Photo courtesy of MCPA Marketing
Yesterday And Today
Last year, Elton John, Bob Seger and Fleetwood Mac played to capacity crowds at the Fiserv Forum. Paul McCartney did the same at the Kohl Center and Lambeau Field. There’s an almost insatiable demand among music fans, both old and new, to see live performances from the classic artists that shaped the rock landscape from the ’60s through the ’80s. Unfortunately, many of those artists can’t or don’t play live anymore.
So, as the most transcendent artists of the past few generations settle into retirement, professional tribute bands are working to meet that demand. There are hundreds of talented musicians touring the country offering live concert experiences for fans of bands that no longer exist or no longer tour. From ABBA, Pink Floyd and Queen to Genesis and Led Zeppelin—many of these tribute bands have earned respect by providing high-quality live experiences that draw large crowds from existing fan bases and from younger fans that never had the opportunity to see the original bands in their heyday.
Many tribute acts not only do their best to sound like the band—but work to look just like the band they are paying tribute to. Not so with “Yesterday and Today—The Interactive Beatles Experience,” which stops at Vogel Hall in the Marcus Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Jan. 25.
Billy McGuigan and his brother Matthew started playing Beatles songs as kids and have turned their love of the Fab Four’s music into a career. This is their 12th year doing a Beatles tribute, one that takes a slightly different approach to a tribute show.
No wigs, no accents—the brothers and the rest of the band do not try to impersonate John, Paul, George and Ringo, but rather, honor the music and memories that people have attached to the legendary songs.
Yesterday and Today takes audience requests (on cards) before the show and at intermission, which determine the setlist; no two shows are ever the same. And it’s more than just a request. They ask the requestor to share their personal connection to the song they’d like to hear.
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“We love the high-wire nature of not knowing what we’ll be playing on any given night,” Billy McGuigan says. “We randomly pick three songs to get the show rolling and put the rest in a basket. We can do any songs from any era at any time—we will do something off the White Album, then play ‘Love Me Do’ and then play their most obscure song—all with personal connections to the audience attached.”
Those personal connections to the songs drive the show.
“I’ll pull a name and then ask the person to share the reason behind why they love a particular song, so it’s about more than how well we play the music or what we look like,” McGuigan says.
“When someone shares a very personal story as to why they love a particular song—it kind of brings everybody together. You begin to celebrate whatever that person’s reason is—whether it be funny or poignant—and that takes place throughout the whole night. It’s the coolest thing.”
Not only does the format make for an interesting way to engage the audience, it keeps the band on their toes as well. “Over thousands of performances, we’ve never come close to playing the same show twice. We’re never in a rut—we’re invigorated,” McGuigan says.
“We’ll play any Beatles song on the spot—the setlists are unbelievable—they’re all over the place. We get requests for everything, from the obscure like ‘You Know My Name, (Look Up the Number)’ to ‘Yellow Submarine,’ ‘Her Majesty,’ ‘Hey Bulldog’ and everything in between.”
That musical variety and the interactive personal connection component of their shows sets Yesterday and Today apart.
“Over the past 12 years, we’ve fought through people telling us ‘we want the people in the wigs,’ but what this show has shown us and why it’s growing in popularity is that there’s a heart to it that those other shows just can’t get, because they’re tied to costumes.”
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts’ Vogel Hall, 929 n. Water St. For tickets, visit marcuscenter.org or call 414-273-7206.
