The Fab Four Music by The Beatles

Dates and Venue 17 Dec @ 7.30 pm Port Theatre, Nanaimo; 18 Dec @ 8 pm Royal Theatre, Victoria; 20 Dec @ 8 pm River Rock Show Theatre, Richmond

Reviewer Ed Farolan

You never tire of the Beales. This is the one band that's most prolific in its repertoire. The 2-hour show at River Rock was extended to 2.5 hours because of encores and the audience coming down and dancing to the music of this fabulous group. That's why they're called "fab" for their fabulous imitation and performance of the Beatles' songs.

THE FAB FOUR did indeed take me back to the days of my youth, from my teenage years in the early sixties, all the way to the psychadelic years in the early seventies when I was a graduate student in the United States. I remember the Ed Sullivan Show when they were first introduced, and hearing all the Beatles favourites like "Can't Buy Me Love", "Yesterday", "A Day in the Life", "Penny Lane", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Hey Jude".

Although this was a Christmas show, I think  The Fab Four only sang one Christmas carol: "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer" played in the style of the Beatles.

 

The first half of the show situated The Beatles in 1965 with their beatle haircuts. There were around 14 songs sung during this portion of the program, the ones that got this group popular: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "All My Loving". "Hard Day's Night", "Yesterday", "Money Can't Buy Me Love", among many others.

In the second half, they changed to their Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club costumes, and this was the psychadelic era of the hippies and drugs. Tunes like "Strawberry Fields" and "Yellow Submarine" were sung in this portion of the show. A moving song was John Lennon's "Imagine", a song about peace, love and non-violence. How ironical that a man who was a proponet of peace, love and non-violence was was violently killed!

"Revolution" and "Here Comes a Song" were compositions by George Harrison which followed, and finally, Ringo Starr had his turn with his solo, but always the butt of jokes, as Paul commented "This is the last time he's doing a solo". In this section of the show, McArtney sang another Beattles classic, "Hey Jude" and everyone was asked to join in..

This is the second time I saw the Fab Four's Tribute to the Beatles, and I'm sure I'll be back when they return next year. The group has been touring all over the world, and if you have a chance to catch them, it's worth the money you're paying for. They are just fabulous impersonators, and talented singers and musicians.

© 2009 Ed Farolan