Cavern Beatles

There aren’t many people who can’t say they don’t like the Beatles.  Maybe it’s one particular era in their evolving career, maybe it’s just a couple of songs, but judging by the healthy turn out at the Brunton Theatre, a lovely seaside theatre just a short hope and skip out of Edinburgh in Musselburgh, there are plenty of people keen to enjoy a good night out to hear some of the classic songs of the fab four.

Anybody wishing to see the band perform the early tunes these days will be used to looking at grainy black and white footage and it was eerily familiar that the boys stepped onto the stage for the first time into a sepia tinted stage glow, akin to the old films recorded for posterity.  Here we see an early incarnation with the gents sporting the classic grey suits with the mop top hair styles and the crowd are soon up for the early hits such as I want to Hold your Hand, She Loves You, and Love Me Do. Immediately it is noticeable this is a band not just containing members who can perform as the Beatles, but seriously good musicians who crank up the sound and steadfastly recreate the feel-good vibe first felt by these tunes incredibly over fifty years ago.

During the course of the night we move through the Beatles career:  There is a slightly more relaxed suits with no tie vibe for the Help! period with ‘John’ faithfully replicating Mr. Lennon’s headwear of the time.  The interval allows for the metamorphosis of the bands flower power experimentations as the four appear in full Sergeant Pepper regalia, glowing military suits and longer hair, before we move into the more relaxed look from the latter years of the band.  It’s here that the individual members really get the opportunity to show their full talents. ‘George’ delivers an utterly beautiful individual acoustic of While My Guitar Gently Weeps and ‘Paul’ offers a finale on the keyboards with an audience sing-along version of Hey Jude.  

Two hours of a fantastically talented band faithfully and enthusiastically recreating arguably the greatest band that ever lived.  What’s not to like?