Beatles tribute comes to town
Published 9:16 pm Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Forty years after the Beatles recorded their last album, fans still can’t get enough of the English rock band from Liverpool.
And, for those who can’t get enough, there’s “Yesterday and Today.”
The Las Vegas-based band has been performing the Beatles since 1986, nationally and internationally. On Thursday night, “Yesterday and Today Beatles Tribute” will unleash its Beatle-mania magic at 7 p.m. at the Claudia Crosby Theater on the campus of Troy University.
“Yesterday and Today” is a national touring act that usually performs in coliseums and fine arts centers, so we are lucky to get them,” said John Jinright, presenter chair for the sponsoring Troy Arts Council. “We were able to get them between stops in Jacksonville, Fla., and Shreveport, La. The band’s next stops will be in Oklahoma and Nebraska.”
Jinright said the Beatles Review will be different from other concerts in that the audience will “program” the show.
“Almost everyone has a Beatles’ song that has touched their lives,” he said. “The Beatles’ music is the soundtrack to many lives.
“As people enter the theater, we will have a song table set up and everyone will be invited to request a song and give the reason for that request. Those requests and reasons will make up much of the plot of the evening. It’s an interactive show, and it’s all right to sing and dance in the aisles.”
However, Jinright said people should not come expecting to see “the Beatles.” “The band members don’t dress like the Beatles or talk with fake English accents,” he said. “But they do share stories about the songs and about important ‘Beatle” moments that have touched their lives.”
The Beatles’ were the biggest band of the 1960s and are still one of the top selling bands of the current decade.
The four professional musicians who comprise “Yesterday and Today” are veterans of many other tribute acts including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Monkees, the Beach Boys and the Kinks. However, it was the Beatles who originally inspired each of them to make music their careers.
The “Yesterday and Today Beatles Tribute” is sponsored by the Troy Arts Council with support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Troy University.
Tickets will be available at the door and are $20 for adults and $5 for students, including Troy University students with IDs.