Re: [bomp] Beatles tribute acts

["Immortal Porpoises" <immortalporpoises@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Last month a band called Strawberry Fields came to the Ulster County Fair. I
saw them because I sit there half a day for several days in case something
catches on fire (everyone signs up for the tractor pull shift), and
Strawberry Fields accidentally was on one of my shifts, to which I had also
brought my 3 year old daughter. It was actually she who said "I hear the
Beatles" and prompted me to take a look.

(Disclaimer -- I'd seen the original Beatlemania on Broadway three times,
once out of curiousity and the other two times because somebody kept sending
free tickets to my high school, and I was one of like three out of 5000 kids
who weren't all "Saturday Night Fever."  And I sort of liked it -- it was
kind of like the New York Experience with toy Beatles in it).

Anyway, back to the saga.  My kids watch Yellow Submarine all the time, they
listen to the Beatles, so I had to tell the 3 year old repeatedly that these
were not the real Beatles, but we were really having fun. The part that made
me realize this whole thing was definitely OK was that just to our left was
a girl of around 14 or 15 sitting next to her mom (mom obviously a Beatles
fan, singing along, sitting just far enough away to give her daughter the
proper adolescent security distance from Mom), really getting lost in this
act, she had to go with her mom because none of her friends would ever do
anything this dorky, and she was singing every word to herself, not out
loud -- undoubtedly her mom had Beatles records on all the time while she
was growing up -- and just really letting herself enjoy the show, and
herself, without any embarrassment or excuses. And I started dancing with my
three year old, and I was realizing that in 10 years I'm going to be up on
that rickety wooden grandstand with my New Paltz Fire Department T-shirt on,
about fifteen feet away from one or more of my daughters, watching some
Beatles tribute band, and I realized that this was all perfectly fine.

Strawberry Fields was excellent. Very professional. They really got all the
sounds and arrangements just right for a live act (which is amazing,
considering that the Beatles never played 75% of the stuff live). They
followed the routine I've seen before, going all the way back to Beatlemania
itself. Bangs, boots, and suits for the first half, beards and drum major
suits for the second half. Sort of like a live version of the Red and Blue
double-album singles collections we all bought at some point in the '70's.

Go for it. Let down your guard and have a good time. You wouldn't have been
able to hear a thing at a real Beatles show.

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