On the whole, I don’t get tribute acts. So often, they seem silly, and faintly embarrassing. I have seen only a handful in 37 years of going to gigs, but The Bootleg Beatles’ gig at York Barbican was moving, funny and energising.
By Miles Salter
Photo by Richard Morley
The Bootleg Beatles started in 1980, the year of John Lennon’s death, and have performed 4000 times since then. They were way ahead of the tribute curve, doing it a full decade or more before anybody else. Perhaps this explains why tonight’s show is so slick, as they recreate sound and feel of The Beatles from 1963 to 1970. Clever use of visuals and videos include artwork and clips from the time, including other bands, historical events (Vietnam, The Moon Landings) and TV commercials, although tellingly there are no videos or photos of the band (Apple is famously jealous of its rights, and archive footage isn’t cheap to acquire.)
The show runs, (roughly) in chronological order, starting with members performing songs from 1963’s With The Beatles (the second album), then steaming through the subsequent years, with sections that take in Shea Stadium in New York (1965) and Sgt. Pepper (1967) before moving to a second half that covers The White Album, Let It Be and Abbey Road. Most of the big numbers get covered – I Want To Hold Your Hand, She’s Leaving Home, Revolution, Sgt. Pepper, A Day In The Life, and Come Together all feature, but the catalogue is so brilliant that many famous songs are omitted – so there’s no Michelle, Blackbird, Norwegian Wood or We Can Work It Out. The focus is on the up-beat numbers. Much of Revolver is missed, although we do get For No One. There’s another deep cut in the shape of Old Brown Shoe, a b-side from 1969. Mercifully, we are spared Yellow Submarine.
The band play their parts brilliantly. They recreation of the sound of The Beatles is fantastic, with Vox amplifiers and an assortment of Fenders, Gibsons and Rickenbackers. ‘Peace and Love’ quips Gordon Elsmore as Ringo (was he sporting a prosthetic nose to recreate Ringo’s unfortunate beak?) Steve White has McCartney’s mannerisms down pat. Stephen Hill is excellent as Harrison, turning out riffs and slide guitar perfectly. Towards the end, they play the recent single Now And Then and Tyson Kelly does an uncanny job or recreating Lennon’s voice. They pay tribute to Andre Barreau, one of the Bootleg’s founding members, who recently died. There’s humour, too. When Paul McCartney launches into Mull Of Kintyre instead of Hey Jude near the end, he stops then says ‘oh sorry, we haven’t broken up yet.’ Jokes like this show the affection for The Beatles story, an amazing journey packed with twists and turns that still generates films, books and music releases.
There was a lot of love in this show. The Bootleg Beatles is now a sizable business, but they perform the songs with such affection and care. Yes, it’s nostalgia. The lady sitting next to me and my pal saw the band in 1963 (they played in York four times that year). But it’s also life-affirming stuff. It will be a terrible day when McCartney and Ringo die. But the songs, lovingly staged here, will continue to ring out. Congratulations to the band members, crew and eight piece orchestra and keyboard player Max Langley, filling in the sound. This was a wonderful evening, and one of the best things I have seen in 2023.
The Bootleg Beatles performed at York Barbican on Wednesday 13 December 2023.