This year, the world-renowned Bootleg Beatles celebrate 30 years together with a 15-date UK tour of major venues with their acclaimed homage to the Fab Four.
Neil Harrison (Bootleg John Lennon); Andre Barreau (Bootleg George) and David Catlin-Birch (Bootleg Paul) met in 1979 when they were all cast in the hit West-End production, Beatlemania. When the show finished its run the band, knowing the repertoire inside out, decided to continue performing it and thus The Bootleg Beatles, along with the entire tribute genre, was born.
Thirty years on, what started as 4 musicians with black polo necks and a wig has evolved into The Bootleg Beatles’ lauded show which combines note-perfect renditions of Beatles repertoire, spectacular costume changes and a visually stunning video backdrop. The Bootleg Beatles faithfully re-create 6 phases of the Beatles meteororic rise from a basement (The cavern in Liverpool) to a rooftop (The famous Apple concert in 1969) via Shea Stadium, Sgt Pepper and the Magical mystery tour.
As NME said, “the band are as similar to their namesakes as it is possible to be... unlike any other group in the last 25 years of rock, they can safely say that they look and sound as good as The Beatles’ And, with the inclusion of an 8-piece orchestra, The Bootleg Beatles are able to perform songs from the latter stages of the Beatles’ catalogue that the Beatles never performed live.
The Bootleg Beatles have performed over 4,000 shows across the globe and have shared stages with:- Oasis, Jon Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, Seal, KD Lang, The Corrs, Simple Minds and Iggy Pop at venues such as Glastonbury, Wembley Stadium, Earl’s Court, Knebworth and The Fleadh. In 2002 they performed at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebration at Buckingham Palace and faced probably their toughest audience when they performed in front of George Harrison at Dave Gilmore’s 50th birthday party, after which the Beatle admitted to the Bootleg’s that they “probably know the chords better than I do”.
All Beatles fanatics since childhood, The Bootleg Beatles are:-
•Neil Harrison (John Lennon) - guitar, vocals, keyboards
•David Catlin-Birch (Paul McCartney) - bass, vocals
•Andre Barreau (George Harrison) - guitar, vocals
•Hugo Degenhardt (Ringo Starr) - drums, vocals
The Bootleg Beatles support “Peace One Day” (www.peaceoneday.org) which created the first day of global cease-fire and non-violence. Peace One Day now works to raise global awareness of the day and manifest life-saving activity and individual action throughout the world on September 21st each year.