The Fab Four

Beatles photo from 1963 Life.

Most of you know who I mean when I say the Fab Four. And if you are of a certain age you will definitely know that I'm talking about the Beatles. I was pretty young when they hit the scene in the US, but I remember the first time I heard of them. My oldest sister and her friend, Sandy, were very excited over the most recent issue of Life magazine. When I asked what they were looking at, they told me that it was the Beatles, and then went on with their excited conversation, ignoring me completely. However, talk of the Beatles was everywhere and it didn't take me long to figure out who they were. As I got a little older, I joined the frenzy and declared I was a Ringo person. I would walk around with my friends singing, "I love you (Ringo, John, Paul, George), oh yes I do. When you're not near to me, I'm blue, Oh, Ringo I love you."


Mind you I only knew a couple of their songs, "She Loves You, and "Hard Days Night" but that didn't mean that I didn't imitate my older sisters and go ga-ga over them. Several years later, I got to know their music and loved much of it. However, I never went to a Beatles concert. Even if I had been old enough, it seems their US tours didn't include rural West Virginia. But recently, I went to the next best thing.

During the concert, 1964 members wore long hair wigs.

Ward and I went to see the Beatles tribute band, 1964, last week.  According to the Rolling Stone, they are the best Beatles tribute band in the world. I don't know if that's true, but they did put on a very good show.  I had a fun evening singing along to the very familiar Beatles' songs. (Ward is not a sing-along type of guy. His job is to poke me when I get too loud.)

For a few days after the concert, we watched old Youtube videos of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show and other places. As it turns out, the members of 1964 had the stances, movements, and speech patterns down to a T.  And somehow, I think the current band members are probably better musicians that the Fab Four, but somehow still sounded just like them. That's talent.

Anyway, I thought later about how this was the perfect concert experience. I got to hear great songs. I mean, I actually got to hear them. As you may remember during the original concerts, there were so many screaming girls around, you couldn't hear much. Well, those screaming girls are all grown up now and would rather sing along than scream. So, I figure it may have been worth the 50 year wait to go to a "Beatles" concert.  I wonder if my sister is jealous? 🙂