A musical history tour following the evolution of Liverpool’s greatest band, The Beatles.
What a wonderful evening! The night started off with the comedic duo representing John Lennon and Paul McCartney taking the stage, silence befalling the audience as we all sat in anticipation. They introduced themselves as the very obvious Paul and John, with the hair and costuming to match (John clad in his infamous round glasses and long, slick-haired look). Behind them, a classic 6-piece band emerged. They began by talking us through the early lives of John Lennon and Paul McCartney – how they met and what the early years of the Beatles looked like.
The show was formatted very clearly, set in Chapters following a chronological order of 1 through 8, following the life of the Beatles. Before we knew it, the band had launched into their first song of the evening with Paul and John centre stage singing the very well-known Love Me Do! Behind the band, Beatles-related imagery was projected onto the stage- picturing Strawberry Fields, Abbey Road Studios, and even our very own Penny Lane flooded the scene, setting the tone of the evening. The atmosphere was building with the audience excitedly bopping their heads, shy at the start, but with each song and chapter, as the story progressed, so did the viewers’ enthusiasm. By the end, we even had the audience on their feet singing and clapping along to the Beatle’s greatest hits.
The band took us through the Beatles, launching into ultra stardom and the resulting Beatle Mania, singing tunes like the eponymous Come Together, Yesterday and Let it Be, broken up by bantersous quips from our resident Paul and John as they exemplify the breakdown of the pair’s relationship towards the end of the Beatles. The tone shifts from happier tunes to a more morose and serious atmosphere following the death of the Beatles’ late manager Brian Epstein, and we witness the band take on new musical directions inspired by the events occurring in their personal lives. Serenaded by song, we listen eagerly as the band strums on song after song, touching on albums such as Please Please Me, Rubber Soul.
What felt like years later, as we had followed the Beatles through time, it appeared the evening was drawing to a close and in classic fashion, the band took to the stage for one last song. We all came together, and the crowd stood for a fantastic encore of Hey Jude. I looked around at the masses grinning ear to ear and felt a deep connection to those around me, all sharing a love for one of the best bands to form. Liverpool’s pride and joy. We were all united in that moment. One.
This show runs from the 19th March to the 28th March at Liverpool’s Royal Court. Tickets here – https://liverpoolsroyalcourt.com/main_stage/come-together/
Written by Tahiyah Tabassum