Abbey Road starts off with Beatrips
May 23, 2008
Michelle Day mday@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

People walking down Fourth Street during lunch hour yesterday might have thought they heard the Beatles playing, even though the English group performed their last concert almost 40 years ago.

What they heard was the Beatrips, a Beatles-tribute band based in Kyoto, Japan.

The concert was the kickoff for the 2008 Abbey Road on the River festival. The Beatrips have been performing at Abbey Road since 2003, festival producer Gary Jacob said.

The group speaks little English, but they delivered a performance that was "vocally ... really a very close reproduction of the Beatles," Jacob said.

They also looked like the Fab Four, wearing light brown jackets, black pants and dark brown hair.

The group re-creates the Beatles' last public concert, which was Jan. 30, 1969, on top of the Apple Building in London, according to a press release.

When Louisville had the idea for a rooftop concert for the festival's kickoff, Jacob said he thought the Beatrips would be perfect.

"They're travelling very far to come here and are very honored guests," he said.

Bill Herringdine, 51, of Wrightsville, Ga., said he's known the Beatrips for about five years after meeting them at an international Beatles festival in Liverpool, England.

How does a group that speaks almost no English mimic the most popular pop band in history so perfectly? Practice, Herringdine said.
"They take the song and play it over and over and over until they memorize it," he said. "Then they get the dictionary and start looking up the words until they understand what they mean."

As a Beatles fan, Doc Rutstein, 49, of Boston said he loves the Beatrips' performance and has been coming to Abbey Road for four years.
"Beautiful. They don't miss a word," he said.

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