Beatles tribute band to perform Saturday
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MARSHALL -- More than 60 years ago, the Beatles first appeared before an American audience on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
A Hard Days Night Beatles Tribute Band plans to bring that same energy to Marshall on Saturday.
The group will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts at Marshall High School. The concert is being presented by the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council.
Joe Covert, one of the founding members of the tribute band, said they're ready to take the stage.
"We're really looking forward to coming to Marshall," Covert said.
Covert said A Hard Day's Night formed in 2006. He is the last founding member, and says he still "has that energy."
"This band has hung together for 20 years," said Covert.
The current line-up for A Hard Days Night is Covert (Paul McCartney) on bass, Jeff Boxell (John Lennon) on guitar, Aron Helm (George Harrison) on guitar and Kevin Fransen (Ringo Starr) playing drums.
"We're very good friends, we're really tight," Covert said.
How A Hard Days Night got started, Covert said, was a love for the music.
"We were a group of rabid Beatles fans," Covert said of the band's members.
Covert said he grew up in a musical family and remembered his older siblings having Beatles records.
"That's what turned me on to the music," Covert said.
All of the members of A Hard Days Night have extensive experience in the music business.
"It's one of the hardest tributes to emulate," Covert said about performing Beatles music.
What Covert takes the most pride in is the group is 100 percent authentic, just like the Beatles would have done in the 1960s, he said.
And that includes what the group's members wear during the show. Covert said they'll open their performance with what the Beatles wore when they appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show" on Feb. 9, 1964.
"An estimated 73 million viewers watched that performance," he said. "People remember those suits."
For the second set, the band will wear the colorful Sergeant Pepper suits.
"Rolling Stone magazine called 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' the greatest album ever recorded," Covert said. "Everybody remembers those colorful suits on the cover of the record."
"I think people appreciate the costumes and the fact that we are in character," Covert added. "The audience can feel the energy of the performers. We are all good friends and we love the music. The audience can feel that we are not there for the money. We are there because of the joy in the music."
"Paul and Ringo were the "happy" Beatles," Covert added. "They were smiling and they loved the art of live performance. John was rebellious and sharp-witted. George was introspective and spiritual. We try to reflect the personalities of the characters. The costumes are a part of that."
Covert said he thinks the majority of their fans love the entire Beatles catalog like they do.
"It would be hard to pick individual songs," he said. "Every song on the list is a winner. We have more number one hits on the list than any other tribute." Some of the songs they perform include A Hard Day’s Night, Ticket To Ride, Eight Days A Week, Twist And Shout, I Saw Her Standing There, With A Little Help From My Friends, Nowhere Man and Yellow Submarine.
Covert said the band enjoys performing the Fab Four around the Midwest.
"We have so much fun with it," Covert said about the group's performance. "And the audience will see it."
Tickets are available at Hy-Vee, MAFAC and at the door.