Let It Be Review

Let It Be brings the mop tops back for a few hours of head bopping sixties peace and love at The Civic Theatre in Auckland.

Let It Be showcases the best of the Fab Four taking us through the key periods of the The Beatles sound.

A union jack was projected on the stage curtain, and either side are retro TV screens showing 60’s images and news footage. Then the show opened in The Cavern, and we see the young ‘Let It Be’ band for the first time.

The cast have worked hard to both sound and act like these pop heroes. The look-a-like factor is great, especially with Paul and John, who do spot on character impersonations of the boys cheeky banter, including John’s famous “Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery”.

Most impressive though were their voices. Tight harmonies throughout meant a flawless performance, and catching certain intonations help trigger those comforting Beatle memories.

We move through to Beatlemania and the Ed Sullivan Show, to the Hollywood Bowl, Strawberry Fields, Abbey Road, SgtĀ Pepper and ending with songs from Let It Be. The best of the back catalogue is covered, so it’s a crowd pleasing line-up.

Set changes are done mainly via projections, which work well especially for The Cavern section, and the performance of ‘Lucy in the sky with Diamonds’.

The show is essentially a tribute band production that is excellently executed, but don’t expect more than the song performances as this is not a biographical telling of the bands ups and downs. If you are willing to embrace it, then you’ll have fun dancing and singing along.

As expected the band end on two classics with ‘Let It Be’ , and the unofficial British national anthem ‘Hey Jude’. Much nah nahing ensues.

The Let It Be band really do a fantastic job in honoring this song book, and you’ll be more than impressed by their Beatle abilities. We particularly enjoyed the evolution of Paul during the show, as he becomes more and more McCartney we almost expected Linda to walk on and a Wings tribute band to start up.

Beatles fans assemble for a fun night of nostalgic 60’s fun.

Reviewed by Ingrid Grenar

Let It Be is on at The Civic Theatre until 5 April.

 

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