The Beatles are the most successful band ever and you’d be very hard-pressed to find anyone who wasn’t a fan of those four lads from Liverpool, England.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison’s time as The Beatles only lasted one decade, but in that relatively short run they created enough music history that will be hard to be repeated by any band or solo artist again.
“The Beatles are the greatest musical relic in popular culture that will probably ever be,” said George Harrison impersonator and Beatnix band member, David Stanley.
“I think it would be impossible for any other artist or band to come close because of the way music is today. There are so many different styles and genres of music that people follow, where as in the ‘60s there was just one style of music – pop music – and that was it and everyone would listen to the same stuff.
“The Beatles were a unifying band and were a voice of a generation. The ‘60s were a different time. They were around with the counter-culture and the whole hippy and social movement, it was such a time of change and The Beatles symbolised all that and nothing like that, I imagine, could ever happen through music again.”
On Saturday night (April 14) Rooty Hill RSL is set to turn back the clock and welcome experienced Beatles tribute band, The Beatnix, to the stage.
The Beatnix formed in February 1980, 10 months before the death of John Lennon, and have been touring the Australian and world stages for more than 30 years, delivering fans of The Beatles an authentic experience.
David said fans who head to the Rooty Hill RSL gig this weekend can expect everything they know and love about the ‘Fab Four’.
“We split the 90 minute show into two parts in which we explore the two different sides of the band,” he said.
“The first half captures the excitement and atmosphere of The Beatles’ early concerts. We feature all the classic instruments and the typical ‘60s period outfits and play such hits as ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘A Hard Days Night’ and ‘She Loves You’.
“In the second part of the show we dress up in Sgt Peppers costumes and it gets all colourful and psychedelic and we do the later Beatles hits like ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Come Together’.”
On an average night, The Beatnix can cover close to 40 different Beatles classics from their diverse and chart-topping back catalogue.
David said he loves to perform the later years of The Beatles.
“I prefer the later years of The Beatles because I guess it’s more sophisticated, but the only difficulty is I think crowds enjoy the early years more because the songs are better to dance to,” he said.
Just like when ‘Beatlemania’ swept through the world during the ‘60s, fans of The Beatnix love the vibe David and the rest of the band replicate – they even get out of their seats during shows to dance and sing along.
“A lot of times people that come to our shows want to rock and get crazy and so we try and get the crowd involved as much as possible,” David said.
“People always know the words as well, so we always get them to sing and clap along. ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Twist and Shout’ are the stand out songs that the crowd react to the most.”
In case anyone missed it, The Beatles, who formed in the English city of Liverpool in 1960, are one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in pop music history.
John, Paul, Ringo and George, the ‘Fab Four’ as they were commonly known, went on to become the best-selling band in history, with estimated sales of more than one billion units.
They have had more number one albums on the UK charts and have held the top spot longer than any other musical act. In the United States, they have sold more albums than any other artist.
The Beatles broke up after 10 years in 1970 with the ex-band members going on to pursue successful solo careers.
In 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York apartment and in 2001 George Harrison died of cancer. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still out on the touring circuit and releasing albums.
Fortunately for fans of The Beatles there are enough tribute bands out there that continue to keep the music alive – The Beatnix being one of the most successful and longest running.
“I think we are so successful because while The Beatnix show has been around for more than 30 years, the line-up has changed during that period keeping the sound fresh and everyone’s mood on a high level,” David said.
Another exciting aspect that stands this Beatles show apart from the rest is their fully authentic range of musical instruments, identical to those used by The Beatles.
David said using the exact instruments The Beatles would have used in their performances allows them to replicate that iconic sound just perfectly.
“We use very genuine amplifiers, guitars and drum kits, so it’s all very authentic to how The Beatles would have sounded if you would’ve saw them live back in the day,” he said.
