Arts

Review: ASO Plays The Beatles

CMT-PolizeiThis review was written by Guest Contributor Laura Day and was taken from her blog http://journal-isms.blogspot.com.

It was in 1964 when The Beatles landed at Adelaide Airport. A third of the city’s population lined the streets for a glimpse of the Fab Four’s motorcade, throwing rose petals at their car. It comes then as no surprise that today, 46 years on, the opportunity to relive those distant memories and indulge in this genius take on The Beatles was to be so popular here in Adelaide.

Celebrating 20 of the most emotional, uplifting and enduringly catchy tunes from the four lads from Liverpool, ASO Plays The Beatles drew in a 2-night sell-out crowd, all ready to be taken back to the Beatlemania of the 60’s and 70’s.

The four Beatlemania veterans (Jim Owen (John Lennon) Tony Kishman (Paul McCartney) John Brosnan (George Harrison) and Chris Camilleri (Ringo Starr) ) who make up tribute band Classical Mystery Tour, opened the set with ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’. Holding back the introduction of the orchestra from the immediate start only built the anticipation of the grandeur to come.

So what better classic for introducing the symphonic sound than with the strong-on-strings and haunting melody of ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Sounding incredibly accurate to the recorded version down to the very tone, gave an eerily authentic feel to the performance. The anthemic ‘All You Need Is Love’ gave the brass section their chance to shine, and the reminiscent ‘Penny Lane’ showcased the trumpet section with a solo.

Moving into the Sgt. Pepper phase not only brought a change in era, but a change in costume. The four donned their day-glo military outfits with style, adopting the era with ease. When the ever recognisable solemn intro to ‘A Day In The Life’ began, you’d have been forgiven for thinking the show was over due to the climactic and book-end nature of the song. Anticipating the almost uncomfortable crescendo of strings was fantastic, but unfortunately, the ASO seemed like they hadn’t been turned up quite loud enough when it became clear that the sound was not as surround as the band themselves.

The second half brought in some of solo written material, including ‘Imagine’, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and Paul McCartney’s ‘The Long and Winding Road’, where live strings heightened these poignant numbers.

If there could be one stand out track from tonight’s performance, it would be ‘Live and Let Die’, which, ironically, is not even a Beatles track, but its inclusion was superbly fitting to the orchestral backup.

The audience couldn’t get enough of the feat, especially when ‘All you Need Is Love’, ‘Hello Goodbye’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ were brought to the stage. By the final two songs, every patron was up on their feet, clapping and singing along to ‘Hey Jude’, this time, with no orchestral backing. Despite the occasional feeling that the orchestra could have been used more, this was still a special performance that took the best of The Beatles’ scored melodies and gave them a live showcasing that no one could forget.

Read Laura’s blog here: http://journal-isms.blogspot.com

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