Beatles tribute bands

I'm a huge Beatles fan who never had the opportunity to see them perform live. I have tryed to check out as many tribute bands as possible to make up for that travisty. I have seen quite a few, but no band captures The Beatles better than RAIN. I have seen them play 5 times and am constantly blown away by them time and time again. The first time I saw them I admit I was put off by a righty Paul, but that quickly went out the window. Nobody portrays Paul better than Joey Curatolo. He sings just like him, talks just like him, looks a lot like him, and has Paul's mannerisms down to a tee. Just type in Joey Curatolo on youtube and check him out performing Hello Goodbye, Get Back and Blackbird. Show me someone better.

I've seen The Fab Four(the ones from CA) 3 times. Twice at a private party and once at a show in Burbank. They were fun. We took my son for his 4th birthday a few years ago, and he was mad because he wanted to talk to "Ringo" but our seats were too far away. I would definately see them again.

I've seen 1964 five times and Rain. 64's lineup has changed over the past six months. There is a new Harrison and Ringo. They do put on a good show, with lots of talking to the crowd. Rain does a complete Beatles cover from the early days through the Sgt. Pepper outfits, to the rooftop concert. They were pretty good.

Originally Posted by AMBOISVERT

I basically tripped over these guys last night. On a visit to see family in the Chicagoland area, we walked into a groovy little Tiki bar in Brookfield for a post-prandial rum-runner, and there they were. I agree with Lynner's assessment 100%. They made no effort to look like the guys (though they did make some rather unfortunate efforts to imitate their accents), but when they played they sounded fresh and fun. I wish they had tried to tackle some later material, but the stuff we saw was great.

Tony

Aw...wished I'd known you were coming to the Chicago area! I'm about 20 minutes away from Brookfield!

Originally Posted by Mccartneyluvr

I've seen The Fab Four(the ones from CA) 3 times. Twice at a private party and once at a show in Burbank. They were fun. We took my son for his 4th birthday a few years ago, and he was mad because he wanted to talk to "Ringo" but our seats were too far away. I would definately see them again.

Are they the ones who have recorded the christmas albums? Those are just plain freaky.

Tony

Originally Posted by Lynner

Aw...wished I'd known you were coming to the Chicago area! I'm about 20 minutes away from Brookfield!

I am sorry; it was just for the weekend, and a crowded visit at that. My wife was teaching in Naperville when we met, and that's where we got married (Actually, we got married in Downer's Grove). So anyway, we had lots of catching up to do with lots of people that we hadn't seen for a few years.

I am touched that you would have cared though. Thanks, Lynner!

Tony

Well Tony, whenever you come back for another visit, let me know! My husband and I have friends and family in both Naperville and Downers Grove. It would be fun to meet up!
Great to know that Revolver still plays once in a while, too. Would you by any chance remember the name of the place?

I was lucky enough to see The Bootleg Beatles a couple of summers ago at Kenwood House in London. Man, oh man, what an experience that was!

They did a c.90-minute set, going through practically every Fab hit - chronologically - and with costume changes and everything. And the setting... well, if you know Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath, you'll know that in summertime it's blisssfully beautiful and such a great venue for concerts.

I also saw the Bootlegs about ten years ago now, when they played my - then - new student hall at uni in 'Fresher's Week'. They did a set based around the Fabs' early hits (up to A Hard Day's Night) then - and watching them in 2005, it really was impressive to see how much bigger, better and more ambitious they'd become. The concert at Kenwood was so good it was slightly eerie actually, like you were actually watching the real thing - gave you some idea what it must have been like to see the Fabs themselves. Terrific stuff...!

I know this is an age old thread, but I just happen to come across this one and it's right up my alley.

I've seen billions and billions of trib bands throughout the years. But, I happen to dig the movie version of Beatlemania. Mitch is my favourite fake Paul...I learned everything I know from him.

Here in Australia we've had a band called The Beatnix. I've seen them a few times with various line up changes over the last 20 years or so. They're pretty good, sound alike and look alike. The first half of their show covers the Beatles 62-66 period. Then they have a break and come out with their Sgt Peppers outfits to do the 67-70 period. Their only downer is that the Paul guy was usually right-handed on the bass guitar unlike the real Paul but hey, that's just minor.

Later this month I'm taking my Beatle-mad little 8-yr old boy to see a band called The Fab Four. I don't know anything about this group, but I'm looking forward to it and I reckon that my son will be very excited when I surprise him later.

The Eggmen are another well known in their area Beatles and 60s cover band and they are GOOD!

Oh yeah, I have another friend that tours all over the place with a couple of different bands (same lineup, really but different names for different occasions). They're called Classical Mystery Tour, they're super top notch and usually have a couple of former members from Beatlemania (Tony Kishman and Tom Teeley). You can check them out at www.classicalmysterytour.com

I just visited Mitch Weissman yesterday as I usually do, he seems to be pretty happy since he got engaged recently.

Originally Posted by John's Monkey

However, my main beef with some supposed tribute bands is that you'll see some who have big websites and tour all the time....but their "Paul" is RIGHT HANDED!!!!!!! That's unacceptable. It's one thing if you are going to be a band that plays Beatles songs, but if you dress up and do the accents and all that....then have Paul be left handed, for goodness sakes!!! Our "Paul" was originally a right handed guitarist but learned bass left handed.

Well, I play bass - and I play left handed, because I was born that way - so, hey, I can be in your tribute band.... joking aside though, I think you're being a tad perfectionist here; I would love to play right handed - think of the choice of basses I'd have, instead of having to scrape around for the one in ten models that actually comes in a LH version and usually having to pay significantly more than you would for the same thing in a RH version - but I don't play right handed for the simple reason that I can't; maybe I could if I put some real effort into it, but maybe not - I am VERY left handed; my right hand needs the fret-board to cling to; doesn't operate in free space. I'm taking a long time to get to my point - which is, that given the choice between a right-handed player who can catch Paul's sound and a left handed duffer, I know what I'd go for. Tribute bands don't have to do the look-alike thing; the best Led Zep tribute band I have seen are some young Irish guys called the Rubber Plants who make no effort whatsoever to look like Led Zep - their main man plays lead and does the singing as well - but they sure as hell sound like them and play with real energy.

(Or maybe the right-handed bass-player could stand in the wings with a mirror on stage set at 45 degrees to turn him right-way round. That might work.)

I'm not as into the whole tribute band scene as I used to be, but I still enjoy hearing them as long as they're good. My fav I remember was British Export, probably because I used to keep seeing them at Beatlefest and so I was very familiar with them. And they do put on a decent show. But they've stopped going there and they really dont play anywhere near me so my interest has waned a little. I havent seen them since 2005.

I've seen 1964 and was very impressed with their stage banter. They seemed to really act like Beatles to me. and the guy being George was very nice and friendly when I met him. I saw this group called Beatlemania once too, way back, about 12 years ago. I do remember liking them. (There's Liverpool of course, but they're not a tribute band.)

I'd love to see American English to see what all the hype was about (i hear they're supposed to be one of the best) and the Fab Four in Vegas (at least, I think they're still there) and The Fab Faux (also not a tribute band, but Will Lee from the CBS Orchestra, aka dave letterman's band, and Jimmy Vivino from the Max Weinberg 7 are in it) I hear they're supposed to be really good too.

I saw American English last night in Aurora. My first tribute band experience, after some five years of Beatles fanship.

For the most part, I really enjoyed it. Their first set, all the early stuff, got me very excited as they played some B-sides and album tracks: She's a Woman, Don't Bother Me, Bad Boy. This got me excited for the rest of the show, but after that it was pretty much straight hits, with the only real surprise being It's All Too Much, and Give Me Love was nice to hear as well.

They could have done some more banter, I thought, and it never stops being weird seeing later Beatles performed live. They also blew the closer (Hey Jude? Seriously? The ending writes itself. It's called THE END), but overall they were pretty damn good.

The Paul was pretty good, though a lot better on the rockers than on ballads like Yesterday. The John was great, I thought, though during the early stuff his speaking voice sounded a bit too much like the more nasal John from the later years. Some of his gestures were perfect though.

George didn't look too much like George, but I thought he was great too. And Ringo was a pretty decent Ringo, though we never got the chance to get too close a look at him.

In the next year I may have the chance to see either The Fab Four (From CA) and Rain. Should I try? The only thing is that I need to get home from school to see these concerts.

I actually saw my first Beatles tribute band at the beginning of the summer--Abbey Road Live. They don't try to *be* the Beatles, but the music was good, and the members were funny and engaging. It made me sad that I can't ever see Beatles music performed live by the Beatles themselves...on the plus side, they played Blackbird, and one of the members whistled the bird parts! That, and Revolution, was the highlight of the concert for me. :)

i'm going to see 1964 the tribute this weekend. hmmm... wonder if a new member of the same name is a band member...

I'm really not a fan of 1964. I thought they were okay, but when they played at BW they had too many sychophantic fans which scared me a lot!

I've been going to the Liverpool BW since 1996 so have seen my fair share of Beatle tribute bands. I used to go to see the bands to see *them* as for someone of my age it was the only real opportunity to see the closest thing to the Beatles that there will be. I remember being besotted with a band from Argentina as they were young and pretty...I bet Sandy Sunshine remembers the Beats! Well I was one of those 15 year old girls in 60s clothes following them around. I can't believe I just admitted that! ;-)

I personally think a Macca tribute band - Banned On The Run - are incredibly amazing and accurate. Much better than that crap Swedish band who couldn't get the songs right and kept singing "Wenus And Mars" Hahahahaha!

I also used to go and see The Blue Meanies every Thursday in a bar called Baty's (which is now part of ADHN hotel) and they were fantastic. They even played I Want You (She's So Heavy) which sounded spot on!

Not a fan of Fab Faux. I'd expect them to be good as they're session musicians. As much as I like accuracy I also like a bit of the bands own personality to come through, and I think FF concentrate too much on being note perfect for that to come through.

Originally Posted by starstruck

I personally think a Macca tribute band - Banned On The Run - are incredibly amazing and accurate.

Will they be at BW? If so, must check them out. I think I remember seeing them last time I went (2004) and they were very good.

Originally Posted by starstruck

I've been going to the Liverpool BW since 1996 so have seen my fair share of Beatle tribute bands. I used to go to see the bands to see *them* as for someone of my age it was the only real opportunity to see the closest thing to the Beatles that there will be. I remember being besotted with a band from Argentina as they were young and pretty...I bet Sandy Sunshine remembers the Beats! Well I was one of those 15 year old girls in 60s clothes following them around. I can't believe I just admitted that! ;-)

Not a fan of Fab Faux. I'd expect them to be good as they're session musicians. As much as I like accuracy I also like a bit of the bands own personality to come through, and I think FF concentrate too much on being note perfect for that to come through.

Oh wow!!! I certainly do remember the Beats from Argentina!!!!! They were brilliant...and I do seem to remember their young followers too!!!

I'm not that mad on Fab Faux either.....on stage or off.