Friday Night (November 1st) we were joined by 16 other Forgotten Hits Readers to see The Fab Four Concert at The Arcada Theatre. (VERY special thanks to Ron Onesti ... and Fab Four PR Person Jeanne Dininni for making that happen. I can assure you that EVERYBODY had a FANTASTIC time at the show ... but then again we promised everyone in advance that a splendid time was guaranteed for all!)
We even had the chance to meet and take photos with the band after the show ... which was the icing on the cake for all parties concerned.
The simple truth is, this is a can't miss hit concert experience ... NOBODY out there puts on a tribute to The Beatles the way The Fab Four does ... it's a virtual time travel from start to finish beginning with the four lovable mop-tops appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show (Ed is even there to introduce the band!) ... right on thru their psychedelic era of "Sgt. Pepper" and into their "getting back to where it once belonged" finale of "Let It Be" hits.
The Fab Four mixed up their set list quite a bit for this show ... as such, the first set never saw them leave the 1964- 1965 era. It was a rocking good set, featuring all of the songs you most want to hear from this era, including "She Loves You," "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "All My Lovin'," "A Hard Day's Night," "I Should Have Known Better," "Help!," "Yesterday," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Twist And Shout," "Eight Days A Week" and "Day Tripper." (In the shows I've seen in the past, they typically get into the "Rubber Soul" / "Revolver" era toward the end of their first set, but this time both of these albums were all but ignored other than a performance of "Got To Get You Into My Life," done as a trio in their Sgt. Pepper uniforms so that John could change clothes off stage. He then came back to perform "Imagine" so that the others could discard their Pepper gear and get dressed in their "Let It Be" attire.)
Set two kicked off with a rousing rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "With A Little Help From My Friends," which sounded outstanding. They also did incredibly moving versions of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "A Day In The Life," both all the more impressive to see performed with full orchestration by just the four musicians on the stage, multi-tasking where necessary.
Things wrapped up with "Get Back," "Something" (the only George-sung tune of the evening ... I have never NOT seen them perform "Here Comes The Sun" ... and when I mentioned this to Gavin / George after the show, he said "I know ... we mixed things up on purpose just because we knew you were going to be here." lol Yeah, right.)
The show closed with "Revolution," followed by an encore of "Hey Jude," which had the crowd on their feet cheering for more.
This is a VERY fun show to see ... very authentic and respectful to the music of The Beatles. (If I'm being totally honest, I would have enjoyed a little less clowning around between songs ... it seemed like they were over-doing the crowd participation a bit and I honestly would have preferred seeing another song or two performed from some of the obvious ones that were missing this time around to the time being eaten up by bringing kids up on stage, doing the long ago worn out tactic of "which side of the theater can scream the loudest" bit to win a t-shirt, etc., etc., etc. I would have gladly forgone all of that in favor of a knock-out performance of "I Am The Walrus" or something from either "Rubber Soul" or "Revolver" ... a favorite era of most Beatles fans these days ... or the aforementioned "Here Comes The Sun" ... but I do understand that the lads have to mix things up a bit in order to present a show different enough each time to keep fans coming back to see it again.
That being said, I am DEFINITELY one of those fans who will likely check out The Fab Four whenever they're playing in the area ... and if you haven't enjoyed the experience yet, I strongly suggest that you check them out ... you will be blown away. (kk)
Upcoming dates:
http://www.thefabfour.com/
If you missed our EXCLUSIVE Interview with The Fab Four, you can catch it here:
MEET THE FAB FOUR
