{"id":307982,"date":"2025-12-10T01:23:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/307982\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T01:23:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:23:18","slug":"the-bootleg-beatles-knock-it-out-of-the-park-with-five-albums-and-a-new-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/307982\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Beatles knock it out of the park with five albums and a new Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bootlegs tackled The Beatles\u2019 studio era in an ambitious show\"TheThe Bootleg Beatles perform ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ at Liverpool’s Philharmonic(Image: Morgan King)<\/p>\n

What would a Beatles<\/a> gig have been like had they continued touring into their more experimental era? It is one of those somewhat flabbergasting facts that The Beatles, for all of their legend, only toured with their iconic lineup – John<\/a>, Paul<\/a>, George<\/a> and Ringo<\/a> – for four years from 1962-66.<\/p>\n

By contrast, The Bootleg Beatles<\/a> are now into their 46th year of touring. After multiple lineups and Glastonbury<\/a> sets, they returned on Sunday to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall<\/a> to try and answer that question once and for all.<\/p>\n

The set was a treat for any Beatle-lover, two hours, 34 songs and five (abridged) albums passing by in the blink of an eye, all creatively contextualised by interludes featuring music that influenced the making of each album – allowing the band time to get through some costume changes.<\/p>\n

First taking to the stage dressed to the nines in Merseybeat suits and moptop wigs, the Bootlegs threw us straight into the action with Drive My Car. Miles Frizzell, the most recent addition to the lineup, was electric as Paul McCartney, absolutely nailing the vocal impression and capturing Macca\u2019s cadence and movement perfectly as he introduced the band.<\/p>\n

Frizzell is a star turn at only 21-years-old and pulled no punches here, his gurning as he stretched through McCartney\u2019s wandering basslines adding a whole extra dimension to his transformation.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Bootleg Beatles perform ‘Mother Nature’s Son'(Image: Morgan King)<\/p>\n

Paul Canning, who joined last year, didn\u2019t have to wait long for the spotlight as he emulated John Lennon\u2019s vocal style down to a tee for Nowhere Man. The guitar tones on this number really popped, every texture mimicking the album flawlessly.<\/p>\n

All My Life was a predictable crowdpleaser, receiving rapturous applause after an earnest vocal performance complemented by black and white photos of Liverpool life in the post-war period.<\/p>\n

I caught a few people in the house nodding and smiling along, no doubt reflecting on some of their own memories. There is something truly timeless about this song and its appeal, and Canning\u2019s vocals reached the plaintive heights of Lennon\u2019s original to transport the audience into a nostalgia-fuelled haze.<\/p>\n

After a subtle costume change introducing red shirts and ties with green lapels, the Bootlegs flew into Revolver with Taxman. Eleanor Rigby provided the first opportunity for the string section of the Bootleg Orchestra to flex their muscles, and Yellow Submarine had the whole house joining in with Gordon Elsmore\u2019s Ringo for his first of three numbers as lead singer.<\/p>\n

Elsmore introduced the mind-melting Tomorrow Never Knows with the cheeky anecdote that it had originally been named \u201cThe Void\u201d and he was probably due a royalty for the name change. This performance was a triumphant display of power, bringing to life one of the most difficult Beatles songs to recreate.<\/p>\n

After a particularly psychedelic interlude, the Bootlegs reappeared in full Sgt. Pepper regalia<\/a> and launched into a rambunctious rendition of the title track. She\u2019s Leaving Home was the emotional zenith of the evening, beautifully delivered with visuals telling the story of the song through comic book format. The interval came at the end of the final crescendo of A Day in the Life, the lights cutting on a tableau of the iconic album cover.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Bootleg Beatles at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall(Image: Morgan King)<\/p>\n

The setlist\u2019s second half never quite reached the brilliance of the first, though Mother Nature\u2019s Son and Because gave the Bootlegs a chance to show off their softer side with two delicate and emotive performances.<\/p>\n

Stephen Hill also came alive as George Harrison after the interval, reflecting George\u2019s growing status within The Beatles as the \u201860s wore on. Earlier in the set, without a moustache, the resemblance to Jerry Seinfeld had been somewhat distracting, but strutting his stuff during While My Guitar Gently Weeps he was utterly transformed.<\/p>\n

Hill had trouble with his guitar during the first solo, but got things back up and running to smash it out of the park for the second, earning a standing ovation in the process. His dig at Eric Clapton got a hearty laugh.<\/p>\n

Along with Canning and Frizzell\u2019s bickering as John and Paul, which became more prevalent as the night went on, the band did a fantastic job of reflecting these changing band dynamics within their performance.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Bootleg Beatles perform ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (Image: Morgan King)<\/p>\n

Rounding off the set proper with the back half of the Abbey Road medley (by which point Canning was sporting the famous white suit and enormous beard), the Bootlegs couldn\u2019t resist giving into the crowd\u2019s demands for an encore, bringing the house down with Hey Jude. It could have been pushing it a little bit to then finally finish on the old classic, Twist and Shout, but even the older folks in the audience had just enough energy left for one last dance.<\/p>\n

With no original live recordings to refer back to, the creativity and musicianship on show to bring The Beatles\u2019 latter discography to life was nothing short of stunning. To recreate such diverse sounds this accurately, and with such clear acting talent to boot, was a triumph.<\/p>\n

The Bootleg Beatles are touring the UK before departing for a European leg next year. For more dates and further information, visit their website HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bootlegs tackled The Beatles\u2019 studio era in an ambitious showThe Bootleg Beatles perform ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,44381,123046,128,6470,10447,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-307982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gigs-and-festivals","10":"tag-liverpool-philharmonic-hall","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-paul-mccartney","13":"tag-the-beatles","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}