January 16, 2012, Seattle, Washington– Beatles fans were treated to a rip-roaring tribute to the Fab Four Saturday night in Seattle by Apple Jam. The show was held at the Triple Door, a favorite local dinner club; proving the band's immense popularity in the area, Steve Roseta Productions reported that tickets had been sold out for weeks.
Apple Jam has gathered quite a following in recent years and their spot-on talent is such that each show is amazingly unique and spot-on; for example, while their most recent show was a George Harrison tribute, this show covered primarily Beatles material from 1967 on, and included some of the lads' best solo material.—making it impossible to ever get bored with this tribute band. Front man, guitarist/singer Rick Lovrovich and drummer/singer Jon Bolton have mastered the vocals of each of the Beatles and their very individual styles, bringing down the house wherever they go. (Here's a secret: Rick can even imitate John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono.)
Devoted Seattle fan Curt Yamamoto and his wife Julie have attended every Seattle Apple Jam gig, and Curt provided us with his candid report of Saturday’s show, reporting that even though two of the seasoned band members were not feeling well, it was not apparent by their top-notch performance.
Curt wrote: “The show was another polished Apple Jam performance. I overheard someone who knew the band say that both Rick (Lovrovich) and Jon (Bolton) were not feeling well; if so, you’d never know it from their playing...The show started promptly at 8pm with the 1st set ending at 8:45.
Most of the set list concentrated on later Beatle numbers and solo material, and Steve Roseta told Curt that this show was to practice for their upcoming international gig in Finland. Curt said, “Unlike other recent shows that focused on a particular member, this one was a mixture of about 2/3 Beatle numbers and the other third solo material. Rick announced that this show was sort of a warm up for their upcoming gig as the featured band at a Beatles event in Finland which they depart for next week.”
Giving an idea of the songs covered, Curt said, “Aside from “World Without Love” and “I’ll Be On My Way,” (from their Off the Beatle Track Album, covering songs the Beatles wrote in the early 60s but gave away to other artists) and Another Girl from the Help album, there were no early Beatles era numbers; most of the Beatles songs were from Sgt Pepper on.”
From the Beatles years, “They did Hey Bulldog, (see great video at left!) The Ballad of John and Yoko, I Am The Walrus, She’s Leaving Home, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Your Mother Should Know, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Revolution---with killer vocals!!—and Back in the USSR.” (See also this You Tube video of Apple Jam performing I Am The Walrus.)
“New member, guitarist Robbie Christmas repeated his fantastic performance of Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” like he did at the George Harrison tribute in November-- it was such a crowd pleaser. We noticed that former member, Curtis Dengler, (formerly in Robbie’s position) was seated 2 tables away from us during the show.
“Drummer Jon Bolton opened the 2nd set, solo on stage, doing a moving version of Lennon's Working Class Hero. Other solo numbers they did included McCartney’s Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, and Maybe I’m Amazed, Harrison’s What is Life, and George’s version of It Don’t Come Easy.
The show ended about 10pm and included two encore numbers. As always, we had such a great time and the show was fantastic.”
For a full history of the band, and links to prior performances, see this article.
Thanks to Curt for his engaging and informative report!
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