Photo from yourvegasholiday.com
For Las Vegas ’12, the only show we had planned was Adam Ant but when our awesome concierge (Mike!) offered us Ka or Beatles Love for $20/head, we were like sure. He steered us toward the latter because there weren’t many good seats left for Ka.
How is it? For Beatles fans, it’s definitely something I think the majority would enjoy. The music has always been open to interpretation and can be engineered around any narrative: see Yellow Submarine or the Bee Gees/Frampton flick. I also think their fans approved because George Martin was involved with the production. The four estates have to sign off too; this I learned years ago through Sound Opinions‘ piece on the making of Rock Band: Beatles.
Is there a story though? Not a linear one, more along the lines of a collage or montage. There are recurring characters running around to tie the pieces together, maybe continuity? These characters are a guess since I’m not a fan, more of an academic with the Beatles: Dr. Maxwell, Sgt. Pepper, the Queen, Alice, Father MacKenzie, Eleanor Rigby and Meter Maid Rita. The songs are 90 percent from the band’s second half, or what my mother called the “druggie years.” A wise choice. The first half is solid Pop yet the subject matters were too similar.
What makes it different from the touring shows or the other Vegas staples (Mystere is the oldest, followed by O, I’ve seen both)? Beatles is the first I’ve seen with a “round” stage. If you’re paying to see this, make sure you get a middle-like seat. Ours were on an edge so one of the curtains they projected stuff on to obscured the view during the opening numbers. The other unique variable was rollerskating stunts on par with Tony Hawk moves.
It would be nice to see this roam the world as CdS does with Dralion or Allegria. However, it does make a great excuse to visit Sin City and spend some money at the Mirage, the casino that started the city’s Nineties boom.