About
Don’t miss the international musical sensation jam-packed with over forty of The Beatles’ greatesthits. Relive The Beatles’ meteoric rise from their humble beginnings in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, through the heights of Beatlemania, to their later studio masterpieces, with live performances of early tracks including Twist and Shout, She Loves You and Drive My Car, as well as global mega-hits Yesterday, Hey Jude, Come Together and, of course, Let It Be. Travel back to the magical sixties when all you needed was love, and a little help from your friends!
No one could have predicted the profound and lasting impact of The Beatles. The band’s marked influence in music, film, art, fashion, spirituality, politics and literature leaves few areas of modern society untouched by their reach. Though their time together was relatively short, in that time they were able to produce a massive catalog of studio albums, soundtracks, live recordings, and films, not to mention their individual works, that would influence and inspire generations to come.
While The Beatles followed in the footsteps of American rock royalty like Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, all classified by the “Fab Four” as major influences on their music (Buddy Holly was the very reason John and Paul each picked up a guitar and Holly’s band, The Crickets, was the inspiration for their own name), the band found their own sound, and considerable success, at home in Liverpool. Though they had played hundreds of shows at the famous Cavern Club, legendary gigs in Hamburg, and even played for the Queen, early in their career The Beatles had yet to find the same success across the pond. With the final line up of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in place, plans were made for The Beatles to come to America. After an unprecedented $40,000 was spent on a marketing campaign to promote their stateside arrival, 3,000 screaming fans welcomed The Beatles in New York on February 7, 1964. Two days later they made the first of two appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," broadcast to 73 million people in 23 million households across the country. From this point on, The Beatles, with their signature mop-top hairstyles and matching suits, were a household name.
Hot on the heels of their American debut, manager Brian Epstein signed the band to a three-motion-picture deal with United Artists Records, and production began on the first of those films to be released in advance of their first U.S. tour slated to begin later that year. A Hard Day’s Night, a mockumentary following the band as they prepare for a concert, was released in the summer of 1964. The film was both a commercial and creative success, earning the band their first Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Group (they also won Best New Artist that same year). Before this time, record companies would produce low-quality film jukeboxes called “soundies” to promote singles. Hard Day’s, a feature-length film with a script and plot, expanded that effort and featured essentially what we now know as the modern music video, with quick cuts, impressive photography and high production values. The band went on to produce and star in other films, live performance videos and documentaries with varying commercial and artistic success, each helping to shape the relationship between popular music and filmmaking.
Together with long-time producer and Parlophone A&R rep George Martin (often referred to as the fifth Beatle), The Beatles changed the sound of rock n’ roll. A classically trained musician himself, Martin guided the band as they developed as songwriters, notably adding orchestral instrumentation to “Yesterday” and working with tape loops, altered speed recording, backward playback and editing in the group’s later psychedelic masterpieces, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The experimentation encouraged by Martin and powerful songwriting by John and Paul was a major influence on The Beach Boys as well as future music icons including Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, Heart, Billy Joel, Nirvana and countless others.
The Beatles continue to influence and inspire new generations and in new formats including musical theatre. Let It Be – A Celebration of the Music of The Beatles debuted in London’s West End in 2012 before opening on Broadway the following year. Seen by over two million people worldwide, the production spans The Beatles’ career, featuring over forty of their hits. It’s the live concert you always want to see!