The Beatles in Strathmore 2015

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

It may still be months away, but the 55 Plus Summer Games organizers are pleased to announce that they are bringing Britain’s Finest, a Beatles tribute band, to Strathmore on June 20, 2015.
“We were looking for a top notch band for the games and their name came up. After seeing them on YouTube we were sold. They are awesome,” said Linda Storkson, who is a volunteer and fundraising committee member for the 55 Plus Summer Games coming in July 2015.
Tickets will be on sale for $35 each, and are expected to sell out quickly. The ticket release date has not yet been determined, but anyone interested is told to keep an eye on the 2015strathmoregames.ca website.
The 55 Plus Games committee are not the only ones excited for the show. Robert Bielma, speaking on behalf of the band, said they’re happy to be breaking into the Canadian market.
“This will be the first time that we actually break into the Canadian market, so we’re hoping that we can add more dates while we’re in Canada and finally see our neighbours up north,” said Bielma.
The band is made up of Tyson Kelley, who portrays John Lennon, Benjiman Chadwick as Paul McCartney, Bielma as George Harrison, and Luis Renteria as Ringo Starr.
“All of us are pretty much huge Beatle fans, we all love the Beatles, each of us maybe came in later than others,” said Bielma. “A lot of people say we look and sound like the Beatles.”
The show promises to be a great for both new and long-time Beatles’ fans.
“The way we start off is as the Beatles arrive on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964,” said Bielma.
They play a lot of the hits throughout the show, which they have split into three acts. The boys will come out in their black suits and sing some of the songs from the show, from the 1963 to 1966 era. Following the first intermission they come out in their Sgt. Pepper costumes, playing the first couple songs off that album, and some others from that time frame. John Lennon (Kelley) will do a solo, usually Strawberry Fields, and Paul McCartney (Chadwick) performs Blackbird solo before the final set comes on stage. The last set consists of songs from the Abbey Road and Let it Be albums.
Bielma said Britain’s Finest looks like the Beatles, sounds like the Beatles, and they try to keep their performances true to how the Beatles themselves would perform the songs.