JOHN LENNON PLAYING PAUL McCARTNEY'S HOFNER BASS!? A Unique Treat From The Complete Beatles Experience

Last Saturday, I got a real kick out of seeing John Lennon pick-up Paul's signature Hofner bass as they performed 'Hey Jude'. This, for me, was a unique twist showcased by a Beatles' tribute band called 'Britain's Finest', who came to Manila and brought their 'Complete Beatles Experience' tour at the Solaire Theater Resort and Casino last October 17, 2015.

 

Tribute bands are expected to stay faithful to the look, sound, personality of the band that they pay homage to, and even to the instruments that they play. That's what they're expected to do-- to recapture and relive the memory of yesteryears.  Anything that veers away from 'the original' may be considered 'sacrilegious', so to speak by their hard core fans.

Not the case for me.  I never imagined John Lennon trading bass guitar duties with Paul, thus it was a refreshing treat to see this scenario happening onstage, even though it was just an act from Beatle impersonators.  I've seen the real Paul sing Lennon songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Help", and "Give Peace A Chance". And also sing George's "Something".  But it all happened after his mates have all gone to rock n' roll heaven.  I couldn't exactly put a pin down to what I felt, but I could sense a tinge of wishful thinking and maybe a little bit of sadness.  The fact that it is no longer possible for John  to return the favor by singing 'Band On The Run'(which John says is one of the best songs Paul has ever written) or George adding a Sitar flavor to 'Ebony and Ivory'. 

Now about the show... 

For a true-blue Beatle fan like yours truly, I think the show did not quite live up to its title of  'The Complete Beatles Experience'. Yes, they sang 'the hits' but there could have been more...yet I understand that from a musical director's point of view, one can bring up the argument --how can one squeeze-in all the hit songs from the depth and breadth of The Beatles' catalogue in a 2-hour concert?

Well, I say that the show was rather 'incomplete' because its setlist was geared towards the 'Paul McCartney' repertoire; meaning, the Beatles songs that had more of Paul singing lead. I was also looking for the 'John' side, with songs like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand","In My Life","Ticket To Ride","Strawberry Fields Forever"... I also missed the Lennon-McCartney signature vocal harmonies in songs like "If I Fell","This Boy", "Drive My Car"...I was also looking for more of the band's 'anthems' like "All You Need Is Love", "A Day In The Life","Let It Be","Come Together",and expected the end to end with "The End".

Don't get me wrong.  I don't think that the show was a let-down.  One of its high points was the overall feel good vibe that the band members radiated towards the audience.  In particular, hats-off to Benjamin Chadwick, who played Paul McCartney. The timbre of  his voice was closest to Paul. You could tell that his voice that night was not in tip-top shape because it was kinda hoarse maybe due to a cough or cold, but I could hear a very close semblance to Paul's voice. And true to his Paul's character, he effortlessly put on and wore the 'cute Beatle' hat and did his McCartney-esque spiels quiet well, adding-on 'maraming salamat' and 'mahal ko kayo'. And yes, Chadwick played left-handed bass too! But I think he missed one crucial McCartney-classic spiel, and that is when Paul introduces a song, he always says: "We'd like to carry-on with the song...".  Oh well, that's just the stickler Bealte-fan in me...

I also flipped over how Robert Bielma, the guy who played George, gave this 'quiet Beatle' a voice.  Perhaps if we could get into the real George Harrison's head at the height of Beatlemania, he was probably thinking the same thing.  In one of Bielma's spiels, he said that George is not really the quiet one.  With John and Paul yapping and dominating press interviews, George just chose to keep quiet, hence he was now baptised as 'the quiet Beatle'.  There were also parts where Bielma jokingly mentioned that Lennon-McCartney also dominated songwriting contributions and earns millions of dollars from it.  I think the real George Harrison carried this sentiment because it's a known fact that he got an unspoken one-song contribution per album, and that his other compositions were put aside to make way for the dynamic duo.

Britain's Finest also took time after the show for a meet-and-greet with Beatle fans.  They gamely posed for pictures, and  this hippie-mom and son Ram Cartney, were lucky to exchange wacky peace signs with the fab four of Britain's Finest.

special thanks:  Espie Eusebio and the Boardworks Media team
photos: (c) Ram Cartney Cortez