Whether or not you were actually part of the 1960s, if you are a Beatles fan or, well, obsessed like some of us, then consider heading down to the Music Center at Strathmore tonight for Rain: The Beatles Experience, a tribute band that takes its audience on a trip down memory lane to a time when four lads from Liverpool tried to show the world that there’s nothing funny about peace, love and understanding.
The band consists of look/sound-alikes Steve Landes (John), Joey Curatolo (Paul), Joe Bithorn (George), Ralph Castelli (Ringo), and Mark Lewis (backline keyboard). Complete with costume changes to reflect the different periods of the Beatles, the band plays note-for-note reproductions of the recordings. Along with the music, the show features screens showing projections of Rain’s members re-enacting classic Beatles clips, photo montages, and period footage during the set changes. The latter proved to be the most amusing and featured vintage clips such as a classic Winston cigarette commercial starring The Flintstones.
Last night’s performance began with an Ed Sullivan lookalike introducing the band as it launched into “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “All My Loving.” The first set went on to include “Yesterday,” “Day Tripper,” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” The second set included much of the Sgt. Pepper’s album, hidden gems like “Mother Nature’s Son,” “Revolution,” and the show closed with a rousing sing along on the “Na Na Na” outro to “Hey Jude.” With a catalog as deep as that of The Beatles, one can expect some songs to be left out, so we missed classics such as “Let it Be” and “Here Comes the Sun.”
The crowd was mainly made up of middle-age folks seeking a bit of nostalgia, but there were a significant number of young people in the audience, some very young, who also knew every lyric. While a tribute show may not be the highest artistic achievement, Rain makes for a fun night out for those who just feel like singing along to all those great songs, and it might be even more fun if you take your parents with you.
Rain: The Beatles Experience performs tonight at Strathmore at 8 p.m. Tickets are available here and directions are available here. As of this writing, there are only a few tickets left.
