It’s everything Beatles in venues around the city’s core with London’s first Beatles Festival
There’s a London festival this weekend that loves you — yeah, yeah, yeah.
The first edition of the London Beatles Festival goes Friday through Sunday at venues around London. Devoted to the Fab Four’s music, lore, films and more, the fest mixes top Beatles tribute bands with local heroes playing the 1960s’ pop band’s hits.
Vendors offer collectibles. Iconic Canadian photographer John Rowlands is among those who will show and tell. London collector Jeff Blake has images on offer. Komoka’s Fred Young brings his museum and vinyl.
Children will settle in at the Yellow Submarine fun zone, while older fans kick back at the Octopus’s Gardens, a licensed locale with bands and DJs. “We want to make it a fun event for everybody,” fest director and London rocker Paul Rivard said this week.
The fest starts Friday at 6 p.m. when tribute act BeatleMania Revisited plays an all-ages show at the Clarence Street stage. Performers will celebrate the Fab Four’s sounds in their own “diverse styles,” Rivard said. That would certainly be true of beloved London rockers, The Mongrels.
Oft saluted in The Free Press for having the best setlist in The Forest City, the Mongrels are ready to add some Beatles to their song choices for the fest. “What’s more exciting than The Beatles?” Mongrels’ singer and guitarist Joel Gehman asked rhetorically. “We’re going to pull out as many as Beatles songs as we can muster. But that’s a bit of a tall order. We’re not really a Beatles tribute band . . . (but we’ll be) squishing in as many Beatles songs as we can pull off.” The Mongrels are set to play a favourite haunt, the Richmond, Saturday at 10 p.m.
Also on the fest’s weekend bill around seven downtown clubs are such London rockers as Sarah Smith, Doug Varty, Taylor Holden and Mirage.
By: James Reany
Source: London Free Press
