Now some may say that being from Liverpool and absolutely loving The Beatles is all a bit cliché- but I couldn’t care less tbh, The Beatles are boss and I’m smug knowing that they’re just another reason why Liverpool is the best city in the world. I wasn’t around in the 60s, so I’m rather miffed to say I missed them in their heyday, in the height of Beatlemania and all that. So I was proper excited to get an invite to see Let It Be at the Liverpool Empire. The modern John, Paul, George and Ringo (or should I say, Michael, Emanuelle, John and Ben) are back on tour- only this show promised a twist and an additional, never before seen performance. So I was deadddd excited to see what was in store.
The performance takes you on a journey, starting with hits from the Fab Four’s debut album Please Please Me, through the height of Beatlemania, to their last ever performance on the roof of Apple studios in 1969.
The first part of the performance is jam packed with all of the favourites, and had everyone in the audience up on their feet and dancing as ‘Twist and Shout’ blasted from the stage. The stage set up is fab, each song is carefully selected to represent a defining moment in the history of The Beatles- such as their famous performance at the Shea Stadium in The States, where they could barely be heard over the screams and shrieks from the audience. The stage is flanked by 4 old school TVs which shows real footage from the original shows, so it really helps you visualise what it would’ve been like to see the real thing. The TVs give a bit of context to each performance, and what was going on at the time of each show- there are even some genuine (and hilarious) 60s TV adverts, that add an element of nostalgia for members of the audience old enough to remember them.
The first half comes to a close with The Beatles’ later performances and finally their split, so we went off for the interval wondering what the second half could bring. We had a cheeky wine in Piano Bar which is proper gorgeous if you’re looking for somewhere nice to drink in the interval.
The second half of the show, a new section added for the 2018 tour, is set as a reunion performance a decade after the split, giving audiences the chance to see The Beatles reunite for one night only, featuring some of the not-so-obvious song choices and some of the boys’ solo work too.
If you’ve not heard of Let It Be before, be aware that it is very much so a tribute act, telling The Beatles’ story through recreations of iconic performances rather than an actual play with a narrative. The boys do chime in and chat to the audience a little though, with some, er, questionable Scouse accents (soz lads, we’ll let you off cause you’re fab singers).
So if you fancy an evening reliving your fave Beatles performances, or never got the chance to see them back in the day, i’d deffo recommend booking some tickets. It’s a boss evening out- we sung our little heads off. Let It Be is on at The Empire until Saturday 8th September, and you can grab tickets online.