The Abbey Road journal

Mellow Circle’s tribute concert to The Beatles at the Museum Theatre spanned the best of their music across eras

August 08, 2016 06:25 pm | Updated 06:25 pm IST - CHENNAI

The Beatles 4Ever concert at Museum Theatre Photo: R. Ravindran

The Beatles 4Ever concert at Museum Theatre Photo: R. Ravindran

Their songs have never outlived their welcome. A little more than five decades after they first came together, the four young men in their iconic pudding basin haircuts, Pierre Cardin suits and wide grins still have their music talk to generations of people. The Beatles stayed together for a decade, churning out many albums, with innumerable Billboard toppers built on harmony and lyrics. Their songs, rooted in rhythm, rock and soul, highlighted the love and angst of a post-war world, and Beatlemania, fuelled by screaming, hysterical fans marked a cultural watershed.

There was as much old-world nostalgia last weekend when Mellow Circle presented Beatles 4Ever, a tribute concert to the legendary band, as part of its fund-raising effort for Prathyasha, its home for children with HIV. Directed by the energetic Prince Sunny Abraham, who marked his debut as concert director, the show featured music by The Diva Collective, Johnson and Friends, Beef Sapad Trio, The Mellow Circle Choir and The Mellow Circle Children’s Choir.

The nearly-two-hour programme, interspersed with videos of humorous interviews with The Beatles, a Bharatanatyam performance by Marga for ‘Come Together’, and choreographed songs by both Mellow Circle choirs, had a fresh perspective.

The Mellow Circle Choir, the first to take the stage, sang a medley — ‘All you need is love’, ‘A hard day’s night’, ‘Imagine’ and a few more — exploring complex ground with improvisations.

Smaller ensembles performed the love songs — ‘I want to hold your hand’ and ‘Can’t buy me love’ that harmonised well enough to invite cheers from the audience. The Beef Sapad Trio, Chennai’s only parody band comprising Sandeep John, Shilpa Natarajan and Dr. Yohan Chacko, sang a mirth-filled parody version of ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Eight Days A Week’. Easily, the most memorable act of the evening, BST, in perfect breathy voices with colourful flourishes, sang of encounters with traffic cops and the meat ban. The clever lines never for a moment took away from the beauty of the songs.

‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘Octopus’ Garden’ were template versions, sung by the children’s choir conducted by Shireen Lazarus, and hearty affirmations of gentler childhoods that once were, despite the various interpretations that have coloured their meaning over time.

The Diva Collective – Kavita Thomas, Mridhula Sekhar, Ranjani Shanker, Nadisha Thomas and Shilpa Natarajan – brought on powerful versions of ‘Get Back’, ‘Day Tripper’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Michelle’, singularly good on the strength of their voice and compositely perfect in harmony. Johnson and Friends from Coimbatore, in their black ties and rolled-up sleeves, walked down the love road with ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘Nowhere Man’; their music was faithful to the original sound of The Beatles, and just as earnest.

The whole theatre joined in singing ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’, even getting the ‘na-na’ chorus right on cue. Mellow Circle’s home-grown band, Soul Sync, lent gravitas to the evening, especially drummer Ganesh Venkataramani and keyboard player Mervin Thomas.

Beatlemania forever changed the way the world looked at rock music. And, the event last weekend, through great sound and good voices, only reaffirmed why they continue to be popular to this day. There were a few glitches, but then this is a Beatles concert.

So I’ll let it be.

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