‘Bootleg Beatles’ to surprise Pinoy fans
There are hundreds of Beatles tribute bands all over the world and they’ve kept the Mersey sound alive for over six decades. Impersonators from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Australia, Canada, Slovakia, Italy, Brazil, Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, the US and England continue to perform in sold-out Beatles shows that relive the songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr before fans of all ages.
Arguably the premier Beatles tribute band is the Bootleg Beatles, formed in 1980 and in demand for concerts around the globe. They’ve performed in over 4,000 shows and in the Philippines thrice — in 1983, 1987 and 2014. And the English band will be back for a series of concerts at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila, on July 12, the SMX Convention Center in Davao on July 15 and the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu on July 16.
Returning to Manila from the 2014 gig are Steve White as McCartney and Adam Hastings as Lennon. They’ll be joined by Stephen Hill as Harrison and Gordon Elsmore as Starr.
“We’re excited to perform in the Philippines,” said White in an overseas phone interview from his English home. “What I remember about the Filipino audience is they’re so into Beatles music. I felt the love for the Beatles. It was my first visit in 2014 and I found Filipinos to be friendly, helpful and appreciative of the Beatles music with a positive attitude and vibe. Adam and I are looking forward to our next visit and we’re thrilled to introduce Stephen and Gordon to the wonderful country.”
White hesitated to disclose what’s in store for the Filipino fans. In 2014, the band unraveled a 28-song repertoire performed over three segments of the Beatles career — the early Fab Four stage, the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band era and the so-called Later Years. For each segment, the Bootleg Beatles put on different costumes. They even had hairpieces each costing the equivalent of P140,000. The set list included A Hard Day’s Night, She Loves You, All My Loving, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, Can’t Buy Me Love, With A Little Help From My Friends, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love, Come Together, Get Back, Here Comes The Sun, Hey Jude and Let It Be. “We’ve got a surprise for everyone,” said White. “We didn’t sing some very popular Beatles songs in the Philippines the last time and we’re working on some changes. At the moment, we’re still finalizing our set list. We usually do four costume changes but for foreign shows, we do three because of the cost of transporting all the stuff over. But who knows? Maybe, we’ll do four. We’ll bring along 10 to 12 guitars, including the exact replicas of what the Beatles used, Paul’s Hofner bass, George’s Gretsch lead guitar and John’s Rickenbacker rhythm guitar. We’ve also got a Ludwig drum kit like Ringo’s.”
White said he owns a 1964 Hofner bass and a McCartney signature Rickenbacker bass. “I’m a natural righthander but I learned to play with my left to imitate Paul,” he said. “For years, I’ve studied Paul’s movements, his style of speaking, his accent. It’s an ongoing thing. I continue to watch his videos, his body language, his mannerisms hoping to improve my impersonation. I used to perform with a ‘60s cover band and we did Beatles songs. More and more fans wanted us to do Beatles music so we evolved into a tribute band. I was formerly John but because I look more like Paul, I moved to bass and learned to play left-handed. It was a difficult transition but as time went by, I got used to it.”
White said his favorite Beatles song is Ticket To Ride which wasn’t sung here in 2014 but may make it to the set list of the coming shows. “I won’t say what’s on and what’s not,” he said. “But I particularly like Ticket To Ride because it signaled the transformation of the Beatles music from teenage pop to a selfindulgent, experimental style. Maybe, we’ll sing it in our coming visit.” Other favorites that weren’t in the 2014 set list include From Me To You, Yellow Submarine, Something, Paperback Writer, Please Please Me, Long and Winding Road, Love Me Do and Please Mr. Postman. If fans were blown away by the witty Beatlesque remarks in 2014, White said the lines should be even more engaging in the return shows. “Nothing is written in a script,” he said. “Everything comes spontaneously so sometimes, we’re even surprised by what we say. We’ll talk like the Beatles, act like the Beatles and of course, sing like the Beatles.”
White said imitating the Beatles is a challenge. “All the Beatles songs are difficult to perform, even the early three-chord songs,” he said. “That’s because you want to replicate the interpretation, you want to be accurate. The songs from the Abbey Road album are particularly tricky. Occasionally, we do songs from the post-Beatles era like My
Sweet Lord, Imagine and Mull of Kintyre which we did in Scotland with the two bagpipe players in the original recording. They would be one-offs and aren’t in our usual set list.”
As for his most memorable concerts, White said it had to be the gig in
Mongolia about three years ago. “It was an incredible experience,” he said. “We performed in an outdoor market area on a big stage and there were about 15,000 people. They don’t speak English much in Mongolia but what was amazing was the audience sang to every Beatles song. We’ve also performed at the Buckingham Palace and the Royal Albert Hall. Next week, we’ll be rubbing elbows with some of the top bands of today and years gone by at the biggest greenfield festival in the world, the Glastonbury Music Festival. It’ll be our fourth performance at the festival.”
Recruiting the performers for the Bootleg Beatles is a tedious process. “You’ve got to be an accomplished musician and an actor, too,” he said. “It helps if you look like the Beatle you’re impersonating but that’s not the priority which is you’ve got to be a professional, competent and confident performer. You’ve got to be able to play your instrument at a high level and you’ve got to be able to sing like the Beatles. You’ve got to be believable as a Beatle.”
The Bootleg Beatles are booked solid until next year. After Manila, they do gigs in the UK, Norway, Australia, Singapore and Denmark. A highlight of next year’s agenda is a four-show series in London, Liverpool twice and Birmingham celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Sgt. Pepper’s album backed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. White said tickets were sold out for the series in minutes.
Wherever they perform, the Bootleg Beatles draw rave reviews. The Daily Mail of London described the show as “absolutely authentic” with “mind-boggling accuracy.” The Sunday Times said the band is “frighteningly real.” The Beatles original producer Sir George Martin said they do a “terrific show.” Harrison said the bootleg version probably knows the Beatles chords better than the Beatles. McCartney was so impressed that he encouraged the band to record its own music.
White said the Bootleg Beatles won’t ever make an album of Beatles songs. “If you want to listen to Beatles music, get the real thing,” he said. “We do our best to relive the Beatles on stage, nothing more. It’s our tribute to the best band of all time in the world.”