name and some of them are good and some are horrible. I don't know which one this would be, so I don't want to even speculate as to if they're any good or not.

I know way too much about tribute bands (occupational hazard - lol!) and have seen many of them, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me.

Yeah the Beatlemania I saw were pretty good, but there are other Beatlemania bands that i've heard have sucked so i cant really tell all that much...

Starting in 1977, Beatlemania was a broadway show. A Beatle cover band consisting of a professional quartet; backdrop of images of events and issues of the times and of course lots of excellent songs made the show.

Mitch Weissman, who played Paul in the show also starred in cameo roles in the 1980s as the mysterious moptop; he also was in the Fest's band Liverpool until 2002-2003. I read that he has since relocated to the West Coast. I saw him at the 2002 Boston Fest and he looked like an extremely heavy Paul McCartney, sort of like how Paul would look if he had a Body By Budwiser.

Originally Posted by Rellevart

Sorry I didn't see this earlier...the Vegas show is a "second cast" of a band called The Fab Four. I've seen the original Fab Four and they're excellent, so I would imagine that they wouldn't hire anybody who wasn't pretty good to share their name.

As far as "Beatlemania", there are a good dozen bands out there using some form of that name and some of them are good and some are horrible. I don't know which one this would be, so I don't want to even speculate as to if they're any good or not.

I know way too much about tribute bands (occupational hazard - lol!) and have seen many of them, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me.

Oh nooooo! The FabFour split? Dannng! Those guys were awesome!!!! Ron, Ardy, Michael & Rolo...say it ain't so!! Booooo!!!!!

Incidentally, The '70's broadway show, Beatlemania, is what originally opened my eyes (and ears) to the Beatles music.

Originally Posted by Magill

Oh nooooo! The FabFour split? Dannng! Those guys were awesome!!!! Ron, Ardy, Michael & Rolo...say it ain't so!!

No, no, it ain't so, Magill. They're still playing together, but I guess they got too many gigs and they cast a second group also playing under the name "The Fab Four" and that group is the one playing Vegas, while the original tribute band (ha ha ha) The Fab Four is touring around, mostly southwest, but some other areas too. Ron, Ardy, Michael and Rolo are the ones I saw in Liverpool and they were very good. I don't know much about the Vegas Fab Four other than than their George is Gavin Pring from Liverpool who gets a lot of acclaim in various circles. Don't know who the other guys are.

Body By Budwiser.

I'm a Bud lite fan!!

Originally Posted by Rellevart

No, no, it ain't so, Magill. They're still playing together.

Phheeeeewww! Don't scare me like that, Rell! I've seen those guys quite a few times and it would be a tragedy if they ever split up. They're the best tribute band I've seen yet. I know they never come out east but hopefully I can catch them on a trip out west sometime. I suppose this other band would be equally as good to share the same stage name as them.

Fab Four' tribute at TPAC
George Harrison's sister organizes Liverpool Legends

By CINDY WATTS
cwatts@dnj.com http://cmsimg.dnj.com/apps/pbcsi.dll...=1024&MaxW=290

The Liverpool Legends are, from left, Joe Bologna as Ringo, Marty Scott as George Harrison, Davey Justice as Paul McCartney and Kevin Mantegna as John Lennon.

FYI

The Liverpool Legends will play The Beatles Festival "Fab Four at TPAC" 8:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7.


The show will be held in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Polk Theater, located inside TPAC at 505 Deaderick St. in Nashville.


The festival, which spans July 7-9, also features Beatles films, Beatles trivia, speakers, Beatles art and performances by other Beatles tribute bands.


TIckets for "Fab Four at TPAC" are $75-$20 and are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling Ticketmaster at 255-2787, or by logging on to www.ticketmaster.com.


For more information or to hear music by the Liverpool Legends, log on to www.liverpoollegends.com.




"In Chicago, when The Beatles were on tour there, we were in a hotel and the guys went down to the stage," recalls Louise Harrison during a recent telephone interview from Branson, Mo. "The police let me go right in front of the stage. There was a row of sawhorses behind me and then a row of police behind them. Back in those days, people used to throw candies at the guys. I was standing right at George's feet, and every once in a while he would scoot a pile of jelly beans onto my head. People always say my brother was so serious on stage expect at that Chicago show. I say that's because (at other shows) he didn't have his sister to kick things at."

Louise Harrison is the oldest sibling and only sister of The Beatles' guitarist George Harrison. Shortly after George's death on Dec. 1, 2001, Louise discovered The Beatles tribute bands, one in particular, are a nice way of keeping her brother's memory alive.

Today Louise, now 73, manages The Beatles tribute band the Liverpool Legends. Louise and the Liverpool Legends will be at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center Thursday, July 7, as part of The Beatles festival "The Fab Four at TPAC: The Nashville Connection."

"About three months after my brother died, I got invited to a Beatles weekend in Chicago," recalls Louise in her still distinct English accent. "I met a guy there who played George and he reminded me of my brother so much, I thought maybe my brother was looking around the planet for someone to replace him for me. I kind of adopted him and I even call his parents Mum and Dad, even though they are about 10 years younger than I am."

The guy to whom Louise refers is Marty Scott who plays George in the Liverpool Legends. At the time Scott played in a different Beatles tribute band, but when Scott and Kevin Mantegna, the guy who plays John Lennon, decided to leave the group, Louise was the first person they approached for help.

"They were putting together another Beatles band and since I had always been very supportive of my earthly brother, I wanted to do the same for him," she explains. "Now I travel with them and I manage them. A lot of people say they are the best Beatles band out there."

However, before the Liverpool Legends could travel anywhere, Louise, Scott and Mantegna had to find suitable players to portray Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. It was important to Louise that the new additions fit The Beatles persona as closely as the players already enlisted.

"We had a George and a John," recalls Louise. "We needed a Paul and a Ringo. The John and George are the best I've ever seen. (Kevin Mantegna) is so much like John, I often feel like I've been transported back 20 years. I would often be sitting in the room with John (Lennon) and he would be talking a lot of nonsense, but when he would finish, he actually said something profound. (Mantegna) is the same way."

The search for additional members ended with the acquisition of Davey Justice as Paul McCartney and Joe Bologna as Ringo Starr.

"The guy who plays Paul (McCartney) looks more like Paul than Paul looks like Paul now," explains Louise. "And the guy who plays Ringo, when I first heard him sing, I wondered if he had a recording of Ringo up his shirt."

With the band complete, the guys were ready to start assembling their set list and perfecting their live show. Louise wanted the group to have a vast knowledge of Beatles material so members could vary the show on a nightly basis. She says the ability to change the set list nightly was a luxury of which her brother always yearned for and was never allowed.

Now, as best they can, she and the Liverpool Legends plan to make up for it.

"One of the things George and I had talked about years and years ago was how much he didn't like to go on tour," she recalls. "All he got to do was dash on stage, play 10 songs and dash off. He didn't get to perform the repertoire of songs they had written, so when we started this band, we decided to do some of those songs."

The Liverpool Legends catalog consists of the B sides from multiple Beatles records, music from Beatles' solo careers as well as crowd favorites and radio hits.

"I wanted this to be an extensive variety of songs," says Louise. "It makes a lot of hard work for the guys, but they agree with me. If they have a really varied repertoire of songs, people can come three or four nights in a row to see them and hear different songs every night."

Aside from being stellar musicians and looking like their counterparts in The Beatles, Louise says she feels George would have approved of them.

"They're all really, really nice boys," she explains. "They are just like my brothers and I know the are the kind of guys George would like to know."

Louise readily admits that because there are so many Beatles tributes band out there right now, all of whom are not the most wholesome, it was important to her to work with players she felt perpetuated the beliefs members of Beatles thought important.

"George used to be concerned (about tribute bands)," says Louise. "He always said, 'It's hard enough for me to pretend to be me.' A lot of bands have a bad attitude; they get this big head and they behave less than gentlemanly while dressed in The Beatles outfits. I really tear into them. I tell them they can't act that way while dressed like that. They have to show some respect.

"(Tribute bands are supposed to be about) keeping The Beatles' music alive and keeping what The Beatles were about alive and if they are doing that, then that's a good thing."

Louise feels she found the perfect combination of musical talent, looks and personality with the assembly of the Liverpool Legends. But she still hopes fans of The Beatles will come out and judge the Liverpool Legends for themselves.

"The Illinois State Fair asked me if they could bill them as the No. 1 Beatles band," continues Louise. "I said, 'No, let the people decide. But you can say they are the only Beatles band endorsed by a family member.' Oh, I see my brother out the window. He's waiting for me. I have to go now."



Originally published June 30, 2005
Original Post

There are so many things wrong with that article in so many ways, but we all have our opinions, I guess, and Louise is entitled to hers.

Originally Posted by Rellevart

There are so many things wrong with that article in so many ways, but we all have our opinions, I guess, and Louise is entitled to hers.

Yeah, even if some people know better about her...

Let's just say I'd be very skeptical of anything Louise is pushing.

I went to Vegas this week (just got home today) and saw "Fab Four, Mania," at the Aladdin. This was my first Tribute band experience... All of us really enjoyed it. What made it even better was the acknowledgements and respect they gave the Beatles. They play all the music (and do a great job), but you all know that, and have an "Ed Sullivian" comic as part of the show. The guy who played George (Gavin Pring as earlier mentioned) was fantastic...his expressions blew us away! Oh, I bought some Beatle memorabilia at a memorabilia shop in Vegas. I won $500 playing video poker, so I treated myself.

Just wanted to share with you guys... Most of my pics were blurry... I lifted the last two from their site. And if you're going to Vegas, be sure and see this show...

I went to their website, and of the four listed there, only Ron and Rolo were in the cast in Vegas, then I found this link on their site for the show at the Aladdin and this is the same cast, sans the Ringo who was Rolo in Vegas: Fab Four










This was the George, but not the Ringo... These last two photos are from their site. Gavin (George) sure is a ringer.

I saw "Beatlemania" way back in the 70's and it was a super show!

OKAY THESE ARE CUTE.

I saw the Broadway show "Beatlemania" back in the 70's too -- actually I loved it so much, I saw it 4 times! (3 times in 1978, and once in 1979). The first time I saw it, Mitch Weissman was in it, playing Paul. It was a GREAT show. I guess that's why I love the tribute bands now so much. My favorites are Liverpool Legends, 1964 the Tribute, and American English (I just saw American English last night, and will be seeing Liverpool Legends next week).
Gavin Pring is excellent - I saw him with British Export, and also playing as a solo George in Louisville at Abbey Road on the River.

Originally Posted by Starry-eyed

The first time I saw it, Mitch Weissman was in it, playing Paul. It was a GREAT show. I guess that's why I love the tribute bands now so much.

Hmmm...I wonder if I know you! I think I know everybody who's active in the local Beatles tribute band scene, but I'm not sure I know any Ringo fans...hmmm...

And yeah, I saw Beatlemania in 1978 on a vacation to Chicago (I lived in Michigan then) when Mitch was in it. He'd probably die if I showed him the photos I took at the stage door. Man, we were all a LOT younger then! LOL!

Leslie Fradkin was superb as George and Mitch Weisman literally brought down the house. Chop Volpe was also in Beatle Mania as was Joe Pecorino. Joe played the John part quite convincingly.

Leslie Fradkin has some recordings out; you can find them on eBay and www.amazon.com.