This idea all came out of having a “Super Sweet 16” sort of event as a combination for my own birthday and the websites. I would get it sponsored, give everyone gift bags and have my favourite musicians play – in full – my favourite album of all time, The Beatles‘ Magical Mystery Tour. What ended up occurring went far beyond even the most self indulgent of my fantasies.
On the same night his new album Lake Air was released, Dave Rennick from Dappled Cities was kind enough to be one of two surprise guests of the evening, performing a show-stopping rendition of “I Am The Walrus”. The other surprise guest of the evening was Lilian Blue, who accompanied Chance Waters for an amazing rendition of “Elanor Rigby”.
What an incredible evening, and what a feat to bring together 28 musicians to recreate the record. Even by the most extravagant tribute show standards that is an incredible amount of people to co-ordinate, and given we only had two nights of rehearsals it could have all gone horribly wrong… some songs we didn’t even rehearse in full until you heard it on stage on the night! But all the artists shun brightly on the night, and I couldn’t have been prouder of everyone involved. You all seemed to have a blast up there too, and really, that’s all I ever wanted: to bring a bunch of people together to have a great time and listen to some great music. We definitely achieved this.
Oh and then there was the cake. At no point did I even consider a cake as part of these aforementioned “Super Sweet 16” celebrations. But OBVIOUSLY you have to have a killer cake or your friends are TOTALLY going to be disappointed. Well I dare say that the amazing Veronica Haynes delivered a cake that P Diddy would be envious of, as though she knew my plans all along and realised that there was one component missing from the night. A HUGE thank you to her for seriously blowing my mind. And a big thank you to Nicole for your delicious chocolate cake, too. It got eaten up VERY quickly by the looks of things. As for the other cake, I have a feeling there’s still some sitting there now, given it was the size of a football field!
If you missed the party, you really did miss a one off experience. Having all these artists together, in the same room at the same time, working tirelessly together to churn out 14 incredible Beatles songs, is definitely something that won’t be happening again. I definitely think if I do do a tribute concert in the future, I’ll be making it a lot simpler. But then again, the vast accomplishment that was the concert we did is something that makes the whole experience all the more fulfilling.
At the end of the day I’m a Beatles fan, I’m a music fan and I love Australian music. I’m incredibly fortunate to be in a position where something like this can be achieved, and I hope everyone who attended the event got to have a great night, and managed to fit in a few delicious Monkey Shoulder cocktails in the process. Given the dance moves I saw later in the evening, I have a feeling this went without saying. I’m just hoping no one saw mine…
We turn 5 next year… the only question is – how do we top this?
Thanks to Nathan Atkins for taking the photos – full gallery can be found HERE.
