Apple Jam, local Seattle Beatles group, performed a rousing McCartney tribute concert at the Triple Door on Saturday night to a packed audience.
Apple Jam has been well known since 2005 in Seattle for it’s theme-based Beatles tributes, including the John Lennon Jam on the 25th anniversary of his death, and George Harrison Jam on the 5th anniversary.(Our prior articles on Apple Jam covered their concert at the Woodshed in Seattle, and history of the band's performances including Beatle Week in Liverpool in 2009.)
Saturday night McCartney got his turn. The band started out with some of his Beatles songs in the first set, followed by a performance of the entire Band on the Run album, highlighting McCartney's diverse songwriting talent that spanned from sweet love songs like All My Loving, melodic ballad Yesterday to the Jamaican style Mamunia and driving hits like Jet. We were reminded just how amazing Band on the Run is, and the difficulty of doing many of the songs live---Apple Jam outdid themselves, stepping up to the plate with an outstanding performance that did the album justice.
The special Macca show opened with the earlier Beatles hits: a rousing I Saw Her Standing There followed by All My Loving. The show gave us a taste of Paul's biggest hits throughout the Beatles career, including Yesterday, Michele, Penny Lane, She's Leaving Home, Paperback Writer and We Can Work It Out.
During the first set, the band interspersed a few songs from their widely acclaimed CD Off the Beatle Track, “the songs the Beatles gave away”, which has been featured on Chris Carter's Breakfast With the Beatles several times over the last year. Included in the show was One and One is Two (released by the Strangers in 1964, this song was so bad it was even rejected by Billy J. Kramer after John Lennon cynically told him his career would be over if he recorded it.), World Without Love (Peter and Gordon), and Come and Get It (Badfinger). (see set list below).
Video clips on the large screen behind the stage added McCartney ambiance throughout the show. During Maybe I’m Amazed, we were able to watch an intimate and sweet video of Paul and Linda, riding horses, playing with their children, walking on the beach.
During Penny Lane, the official music video for that song played, treating us to the footage we all know well, of the Beatles clip-clopping horses through Liverpool streets, and seeing Penny Lane shops mentioned in the song.
After intermission, the band wasted no time launching into the full Band on the Run album in it’s entirety, with amazing energy, precision and authenticity. The performances of the lead track, Band on the Run, and Jet were stunning, and we were treated to more video clips of Paul and Wings.(see video below of them performing Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five.)
The harmonies on Bluebird were flawless, and somehow I could swear I heard Linda in there but of course it was either Rick Lovrovich or Curtis Dengler doing a perfect imitation. Although I could have done with less tweeting for sound effects--not Twitter--I mean real bird sounds.
The band was in great form, outdoing themselves at every turn. They have always been fantastic-- but Saturday they rocked the house and the band was tight as ever. Rick Lovrovich (vocals/bass), Mike Mattingly (guitar), Johnny Jones (keyboards) and Curtis Dengler (guitar) all had great energy, jumping around on stage, and very animated. Also featured was Scotty Harris on saxophone on several numbers.
Jon Bolton, (drummer/vocals) who is always a crowd pleaser, manages to pound the drums like Keith Moon, expertly flip his drumsticks like a baton-twirler, sing, pull faces and make the audience laugh all at the same time, was in even higher form Saturday night. At times he got up, struck poses to the beat of the music with great humor and precision--how does one explain that--while making dramatic faces and strutting across stage...and then made it back to the drums in time for his next part. Astounding entertainment and comedy which would have made Eric Idle proud any day, or perhaps the original Mr. Kite.
Mrs. Vanderbilt simply brought back amazing memories of loving that song to pieces and Apple Jam nailed it well with Lovrovich on vocals. Let Me Roll It was backed by some videos of John Lennon's cartoon drawings, after Lovrovich relayed the touching story that this song was written for John as an olive branch, an effort at reconciliation between the then-warring ex-partners. (read the background here) The story is that this was Paul's response to John's bitter song, How Do You Sleep?
After Mamunia (which stuck in my head for two days), their rendition of Picasso’s Last Words and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five was incredible.
Encore, encore...
After cheers from the audience accompanied by a standing ovation and demand for more, they did several encore numbers beginning with a rocking Helen Wheels. Just as I assumed Alan White , (John's former drummer on the Imagine album), who was in attendance, was finally getting a night off, and there to relax, he was called up on stage, where he did “Instant Karma” in tribute to John Lennon, featuring his classic and original drum work on that song. (Alan has been on tour with Yes recently.) (Click here to see the original You Tube video of Instant Karma with Alan on drums when John recorded the song. The best shots of Alan are at 1:51 and at the end at 3:09)
The last numbers were fitting—Golden Slumbers/The End. Congratulations, Apple Jam, it was a fantastic night.
Here's the set list. Don't forget to look at the You Tube video and the pictures!
1st set:
1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. All My Loving
3. One and One is Two
4. Hold Me Tight
5. World Without Love
6. The Night Before
7. Yesterday
8. We Can Work it Out
9. Michele
10. Paperback Writer
11. Got to Get You Into My Life
12. Penny Lane
13. She's Leaving Home
14. Get Back
15. Come and Get It
16. Maybe I'm Amazed
2nd set:
1. Band on the Run
2. Jet
3. Bluebird
4. Mrs. Vanderbilt
5. Let Me Roll It
6. Mamunia
7. No Words
8. Picasso's Last Words
9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (1985)
Encore: Helen Wheels, Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
Instant Karma featured Alan White on drums.
Greg Roth, Seattle Music Insider was also in attendance, and you can read his review of the show here. Greg also interviewed band members before the show and has a podcast which you can access at his article.
Comments
Great report Shelley...wish i had been there to witness it in person!
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