"1964"...The Tribute

Review 1964 The Tribute 2010 Carnegie Hall

LETTING IT BE”

“I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition”

John Lennon, January 30th 1969 Rooftop filming of “Let It Be”

Once more it’s freezing in New York, perhaps one of the coldest nights of the decade and again the huge crowds of ticket holders, scalpers and buyers have formed outside the Isaac Stern Auditorium for the Strut Productions Tenth Presentation of “1964…The Tribute”, Live at Carnegie Hall. And this privileged Liverpool ex-pat is here to review the band hailed by Rolling Stone Magazine as the “Best Beatle Tribute Band in the World”. This time the show is a somewhat different, more of a challenge for each of the performers because Gary Grimes, one of the founders of “1964…The Tribute”, who plays Paul McCartney is missing performing in the concert as he recovers from surgery and tonight Paul is being played by Todd Rainey.

Michigan based Todd is a Beatle fan from childhood and like Gary Grimes learned to play left handed bass to perfect his role as Paul McCartney. An accomplished musician, Todd was formerly with a Detroit based show named “Shout” and has also performed at Beatlefest in Chicago. After seeing “1964…The Tribute” in 1997, he was utterly thrilled to receive a call from Mark Benson, who plays John Lennon, asking that he fill in for Gary.

I must admit I was hoping that perhaps Sir Paul would play himself, incognito in period clothes and hairstyles with genuine vintage instruments this evening, and looking at the Beatle frenzy already building inside the auditorium one wonders if anyone would know the difference if he did? The crowd see by reading the program that one of their favorite performers is missing, but the wild cheers as the curtains open and the roars of welcome for the opening act clearly show that despite a depressing economy, raging wars and terrible weather, they are going to enjoy the show!

The promoter Mark Johnson (no relation to this writer) thanks the supporters and announces the opening act; acoustic guitar genius Pete Huttlinger and vocalist/songwriter Mollie Weaver. Their chilling rendition of Lennon and McCartney’s “A Day In The Life” and the so appropriate for Carnegie Hall “Con te Partiro’ – Time to Say Goodbye” leave the audience utterly spellbound. We are now suitably primed for this sentimental passage back to the year of 1964, when Liverpool’s beloved Beatles received the highest accolade any musician can have; performing at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

The audience revel as “1964...The Tribute” stride purposefully across the stage, resplendent in their authentic “Shea” Jackets and drainpipe trousers made specially by R.W.Lease Ltd. Russell Lease, Beatle fan extraordinaire, actually has the jacket worn by Paul McCartney at Shea Stadium and these outfits along with all the Beatle suits worn by “1964…The Tribute” are exact replicas of those worn by the Beatles.

The applause is deafening as they begin the show with the opening track from the Beatles first British album, “Please, Please Me”, released in 1963. The song, “I Saw Her Standing There” was released as the flip side of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and made the U.S. Billboard Top 100 in its own right in 1964. It is a McCartney lead vocal, written in his grammar school notebook while riding home from an early Silver Beatles performance, probably around 1957. Apparently the first line should have ended with the words “Beauty Queen” after the opening, “She was just seventeen”, but Lennon disagreed with McCartney’s assessment of the looks of the girl it was written for!

Todd Rainey who bears a striking resemblance to Sir Paul is clearly nervous but does McCartney proud. I notice someone else in the adjoining box singing right along with every note, pausing at all the right times and when he calls my name I realize it’s Gary Grimes for whom Todd is standing in. Gary is recuperating, looking great with a Hawaiian tan and is obviously very happy with the performance.

We’re all singing along to Beatles classics “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “From Me To You”. “Please, Please Me” and an amazing “Do You Want to Know A Secret” with lead vocals by Tom Work as George Harrison. Tom joined Mark Benson who plays John Lennon and Gary Grimes in 1984 to form the band having met Benson in the seventies. They sail into “All My Loving” and the brilliantly performed and heart breaking rendition of “This Boy”. As with every performance of this song the women of the audience simply go crazy as Mark Benson’s throaty plea, “Oh… and this boy would be happy just to love you,” fills the room. This time I’m a little fearful for the band’s safety as a few girls are seen approaching the stage screaming. It never fails to impress the fans!

But this show isn’t just for women in a time warp – it’s actually one of the only Beatle tribute bands living up to what the Beatles actually aspired to do. Or to simply, as John put it, “express what we all feel, not to tell people how to feel, not as a preacher, or leader but as a reflection,” and that is “1964...The Tribute’s” secret of success. They reflect the Beatles in song, appearance, accent and mannerisms; they echo the sheer joy of those early performances. These musicians love to work and their fans love to hear them.

Terry Manfredi’s performance of “Act Naturally” is given much more significance with “1964” than was the original Beatle recording, which was the “B” side of “Yesterday”. While it served as a showcase for Ringo then, he re-recorded it in 1989 with Buck Owens, who had the original Country and Western No. 1 hit in 1963. As I recall, Ringo Starr had a very “country” heart, as many Liverpudlians from the Toxteth area do, and it came as no surprise that he recorded this particular song. It could have been about him! Oddly enough, it was rather prophetic, as Ringo had several movie roles without the Beatles shortly after the record was released. Coincidently Terry, who learned to play drums as a child imitating Ringo, like his hero is also left-handed. He has been a session musician for many Nashville artists and he performed with Mark Benson and Gary Grimes in a band called “Mr.French” during the seventies, playing Eagles, Poco and Beatles top forty hits.

“1964’s” performance of the Beatle movie songs is incredible, from “Eight Days A Week” to my favorite, “A Hard Day’s Night” which features perhaps the most famous chord opening in the history of Rock ‘n Roll. I glance around at the second when Tom Work’s twelve string Rickenbacker captures that exact sound and the audience is looks otherworldly in obvious delight. Other musicians have of course unsuccessfully tried to duplicate the chord which was played on a combination of Lennon’s six string and Paul’s bass, but the original also had George Martin’s piano chord in “F” which was impossible to produce on a guitar. The chord now parsed out by mathematician Jason Brown has the mystery resolved and Tom Work, sans piano chord help is still undeniably fantastic. Mark Benson’s vocals are simply brilliant and the audience have become Beatlemaniacs in their response to “I Should Have Known Better”, Can’t Buy Me Love” and “We Can Work It Out” with Benson on keyboards. They close the first act with “I’m Down”, which the audience is certainly not!

Their second act opens with “Got To Get You Into my Life”, followed by “Long Tall Sally” which has me thinking about my renegade teenage visits to Liverpool’s Cavern Club and now there’s dancing in the aisles of Carnegie Hall to “Twist and Shout”, followed by “She’s A Woman”, which is pure Paul McCartney and Todd Rainey certainly is holding his own. A hush falls as Mark Benson informs the audience that they’ve been performing as “1964…The Tribute” for twenty-six years! When one considers the Beatles performed for much less than half of that time, this tribute band has had a lot of time to excel at their craft and it certainly shows; they are a much tighter band than the Beatles! But as they break into “For No One”, the audience is once again enthralled. This is spectacular! A fully orchestrated “Eleanor Rigby” introduction with the audience almost spinning in delight to “Say The Word” and it is such sheer genius that even Beatle arranger Sir George Martin would be proud. Their harmony is impeccable and I am stunned. When the bells slowly chime in remembrance of John and George, people around me are visibly crying!

The pace picks up for an “altogether now” - “Yellow Submarine” moment and an amazingly beautiful, almost Celtic inspired, “Hide Your Love Away” with accompanying tambourine and woodwind instruments, followed by “Yesterday”, “Help” and “Daytripper”. Then sadly, those in the know recognize the show’s end with “She Loves You”, and with that moment of conclusiveness as they sing the final “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”, I’m starting my own personal countdown until next year!

Mandy Johnson

Media Gallery / Tour Schedule / Blog / Store / Marquis / Links
Promoter's Access / Contact Info / About Us