Some friends invited me to a show at Carnegie Hall Friday night. Since I trust their musical judgment and also had been traveling for the two weeks prior, I did little research in preparation. Upon arriving at the venue Saturday night, I quickly gathered that The Fab Faux were a Beatles cover band. I saw Dark Star Orchestra earlier in the year and impressed with their ability to replicate entire Dead shows from start to finish, I started to get jazzed about seeing a similar production of arguably the greatest rock band in history.
Waiting in the drink line, we heard Magical Mystery Tour and decided to skip the drink and head inside. What unfolded before our eyes was incredible. The Fab Faux are known to match The Beatles pitch and harmony perfectly, and my ears certainly couldn’t tell the difference. What’s amazing when you hear The Beatles music live is how layered and complex the songs are, from Yellow Submarine using megaphones into mics to Sergeant Peppers famous bridge change into A Little Help from My Friends. They also played some slightly more obscure Beatles tunes, several written by George Harrison from the post-India Maharishi era. The show was complemented by a video montage made by Erin Hill that captured the music’s era and each song’s narrative and mood phenomenally well. It was abundantly clear that every single person involved with the band and the production possessed a sincere love of The Beatles music, without which the standard of replication wouldn’t be possible. Granted, it takes The Fab Faux five musicians to replicate what The Beatles did with four, but that’s why these guys are the cover band. Most of the music was written and produced 40+ years ago, and yet is still as relevant as ever. That’s simply amazing to me.
The Fab Faux are from NYC and they have several shows planned over the next few months. For anyone who appreciates The Beatles music, this is a show well worth the price of admission and something for the whole family.
On a related note, I tried to listen to some Beatles on Rhapsody and to my frustration, discovered that they were one of the few bands not available. I'm assuming this is the same reason we can't buy The Beatles on iTunes. There were rumors in March that these issues had been resolved. If anybody knows what's up, please share.