A huge crowd showed lots of “love, love, love” to The Beatles tribute band Rain Tuesday night. Quite a few audience members were in what the band called the “20 and under” age group — a fitting commentary on the universal appeal of the music the lads from Liverpool created more than four decades ago.
Even a riot of color and motion graphics projected on screens did not distract from the music, itself. Sixties-era psychedelia, photos and film clips of the band, a medley of costume changes and even television commercials of the era only made the experience more true.
An announcement as the show was starting informed the audience that all the music performed that evening would be live and not pre-recorded. Musicians in the crowd can testify to that truth. Even the vocals were not technically enhanced, which lent a wonderful authenticity to the performance.
As the audience filtered into the H. Ric Luhrs Center for the Performing Arts, they were treated to music by many of the popular performers of the era. The curtains were replaced with a screen decorated with what looked like charcoal sketches of ’60’s images. Most of them connected to The Beatles, in particular.
Hardcore fans could even recognize the instruments the band played: Vox amps, Rickenbacker guitars, John’s Epiphone Casino guitar, a right-handed Hofner “Beatle” bass, because, after all, how many left-handed bass players who resemble Sir Paul are there, really?
The show started with the band in their British mod attire — dark suits with tight peg legs, playing “She Loves You” and “Please Please Me,” followed by many of their other early hits. Paul sang “Yesterday,” encouraging the crowd to sing along, and then the band took a break for a costume change.
When the stage lights came back up, the band was in their Shea Stadium look, still better dressed than almost every band since then. They wore suits with tan field jackets, slightly different hair, and performed “Help,” “Day Tripper” and Ferris Bueller’s favorite, “Twist and Shout.”
The band got the crowd to its feet to dance, and video cameras projected the audience up on the screen in the back of the stage.
Another costume change put the band in their Sergeant Pepper look, with longer wigs and mustaches. Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was The Beatles’ eighth studio album, and the band played many of that album’s hits, including the opening track, itself, followed by “With a Little Help From my Friends,” “Eleanor Rigby,” with stage graphics reminiscent of those by Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam, and “Lucy in the Sky.”
After a few more timeless hits, there was an intermission and another costume change. The band came back in their psychedelic-era look and played “All You Need is Love,” “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Strawberry Fields,” before changing instruments. John, Paul and George all picked up their acoustic guitars and played “Blackbird,” “Two of Us” and “In My Life,” before going electric, once again, for George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Another costume change took everyone to the Abbey Road era. “Come Together” (no, Aerosmith did not write that one), “Get Back” and “Revolution” continued to build the evening’s momentum, leading to the encores.
John played acoustic and sang “Give Peace a Chance,” asking the crowd to sing along. The evening ended with “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude,” and the band directed the audience in singing the “na na na nana na na” coda as the finale.
The timeless music of The Beatles continues to delight people and bring generations together. This was certainly evident during this performance. The influence of their music cannot be over-stated, fan or not. If you do not already have these songs on your phone, visit YouTube, and give a listen. They really do stand the test of time.

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