One of the world's best known tribute bands, The Bootleg Beatles, brought their concert tour to St David’s Hall, Cardiff, on December 7, 2011.
A magical mystery tour of some of The Beatles finest moments that provided the soundtrack to the swinging sixties, the Bootleg Beatles stepped onto the stage with all the magic, humour and professionalism originally displayed by John, Paul, George and Ringo back in the 1960s.
The Bootleg Beatles have performed sold out concerts for the last three decades and its easy to see why sporting mop top haircuts, 1960s sweatshirts and authentic Cuban heels, they certainly looked and sounded the real deal.
Adam Hastings Portrays John Lennon At Bootleg Beatles Concert
Joining David Catlin-Birch as Paul McCartney, Andre Barreau as George Harrison and Hugo Degenhardt as Ringo Starr was the Bootleg Beatles latest recruit Adam Hastings who replaced founder member Neil Harrison as John earlier this year. Adam’s portrayal of John Lennon was spot on balancing Lennon's quirky stage behaviour with comedy and musical accuracy.
The Bootleg Beatles then kicked off with fine renditions of She Loves You and Roll Over Beethoven, all played with the raw energy of the originals and to amazing instrumental accuracy.
The band took on the personas of the Fab Four with ease from Catlin-Birch imitating McCartney’s on stage mannerisms to Degenhardt's forthright portrayal of Harrison who encouraged the audience: "Great singing – Rubbish Dancing!"
A loose chronology of Beatles favourites followed mixing in lesser heard tracks like No Reply and You Really Got a Hold On Me with number one hits such as I Feel Fine and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Bootleg Beatles Perform I am The Walrus With Orchestra
As the time-line moved on so did appropriate costume changes with The Bootleg Beatles wearing 1965 Shea Stadium stylised suits, Sergeant Pepper costumes and outfits reminiscent of those worn by The Beatles on the Abbey Road album cover.
The concert also included more intricately arranged numbers that The Beatles simply couldn’t perform live back in the 1960s. With a little help from their friends, The Steve Peters Quintet the Bootleg Beatles performed songs such as I Am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever and All You Need Is Love. While Penny Lane echoed original methods the Beatles employed on their original recording featuring Yvette Brown playing a solo on Piccolo Trumpet and Rob Willard on the Fire Extinguisher.
Participation Enables Audience To Pass Bootleg Beatles Audition!
The audience was encouraged to rise from their seats on several occasions with a reminder from John :"Please be considerate to those sat down behind you – tell them to stand up too!", and the audience responded by dancing in the aisles to rousing renditions of Get Back, Hey Jude and Don’t Let Me Down.
Adam Hastings as John Lennon thanked the audience at the concert climax with a take on Lennon’s 1969 Apple Rooftop quote: "On Behalf of the group and ourselves you’ve really passed the audition." Judging by the applause from the St David's Hall audience so had The Bootleg Beatles!
The Bootleg Beatles UK tour will resume in March of 2012. For further information visit their official website.
