A Review of "Revolution: The Beatles Live!"

The following appeared in the MRT on May 9th.

Two things became very clear at the final "Live on Stage" concert at Midland High School Auditorium last Monday. First, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were by far the best popular music songwriters of the 20th century. Most bands would give their right hands to have cut just one or two of these songs, let alone the dozens of unforgettable compositions that flowed with little apparent effort from these two. Second, "Revolution" -- the band who played more than 30 Beatles songs -- are four performers who not only often bear close resemblance to the original Fab Four, but have also created a carefully constructed exploration of the changing relationships among these iconic artists.

The dramatic sophistication of the show appeared immediately. The lights fell and the four mop-topped figures could be seen wandering onto stage with a kind of elevator-music version of "She Loves You" playing. Soon this turned into the famous Ed Sullivan show that introduced these "four young lads from Liverpool" to America. The lights came up and the audience discovered The Beatles (Revolution) for the first time. We had been taken back 44 years in a rather brilliant sleight-of-hand.

The star of "Revolution" is Tim Piper, playing John Lennon. He not only looks remarkably like the late singer, but also sounds virtually identical to him as well. In his first banter with Jim Neil (Paul McCartney) I was writing a note down, and thus heard the voice without seeing him. Instinctively I looked up, believing for a second that the real John Lennon had somehow magically materialized on the stage. Throughout the show Piper acted, sang and played instruments with a Lennonesque ability, passion, challenge and humor.

Jim Neil as Paul McCartney was often melodious, but seemed a little unsure within the singing -- relying rather too often upon a backing track that included the real McCartney's voice. This was particularly evident in "And I Love Her," as Neil appeared to be uncomfortably lip-synching this great love song rather than at least singing along with it. In the second half, especially in "Got To Get You Into My Life" and "The Long and Winding Road," Neil showed that he really didn't need such obtrusive soundtrack support. He projects a strong and expressive voice without it.

Mike Sarafian is a fine drummer, and showed Ringo's adorable quirks and foibles to a tee. The weakest member of the band was Gary Piper as George Harrison. While he is a competent enough guitarist -- and after all Harrison was no Clapton or Hendrix -- his singing was very weak. His rendition of "Roll Over Beethoven" was decidedly strange, sounding as if he was either singing with a broken jaw and/or underwater.

Throughout the evening, "Revolution" managed to bring the often cutting humor of the Beatles to life. For example, John said, "It's great to be back," to which Paul replied, "Well, you've been gone a while." Making a joke of the fact that John Lennon was murdered while still quite a young man might seem rather disturbing, but it is exactly the kind of humor that Lennon himself would appreciate. These moments made the show much more than a mere Beatles Tribute -- it brought them to life in an active way, as if even those members who have long been dead could interact with the world we live in today. Just as their music seems as alive and fresh today as it did 44 years ago, so their personalities were made new and relevant. John even joked about Paul's recent divorce, in just the way that the ghost or spirit of Lennon will surely be doing if it exists somewhere.

The second half of the show was in many ways more fascinating than the first. In the first set "Revolution" showed the Beatles as the consummately 'together' band -- from the haircuts to the music to the synchronized bows, the thousands of hours playing together in seedy clubs had produced an organic whole long before they became the most famous people in the world in 1963. In the second half, the vaguely ludicrous Sergeant Pepper costumes signaled a maturing beyond the lovable mop-tops, and yet also the beginning of individualization that would eventually lead to the breakup.

Starting with a medley from "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," we were treated to a performance that fans of the original Beatles never experienced because they had given up playing live at this point. The highlight here was "A Day In The Life Of," a piece that I had thought would be virtually impossible to perform live.

I was wrong.

This song was actually two incomplete compositions -- one by John Lennon and one by Paul McCartney -- that producer George Martin realized could actually make a single great track. The band illustrated how the deeply sardonic portrayal of the news, together with the seductive, taunting "I'd - love - to - turn - you - on" in Lennon's song is perfectly complemented by McCartney's rendition of a commuter's boredom. A brilliant performance of one of the greatest Beatles songs.

All good things must of course come to an end, and this was as true for the Beatles as anything else in human affairs. The coming of Yoko Ono was portrayed by John Lennon literally leaving the stage to "stop her" from recording an album. Of course in reality, Lennon was so blinded by love that he actually believed Ono had some talent, and might reach his own heights. But Lennon's absence during the excellent performance of "Got To Get You Into My Life" was poignant. Paul McCartney without the sharp correction of John Lennon too often succumbed to the temptations of fluffy music, as was hilariously shown in a brief piano conceit that John cut off with a simple, "Kep that stuff for Wings."

His return to the stage in a white suit to play "Imagine" showed that Piper is as good an actor as he is a musician. He was transformed into the even longer-haired iconoclast of the mid-70s. The other Beatles came on to play along with "Imagine" -- dressed as individuals rather than as a group now -- but embodying the respect that these artists eventually felt for one another once the disputes that caused the breakup had faded.

For the second time in the last few weeks -- the first was in Michael Israel's performance art benefit at the Yucca -- a Midland audience was challenged with Lennon's elegantly beautiful vision of a world without religion, countries, possessions. Again, a little unease wafted through the auditorium at this gentle but oh-so-eloquent challenge to everything held dear.

The evening ended with the wistful "The Long and Winding Road" and a decidedly spirited "Revolution" in which the audience rose to their feet and clapped along. With an encore of "Yellow Submarine" in which even the gentleman in front of me -- who had obviously been dragged to the concert by a wife who was a Beatles fan -- sang along, the evening ended exactly two hours after it had started.

I have seen better musicians play Beatles music. And it is music that is deceptively simple -- a chord slightly out of place or a voice a little off harmony is brutally obvious. As an Englishman it was clear to me, with the exception of Piper, that these were not genuine Liverpudlian accents.

But as a performance that explored the music, impact and complex development of these four young men who changed the world, it was first-rate.

For details of the upcoming Midland Community Concerts season visit their website at http://mcconcerts.usaonline.net.

Graham Dixon, Ph.D., may be reached at www.grahamanthonyphotography.com