The Emporia Gazette

February 13, 2012

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On Thursday, the Beatles will invade Emporia.

Well, almost.

Paying homage to the groundbreaking Beatles invasion, four guys who comprise what Rolling Stone magazine has called “the best Beatles tribute band on earth” will recreate the experience of seeing a live performance from the band that forever changed the face of rock and roll music. They’ve played Carnegie Hall and toured the country, and now “1964: The Tribute” will play Albert Taylor Hall.

“The idea behind ‘1964: The Tribute’ is to show you what it was like to see a Beatles concert,” said Mark Benson, who portrays John Lennon. Along with Gary Grimes (Paul McCartney), Tom Work (George Harrison) and Terry Manfredi (Ringo Starr), Benson’s goal is to faithfully reproduce the Beatles as they were when they took America by storm in 1964. The four bandmates from Akron, Ohio, have worked out all the details, from the hair, the clothes and the sound all the way down to the Liverpudlian accents of the original Fab Four.

“It’s as much acting as it is musicianship,” Benson said. “We mimic not only the notes that are played but the style our particular characters played and how they moved onstage and interacted with the others.”

There are challenges to paying tribute to another band, Benson said. For one, the Beatles were young and relatively inexperienced musicians when they came to the United States. By comparison, the members of “1964: The Tribute” have been together since 1982 and play up to 140 shows per year.

“It’s an ongoing process,” Benson said. “Whether you’re a writer or a performer or a photographer or whatever, your natural tendency is to progress in some direction. Our challenge is to learn it a certain way and never change it.”

While the band strives for a faithful representation of the Beatles as they appeared in 1964, there are naturally some differences, especially in technology. Audiences for the original Beatles shows had to struggle to hear the band, as it was restricted by primitive sound systems. Members of the band had to contend with crowd noise, and often couldn’t hear themselves play. Modern technology allows for much better sound reproduction.

“We’re very fortunate that we can hear what we’re doing,” Benson said. “They couldn’t hear a thing, and it’s probably one of the biggest reasons they quit touring. ... There’s a lot less screaming at our shows, but we’re absolutely using technology to bring forth a good-sounding and good-looking show.”

The four band members came together in Akron after having played for various local bands. The idea of a Beatles tribute originally came about as something fun the four could do once a month or so, playing class reunions and such.

“We never intended this to be full-time,” Benson said. “We assumed, wrongly, that it was going to be a baby-boomer thing. We were totally wrong, and in our second year it just took off.”

The band discovered a larger audience when it became popular on college campuses, and since then the audience has grown to include people of all ages.

“Basically there is no demographic that is not included, from toddlers to grandparents,” Benson said.

If you go

WHEN

7:30 p.m. Thursday

WHERE

Albert Taylor Hall

COST

$25 adults, $15 under 18; a limited number of free tickets are available for ESU students at the Memorial Union. Tickets are available at the Sweet Granada, the Granada Coffee Co. or by calling the arts council at 343-6473.