dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563
How do you present a tribute show to one of the greatest bands of all time – some argue the greatest – and pull it off with perfection? Talented musicians, decades of honing skills and using the latest technology. That’s what Mark Lewis, founder, manager and original keyboardist of “RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles” has done. The Broadway tour of the live concert will be at the Durham Performing Arts Center Jan. 17 and 18.
Lewis started in the tribute band Rain in the 1970s, when tribute bands were new and they played requests at bars and amusement parks. Now with “RAIN,” audiences make a special trip to see the show. The shows are live – instruments and voices – both of which are a challenge to pull off. The songs are live replicas of recordings, and also live performances of songs the Fab Four never performed live, as they stopped touring in their 20s.
“We’re real perfectionists who consider the music of the Beatles as the Holy Grail. We can’t change it,” Lewis said in a phone interview from his home in Reno, Nev. The show includes early, late and Sgt. Pepper songs.
“The challenge is making it sound exactly like the record – that’s what makes it so much fun and so rewarding,” he said. With technological advances, they can include little sound effects and vocal effects that duplicate the original recordings and are played live.
“Computers in general are capable of doing a lot more than the average person,” Lewis said. He said you still have to understand the technology, though, and research it, master it and apply it. “It’s difficult to do,” he said.
But the really hard job is still getting the voices of the Beatles right.
“The guys singing … have to sound like their guy recorded it once in his 20s, and sound like that every night, live,” Lewis said. Joey Curatolo, who portrays Paul McCartney, naturally sings like him and works very hard at it, Lewis said.
“A certain amount of it is a gift and a lot of hard work. With both things together, you get there,” he said.
Sounding like Paul is the hardest to accomplish, he said, who could both scream and sound really pretty. Lewis said the band learned their instruments singing along to the Beatles, never knowing what they’d end up doing for a living.
He considers the Beatles to be the greatest band ever.
“When you think of the body of work the Beatles gave the world, and a moment of time, 1963 to 1969, that’s a six and a half year period,” he said. Lewis ticked off song after song. “You could go on and on, they’re just such incredible songs. Every album sounded different,” he said.
“It’s because of the quality of the music. It really was the talent, what they gave the world,” Lewis said.
There hasn’t been another band like the Beatles, he said. Something happened.
“Why was Beethoven so great? Why was Mozart so great? Why was DaVinci so great? Was it time? Was it their upbringing? Was it the stars? I don’t know,” Lewis said. He does know that people will still be listening to the Beatles 100 years from now.
Those who come to “RAIN” are those listening for every detail of authentic sound as well as those who are hearing the music live for the first time. The show goes through the whole Beatles genre, Lewis said, and on all levels it is the ultimate experience.
“A lot of parents and grandparents take a certain pride in bringing their children and grandchildren – to appreciate [the music], to hand it down to their kids,” he said.
Those who experience it will go home and listen to the Beatles that much more, Lewis said.
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WHAT: “RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17-18
WHERE: Durham Performing Arts Center
123 Vivian St., Durham
TICKETS: Tickets start at $11. Visit www.dpacnc.com
