A little over a week ago, Nancy and I treated our children Jonathon (oldest son) and Kelly (dear daughter-in-law) to a “Rain” concert at the Palace Theater in Columbus. It was MAGNIFICENT.
Did I mention that their concert was MAGNIFICENT?
Rain is a very tight, very spot-on Beatles tribute band. And I know from Beatles tribute bands. Over the years, I've seen live a few different Beatlemania casts (that's going back awile, as the first Beatlemania concert I saw was in 1979), as well as another cool tribute band called “1964” (very well done), and a few others, and most recently, Rain.
The Rain show was impressive in several ways. First, the musicians, especially Joey Curatolo, who plays Paul quite convincingly, really nail the personae of Ringo, George, Paul, and John, even if none of the cast are dead ringers for the Beatles they portray. That actually makes their performance all the more interesting.
Second (and this is coming from a kid who [I kid you not] spent countless hours with a bass guitar, mini-amp, and a phonograph in his suburban Southerm California bedroom, discerning and then memorizing, note-for-note, all of Paul McCartney's bass lines), the cast of Rain can, forgive the blasphemy, but it's true, play the Beatles' music as well as the Beatles ever did, note-for-note perfectly, with absolute fidelity to the original studio quality of the arrangememts, as well as the band members' personal mannerisms. The musical sets ranged from the main early hits (“She Loves You,” “Tiwst and Shout,” “Help”), all the way to the group's swan-song masterpieces, like “Hey Jude” and “Get Back.” All delivered in note-for-note precision, just as you remember them.
And third, the Rain show blended an historically relevant montage of video clips from the 1960s, as well as many faux shots especially fabricated to meld the cast into the historical spectacle, so that, sitting in the theater, it wasn't difficult at all to suspend one's awareness of “reality” and pretend being really at a real Beatle's concert.
Although my son Jon (and his siblings) grew up listening to the Beatles music, it was a great experience for him to actually see what it would have been like to witness the Beatles in concert. And it was a joy for me to see him see that.
If Rain comes to your town, do yourself a favor (don't let me down), and go see them.
