To reference an obscure fan club record from 1967 – and thus cement my bona fides as an insufferable Beatles nerd – Christmas time is here again. And, as per what is now a longstanding ritual, it’s that time of year when the faux Fab Four deliver to venues across the UK an impressively accurate and nostalgic echo of the biggest band in history. More than 55 years since John, Paul, George and Ringo called it a day, affection and interest in The Beatles doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
On the contrary, Peter Jackson’s wonderful Get Back documentary in 2021, a fourth anthology record released this year, along with Disney Plus’ recent refurb of the Anthology docuseries, suggest a new generation of fans will assure this fascination continues deep into the 21st Century.
Rather than the traditional show of yore – a chronological sprint through The Beatles’ full 1963-69 career – this current tour focuses on the group’s five strongest albums: Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (AKA The White Album) and Abbey Road.
Thus, we kick off with ‘Drive My Car’, and Miles Frizzel (ticking the authentic lefty box in his role as Paul McCartney) reassuringly delivers some decent Macca type harmonies at the chorus. There also appears to be a “fifth Beatle” in the Bootlegs’ world as an extra musician, a fully bald counterpoint to the be-wigged moptops, joins on keys and percussion throughout. Perhaps the most distinctive part of Beatle music are the three-way harmonies and, as evidenced in ‘Nowhere Man’, the Bootlegs pull this off rather adroitly.
“Where’s all the screaming, you’ve got to do your bit too”, says Paul Canning’s John as he evokes Beatlemania and gets a room full of not-quite-teens to issue some screams. This is before the always beautiful ‘In My Life’ wherein George Martin’s notorious, sped up keyboard solo is nailed impressively in real time by the extra band member.
More than a tribute act, the Bootlegs raison-d’être is to convince with the smaller details. Frizzel enacts McCartney’s swinging chirpiness when playing bass, Canning mimics Lennon’s bandy-legged guitar stance while Stephen Hill as Harrison lugubriously captures the Beatle nomenclature in later describing Revolver as a “gear record.” The metre and timbre of the real Beatles’ speaking voices are captured well, albeit with a slightly caricatured cartoon-ness.
‘Taxman’ is worth hearing just to witness Hill shred the song’s two guitar fizzing solos. Frizzel, who only joined the group in 2024, is the most impressive in terms of vocal mimicry; ‘Eleanor Rigby’, essentially a McCartney solo piece with the backing of a string quartet, provides some space wherein his Macca vocal shines through.
As ever with a Bootlegs show, there’s no shying away from interludes of cheesiness as Gordon Elsmore’s Ringo is given centre stage for ‘Yellow Submarine.’ There’s a resounding crowd sing and clap-along while the musicians on strings mime swimming motions during the chorus. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, by design a song that had no expectations to be played live, is taken on here with aplomb. Hill wields some sound pedal jiggery-pokery to capture the song’s backwards guitar, and the stringed instruments somehow imitate some of the more obtuse sounds effects.
The Sgt Pepper section is imbued with shorter haircuts, moustaches and the iconic pseudo-military jackets. The album’s title track is perhaps the first instance where Frizzel can’t quite capture the guttural bellow of McCartney’s rock voice. ‘Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite’ is a daunting prospect in the live forum; it’s an admirable effort, particularly in the use of brass, but sounds a tad empty during the circus and sawdust tape loop passages. Before ‘A Day in the Life’ – performed in a way that suggests that Pepper can be effectively captured live – there’s a shout out to a group of Pepper-uniformed pals up in the rafters.
These Bootlegs shows always serve as a light-hearted and fun celebration of the Beatles music and the festive period. There’s a familiar utilisation of bare-bones rocker ‘Birthday’ in dedication to a couple of people in the audience. There is also an occasional cabaret or panto type feel to proceedings; there’s a running gag about Ringo claiming royalties that falls mostly flat and, in intro to the compelling guitar showcase of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ there’s a reference to Eric Clapton running off with George’s wife and a corny joke referencing Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight.’
The final section includes ‘Because’ which once again displays a solid recapturing of John, Paul and George’s three-way harmonies. ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’ – dynamically performed here – are a reminder that Harrison had so blossomed as a songwriter he pretty much stole Abbey Road with just two contributions. During a snippet of the medley on side two of the album, Frizzel does well to deliver McCartney’s riveting vocal at the emotive height of ‘Golden Slumbers’.
The new format for this tour would suggest that we get to escape the cornball sighting of over two thousand people waving their arms and singing the interminable “nah-nah-na-na” refrain of ‘Hey Jude.’ However, lowest common-denominator popularity is a hard mistress and it appears as part of the encore. ‘Twist and Shout’ is a more impactful finish as Canning does well to emulate John’s larynx shredding vocal performance.
Musically and performatively accurate, with a sprinkling of cheesy festive cheer, it has, as ever, been another enjoyable pre-Christmas evening with The Bootleg Beatles.
Scott Hammond
