View from the Green Room: Crinklemania hits the Royal
The Mersey Beatles performed at the Theatre Royal in Waterford city.
The Mersey Beatles are back on the Mall with their sharp suits, waistcoats and ties, flower-power dress costumes and a thumpity thump that would waken a deaf man and him in a coma in Ballybricken.
It’s Beatles time again and the crinklies are out in force – Generation 60s – including some with daughters in tow.
A rear screen projection never stops throughout the show with video footage of downbeat Liverpool streets when a new and younger generation crowded into the Cavern nightclub to rock to the Beatles.
It was a twist and shout time when that’s all there was room for in the hokey-smokey crowded cavern when the world changed.
It’s 1964 and the Ferry across the Mersey tells tales of working-class folk trying to make their way in the world. Love songs were comparatively simple and passed From Me to You with little hints from butties that She Loves You Yeah, Yeah, Yeah and the simplest expressions of romance like I Wanna Hold Your Hand and pass on All My Lovin’.
For those of us that lived through the sixties decade, we saw the change in style and substance. Eight Days a Week was street-smart and gritty, while We Can Work it Out recognised problems in relationships.
Day Tripper moved us into the world of narcotics, although we didn’t always know it. Lennon described Day Tripper as a drug song in 1970, and in a 2004 interview McCartney said it was about LSD, as the title of the song referred to both a tourist on a day-trip and a trip in the sense of a narcotic experience. When I’m 64… doing the garden and digging the weeds… hinted at marijuana and as for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds …wellll… ’nuff said.
As time moved on, the Beatles work became more expansive. Nowhere Man captured the moment of urban inertia perfectly in his sense of isolation, while Yesterday acknowledged the crisis that comes with the break-up of a relationship.
Footage of the Beatles conquering America splash across the rear screen in grainy white with teenagers screaming through the entire performance. The tour was so badly organised that the Beatles performance was broadcast through the Yankee Stadium tannoy. No wonder the Fab Four became disillusioned.
The Mersey Beatles’ performance of the Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band is the show’s highlight. A little Help from my Friends…Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds…Penny Lane…All You Need is Love… The whole theatre is rocking along and they know all the words. And they need no invitation to join in.
The Mersey Beatles have been rocking sold-out shows around the globe since 1999 with their authentic celebration of the music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The band – who clocked up more than 600 appearances in a 10-year residency at Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club – really capture the spirit of the original Fab Four.
And it’s all here. The costumes, instruments, cheeky Scouse wit and that era-defining Mersey sound. The Mersey Beatles delights the Royal audience for two hours with a bus top ride through the ‘mop top’ hits of Beatlemania and the psychedelic creativity of Sgt Pepper in a show that captures the energy of the world’s greatest ever band.
