Musicians rock rooftop with Beatles music
A group of young musicians have taken live music to another level - the rooftop to be exact.
New Plymouth band The Blistered Fingers and a collaboration of other musicians from around the city came together on Saturday to perform on the roof of Chaos Cafe on Brougham St, as a hat tip to The Beatles’ iconic rooftop performance in 1969.
The group performed to a surprised public on the city’s main downtown intersection, with dozens stopping to look up and listen to a few of the classics.
The five-song set was a teaser of their The Beatles: Re-Imagined show at the TSB Showplace next Saturday.
The Blistered Fingers bassist Jimmy Hick said they were always looking for ways to do something new that made their music stand out.
‘‘When you’re in a town like New Plymouth, which is pretty small, you have to break the barrier a bit to stand out and do something different,’’ Hick said.
‘‘Playing music in a public place, whether its busking or street performance you get people gathering around.’’
Waru Hetet, 19, along with The Blistered Fingers guitarist and vocalist Karl Raubenheimer, arranged the music for the show, picking 30 songs to tackle out of a possible 400, Hetet said.
‘‘We’re putting it into our own style, funking it up a bit,’’ he said.
While it was a little nerveracking to play some of modern music’s classics, it was good for a younger generation to hear more than just the music being created today, Hetet said.
Raubenheimer said rehearsing The Beatles’ songs for the last two months had given them all a new appreciation for how intricate the songs were musically.
‘‘It’s a lot less chaotic this time around. The Beatles are kind of easy to sell, you know, because they’re awesome.’’
R’n’B cover group NVST were called in to be backing vocalists for the show. On Saturday Nerissa Leef said singing The Beatles’ songs was completely out of their comfort zone as a group, but they were excited to be a part of something so totally different.
‘‘Like who does this? Who does this?’’ she asked. ‘‘It needs to happen more.’’ Out of the ordinary performances were always the most memorable ones for them and performing The Beatles on a rooftop in the sunshine was something you remember forever, she said. ❚ The Beatles: Re-Imagined is at the TSB Showplace in New Plymouth on October 29, starting from 8pm. Tickets cost $48.50 and are available through Ticketek.