The Fab Faux & John Lennon at 70

I never go in for tribute bands. I figure that I either saw the real deal back in the day or I didn’t. The Fab Faux is an exception. They are a Beatles tribute band but they are in a class by themselves. They make absolutely no attempt to dress like or act like the Beatles, however, they do just an incredible job of recreating the music even the later terribly complicated songs that the Beatles themselves acknowledged could never be performed live. No wigs, no collarless jackets, no Sergeant Pepper’s uniforms. Just the music for these guys. The occasion for this performance was what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday and they were performing John Lennon solo material along with Beatles’ tracks that he wrote and sang.

We heard of this show back in the spring from a musician friend of ours and we just had to go for it. It seemed like a good way to celebrate and to do so in the city that he loved so much. The bonus was that the show was at Radio City Music Hall, a beautiful theater from the 1930s that was last restored about ten years ago. Just walking into the lobby will take your breath away. Plus it is just around the corner from our place. The theater does not have a bad seat, they all have great line of sight and it feels much more intimate than you would think possible in a 6,000 seat venue. I need to come back one day and just take the tour as this theater warrants its own post.

The show started right on time with a surprising track, “Tomorrow Never Knows”. I was thinking of Lennon performing these songs and was struck with an intense sadness at first but a few more songs into the show that was pushed aside by the joy of the music. The rest of concert was pure fun and amazement as these ace musicians took on any and all tracks regardless of the complexity of replicating studio tracks that were overdubbed, multi-tracked, and even had backward loops. That and they simply played a lot of songs. The songs were in no order at all going back and forth from solo to group and covering nearly every album. At times it was just the five group members and other times they would add different combinations of stringed instruments, horns, and a small chorus. They had two drum kits with the bass drums made to look like Lennon’s trademark wire rim glasses. I particularly enjoyed the songs that used both kits at once.

They took one short break which was filled by the reunited Quarrymen. This was Lennon’s first group that eventually included Paul and George and evolved into the Beatles. They performed “Maggie May”, that Lennon revived for “Let It Be”, and one other song before the Fab Faux came back.

Here is the song list as best I can remember and not in this order:

Tomorrow Never Knows
Working Class Hero
Mother
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
No Reply
Watching The Wheels
Yer Blues
Power To The People
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
In My Life
Come Together
Nowhere Man
Across The Universe
Because
Strawberry Fields Forever
I’m A Loser
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
Norwegian Wood
Cold Turkey
Rain
Instant Karma!
Imagine
If I Fell
I Am The Walrus
Help!
You’re Gonna Lose That Girl
Revolution
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Jealous Guy
All You Need Is Love
Mind Games
I Feel Fine
A Day In The Life
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
Tomorrow Never Knows
Glass Onion

There may be some I forgot and I may have put one or two on the list that weren’t performed.
Here are a couple of videos from the show (not mine):

If you get this by email the videos don't show up and you need to click on the post title and watch them there.