GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE
Who
It was pretty close to a sell-out in fact and the flyer I picked up confirmed that the group had been last here in May 2011. It was amusing as in fact the picture of the band was out of date and they'd changed members - Paul and Ringo I believe - in the meantime, but as they apparently aren't big enough to even have their own Wikipedia page I am having difficulty researching their history further. We took our seats by 8pm and my Dad spotted that he knew the soundman from our local market, which is something of a claim to fame! We were seated towards the right but much further forwards than we had been for Jack Dee and I noted that a "real" Beatles logo was utilised on the drum kit along with the genuine album sleeves on the flyer I'd picked up. This was in sharp contrast to The Bootleg Beatles, leaving me to wonder whether they'd gone that extra effort to licence the official Beatles, The Bootlegs had decided to do it their own way to be distinctive or to avoid paying royalties or if this band had simply ignored whatever rules are in place? There was no backdrop and I'd heard that The Complete Beatles went to great lengths to be authentic to the real sound, in particular with period instruments and amplification, but thankfully without the high-pitched screams of pre-teen girls! They took to the stage on time with no support band and a take on I Saw Her Standing There and it all sounded a bit muffled at the outset - somewhat putting me off the idea of being authentic - but it either improved or we just got used to it as the show went on. Annoyingly I cannot find any setlists and I'm writing this review up a full four weeks later thanks to a few exceptionally busy weeks, making it much harder for me to remember the details.
The show was split into two halves with the first segment featuring the band wearing suits before they dressed down somewhat in the second half. It made me wish I'd got my phone camera out in the first half like the lady next to me who was snapping and filming throughout, and typically the band only commented on it the second I took a few shots as if I was the only one doing it, making a joke that we couldn't take photos due to security reasons, before clarifying that these were social security reasons and implying that they were benefit cheats! It was unclear if they were joking about cameras and if they were bothered or not but the staff weren't enforcing it and it didn't stop the lady next to me at all. For Jack Dee there'd been an announcement beforehand that photography was forbidden and the staff had seemingly been keeping a close eye on the crowd, making me wonder if Jack had requested a no photography policy himself, in which case he'd fall several notches in my estimation as a camera Nazi! Back to the songs, due to the lack of a setlist I'm struggling to provide a chronological account, but tunes played include I Want To Hold Your Hand, From Me To You, Please Please Me, I Feel Fine, Ticket To Ride and All My Loving. John played a mouth organ on Love Me Do and She Loves You was delivered quite late on but with surprisingly little fanfare. They encouraged us to sing back during Can't Buy Me Love upon which a guy to our left loudly screamed it back at them to the amusement of all. A Hard Day's Night featured its typically wonderful introduction whereas the possible highlight was an electric take on the awesome Eight Days A Week.
The first half was shorter than expected and during the interval we took a walk around the building which was crammed full of art which you could even buy and take home with you. As far as the band were concerned the moptops weren't as pronounced as The Bootleg Beatles had managed and once again Paul sounded great but didn't look the part at all. I wonder if it was just coincidence, the fact he was the only one I'd actually seem onstage or if Macca simply has very distinctive features but it's very strange to have happened twice. John didn't play with the same guitar-held-high attitude and uncanny likeness of The Bootleg John but I warmed to his performance as the show went on, and in particular was impressed when he pointed out that We Can Work It Out - which they played - was number 1 when he'd been born. Ringo didn't look like Ringo at all but proved an excellent drummer, especially on Please Please Me, playing with a massive smile and in good humour throughout. He seemed happy to be himself and his rendition of I Wanna Be Your Man was a show highlight, perhaps because he didn't try too hard to emulate Ringo's unique voice but just made the most of the song in his own way. George meanwhile was not as realistic as The Bootleg George had been and kept a relatively low profile but at the same time barely put a foot wrong. Generally speaking the show wasn't as polished as The Bootleg Beatles, who'd gone to real lengths to "travel through time" as the band and had gone to more effort with peripherals such as video footage, evolving haircuts and the Sgt. Pepper's outfits in particular. Nevertheless the Complete Beatles were clearly billed as being more "realistic" and it was nice to see a completely different take on the Fab Four, although they did have a frustrating tendency to flash overly bright lights at us throughout.
Annoyingly I haven't recorded which songs closed the first half or opened the second so for narrative purposes I'll presume they opened the second half with Help! before playing the ever-excellent Day Tripper, which was as exciting as ever. John astonished me by pointing out that he was also the guitarist for a Roy Orbison tribute band my Dad had seen, making me wonder how he could go from being the main man in a tribute to the biggest band ever to a mere tribute guitarist for the relatively obscure and arguable one-hit wonder that Orbison is. I was even more astonished when the band played the relatively "recent" Nowhere Man, even claiming it had been number one. As far as I can tell this was a half-truth as it had indeed been #1 in Australia, but it's not a song I've ever held much regard for. I would say similar about No Reply which - as it had done for The Bootlegs - bafflingly found its way into the set alongside the all-times classics that utterly eclipse it. As before, Get Back was greeted by a crazed reaction and it represented another rare late-era cut for the setlist, but its spirit is very much early Beatles and I was much more surprised that Ringo's take on With A Little Help From My Friends had also made its way into the show. The band also found room for I'm A Loser and Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby along with Long Tall Sally, which I barely recognised as I'd got it mixed up with Long, Tall Mexican which The Beach Boys had performed live in their early period. I understand that a tribute band who focus on the early career of their heroes are going to have to play a few lesser cuts but I'd personally have been much happier with choices along the lines of You Won't See Me or I Need You, which quite frankly are better songs.
Speaking of better songs, the set ended in the best possible manner with the wonderful Hey Jude, which thanks to the clever decision of letting John play the piano was distinguished from being a solo Macca effort. This classic had effortlessly sent The Bootlegs crowd into raptures but this time it took a bit more effort, although a pushy girl was wandering down the steps to encourage everyone to stand up and even a few people stood up at the front facing the audience to encourage crowd participation, meaning that it was ultimately a triumph as everyone gradually got into it. The crowd was a mix of old and young but you still couldn't escape the spectacle of old people dancing which always puts a dampener on the atmosphere. I'm rather ashamed to say I remained seated - perhaps unable to shake the thought that this wasn't the real thing and smug in the knowledge I'd seen the genuine Macca in concert - but it was still a very enjoyable end to the set. It made me wonder what rationale the band applied when choosing what songs to play, whether they were simply old-fashioned gents who only liked the early songs with a handful of exceptions or if a few latter tunes were an attempt to get modern music fans more engaged with the performance? The band returned with a very brief encore of the almost inevitable - although I'd forgotten about it - Twist And Shout and John briefly hinted that he'd play a solo song before slightly rudely not actually doing one!
Throughout the show, despite their claims of authenticity, it was interesting to note that The Complete Beatles didn't always remain in character, which was different to The Bootlegs who acted throughout as though they were the genuine article. Afterwards we got some more petrol - as apparently it's cheaper in Stafford - despite the fact that the suggested fuel strike had come to nothing, and headed back home, whereupon I spent far too much time online before having a bad night's sleep as I'd learned I'd been paid incorrectly. I woke up rather exhausted the next day and the show was quite quickly forgotten about until I wrote this up as I had little time in which to reflect. The two key omissions were Drive My Car - although arguably that is too "modern" for an early Beatles set - but perhaps unforgivably they'd also left out Yesterday! As I understand it their Macca was new so perhaps he didn't feel comfortable doing it but it's a startling omission to an otherwise quite comprehensive setlist. Although being a reasonable evening out I did not concur with my Dad's claim that they were better than The Bootleg Beatles and due to the incredibly high gigging standards I've tried so hard to maintain I feel I must award this show a relatively cruel 6.5/10, mainly because it's nowhere near as exciting when you know they're not the real thing, but also as I'd be seeing so much better in 2012.
Mark: 6.5/10
The Complete Beatles
Where
Stafford Gatehouse
When
26th April 2012
Price
£14.50 (FREE for me!)
Who with
Dad
Position
Seated, towards the right
Comments
Although hardly the best show in the history of the world, The Bootleg Beatles had been sufficiently agreeable for me to be keen to go back for more, this time with a tribute band focusing on the early records of The Beatles. As my Dad assured me that they were better than The Bootlegs and offered to pay again it would have been wrong to miss out, and I'm surprised to learn that the tickets for tonight were a full £9 cheaper than it had been the last time around. It almost made me wonder if The Complete Beatles were made on the same assembly line as The Complete Stone Roses who I'd seen back in 2005, but if they were that was a promising sign of things to come! Beforehand I prepared myself by hearing the earlier songs from the 1 album, along with the first part of my own 2 album, which includes the 27 best Beatles songs not on 1 in strictly chronological order and in my opinion sounds even better. I headed to Stafford after work and was annoyed to have to buy an extra rail ticket for the occasion, and the day was blighted by some incessant rain to boot. I couldn't say what was up with the weather in 2012 but every month seemed to be accompanied by yet another extreme. I met my Dad and we repeated our successful formula from when we'd seen Jack Dee playing the same venue a month before by heading to the brand spanking new Wetherspoons pub and enjoying a massive curry night feast, this time with a pub dessert rather than a McFlurry to follow. We then headed towards the venue in time for the 8pm start time, thinking at first that the show hadn't sold many tickets then realising that everyone had simply decided to take their seats early rather than hanging in the bar.
