Beatles tribute bands
There are thousands of Beatles tribute bands, in many countries, all over the world. Here are some of the best. We discuss the gear, look, and formula that most of these groups follow. I also created a pseudo ” Beatles tribute bands for dummies” guide.
Half of the Beatles have sadly departed this world. They last performed live on a Savile Row rooftop in 1969 yet their music is still with us. We can still listen to their music and watch movies and videos.
Paul & Ringo still perform but nothing can replace seeing all the Beatles live or can it?
Back in the summer of 1978 in some roadside motel room somewhere in New Hampshire on old Route 1, I saw a commercial on TV for a show playing at New York City’s Winter Garden. Four guys dressed, looking and sounding like the Beatles. If want to read about the show and the cast click on this link. The many casts of Beatlemania the show.
They actually made a movie and an LP of the Broadway show. It can be found on YouTube. Beatlemania the movie
Within a year or so the show, Beatlemania, was on the road. I saw the show several times in Montreal and can hardly describe my feelings. The guys (there were several different groups) did a splendid job. I meet Mitch Weissman and the late Michael Palaikis from the original Broadway cast. It was cool to wear Beatle boots and narrow ties again.
Since then and many more Beatlemania tours, bands have formed in many cities and countries, bands devoted to keeping the magic alive. I’ve had the pleasure to have seen some of the best and I have listened to many others. Although most of these bands have look-alike members, the same instruments, the same amps, and clothing, it isn’t a prerequisite to playing good Beatle music.
One of the best-sounding and longest-running bands is “1964 The Tribute”. I first saw them in 1984 at McGill University’s student union. I last saw them in Burlington, Vermont
They sound exactly like the Beatles. Listen to their sound clips on their site. These guys have the music down to a tee. Every little nuance is there, the harmonies, the instrumentation. Also for guys from the USA, they all do a pretty mean Liverpool accent. I eventually got to meet Mark Benson, the fellow that plays John Lennon. Saying he is a great guy is putting it mildly.
Don’t miss this group. Sadly their great original, founding member and Paul McCartney stand-in, Gary Grimes passed away in December 2010. Mac Ruffing is doing a great job as Paul. Joseph Bologna is on drums as Ringo. Doug Couture is their new George Harrison.
The Fab Four is Another one of the best around. Their George ( Gavin Pring) and Paul (Ardavan Sarraf) look the part. Gavin Pring is actually from Liverpool. They are a highly recommended group. Recently Adam Hastings from the Bootleg Beatles has joined them as John. Robbie Berg has been subbing as Paul or George. Lately the Fab-Four is becoming “like a box of chocolates, you never know who you’ll get” This is not to say it’s bad. They have quite the stable of good Pauls, Johns, Georges and Ringos.
located in Europe. The more I hear them the better they sound. One of the best-sounding tribute bands. Check out their videos. They are meticulous.
The Cavern Beat from Chicago.
Rain They too have blossomed into two groups, a Broadway show, and a touring group.
The Return from Atlanta
Justbeatles is yet another fine Montreal-based tribute. Not to be confused with the Scottish band with the same name. Pierre who plays Paul has also taught himself to play left-handed. He does an impressive “Let it be” on keys. These guys are committed to their craft.
The British Invasion. I met these guys at Epcot. These guys know their Beatles and sometimes switch around so John sometimes is Ringo etc. John Babcock played Paul at that time. He is currently headlining a Paul McCartney tribute show. The current Paul is Paul look-alike, Davey Justice. Sadly Epcot no longer features a pure Beatles show. It was replaced with a British invasion show.
Shout is from Michigan featuring Greg Gersabeck as John Lennon
Brit Beat are from The Chicago area and features Eli Echevarria as John
The cast of Beatlemania features Lennie Colacino as Paul and Carlo Cantamessa as John.
Ticket to Ride features Tom Raider as John.
The Fab Beatles from England
The Bootleg Beatles from England. They have been running since 1980.
The Bootleg Beatles
Like The Beatles, This band hails from Essex in the UK . The band has been around for 7 years. They appear and sound great.
The Caverners from Southern Ontario.
The Fab 5 are from the Houston Texas area.
Help home-grown Montreal Beatle Band. They feature Pascal Tirapani as Paul.
Another long running Montreal tribute band Replay the Beatles
Reunion Beatles Their concept is an imagined reunion of the Beatles so they do lots of solo career music. Drew Harrison also plays in this band.
The Sun Kings based in California wear no wigs, suits, or boots just note-for-note perfection with these fellows featuring Drew Harrison doing an excellent job of John Lennon.
Studio Two These are one of the youngest bands around doing Beatles. They hail from Massachusetts. To coin a Beatles line “There are getting better all the time”. Seriously I’m very impressed with their authentic sound.
Pardon the pun but Czech these guys out called Pangea They are very good.
The Beats These guys are from Argentina. If you are a Beatles fan give them a listen. Fantastic is not good enough to describe the recordings that they have done.
Zoom Beatles from Brazil are also quite impressive.
Let it be The musical is currently touring. It’s sort of an updated Beatlemania show.
4 lads from Liverpool Another great California-based band. Jimmy Pou has been playing with them.
Them Beatles based in the UK.
Britains Finest from Hollywood California
The Love Beatles includes members from France and England. They also sound very close to their mentors.
The Cast of Beatlemania is based in New England.
A Hard day’s night. is based out of LA. The web site is down.
Now you have to realize that finding a unique name for your Beatle tribute may be more challenging than it seems.
Here’s another fine group from Cleveland Ohio, also named ” A Hard Day’s Night”
Here’s another tribute named ” Hard Days Night” out of Minnesota.
Classical Mystery Tour features very good Beatles tribute players on stage with a symphony orchestra. They feature Tony Kishman who does a knock-out performance as Paul.
Beatlemania now includes members of some of the other bands listed here.
American English Chicago-based.
Sgt.Peppers Beatles Tribute is a Los Angeles Beatles tribute band.
Liverpool legends appear to be more of a business than a band.
The Cavern Beatles from the UK
The Day Trippers is another Vancouver band.
These guys actually come from Liverpool so they may know a thing or two about the Beatles. From what I’ve heard on YouTube they are worth a listen.
Jimmy Pou ( pronounced Poe) has expertly portrayed the part of George Harrison for a long time. You’ll see him in several Beatles Tribute bands.
Ticket to Ride This is another California-based Beatle tribute. Here again, Jimmy Pou has been filling in.
The Liverpool 4 are an excellent-sounding band based in the Toronto area
The Vox Beatles are based in the UK
The Brothers from Argentina do an excellent job. Their John, Javier Parisi bears an uncanny resemblance to Lennon.
They have played in Liverpool and impressed The Beatles’ first manager ” Alan Williams”.
Javier Parisi has to be the best-looking Lennon impersonator ever. Check out his site by clicking on his name.
Javier has been to Liverpool working in a production of the Cynthia Lennon story called “This Girl”. It was to be presented at the Hope Street Theatre during Beatle Week 2020.
If you are going to Beatle Week check it out. Helen Anderson, John’s art college friend, and designer of the famous leather cap was doing all the costumes and designing the sets, plus helping with the story and script for the writer Mike Howl.
Helen has recently released a set of tee shirts featuring drawings she did of John Lennon. Click here.
Beatles for Sales is another west coast band that does a great job.
The Cavernites hail from Liverpool so they know a bit about The Beatles.
Re-live the Beatles are based in New Jersey. They sound and look great. John Ench plays John.
Another great tribute band hails from Russia, called BeatLove.
There seems to be an endless source of Beatles groups. Here is another great one
Here are another group of ex-broadway Beatlemania veterans working out of NYC
named Strawberry fields sounds very good.
Yet another Beatles tribute, The Fab Five from Houston Texas.
Here’s a great-sounding tribute from Germany, The Quarrymen Beatles.
Here are a great-sounding group from Belgrade Serbia.
They are called BestBeat.
A fantastic Beatles Tribute from Italy ” The Beatbox”
We also have a YouTube channel.
If you have a Beatles tribute band a feel you deserve some exposure please contact GuitarAndBeyond. There’s a link to “contact” on the menu at the bottom of every page.
Often these groups will exchange members to fill in, so don’t be surprised to see the same fellows in several different groups.
Most of these bands may have one look-a-like member but no Beatles Tribute band has come as close as the original Mop Tops.
It featured Joe Stefanelli as John, Tony Kishman as Paul, Micki Milosevic as George, and Greg George as Ringo.
It’s hard to keep up The list goes on. There are many many more out there.
Here is an extensive listing. Beatles radio.
So what do you need to do for your own tribute?
Here we have my “Beatle tribute bands” for Dummies guide.
The Broadway show Beatlemania still provides the blueprint for many of the current Beatles tribute bands.
The show involves a change of clothes, instruments, and hairstyles to reflect the look the Beatles had through different stages of their career. There are 5 basic looks. This depends on a band’s finances as there would be a huge cash layout in guitars and clothes.
There is the early Cavern Club look. The boys all wear black vests and black trousers, leather if possible. John will play his unpainted Rickenbacker 325C58.
George plays his Gretsch duo jet. Paul plays his older Hofner 500 (the one with the two pickups close together near the neck).
and Ringo could get away with the usual Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl ‘Super Classic’.
The hair is short and bowel-like.
Then there’s the famous Sullivan Show look. Most tribute bands go for this look. Paul has his
Hofner 500/1.
John’s 325 is now painted black and fitted with a Bigsby vibrato and bridge. The pickguard is gold in colour and not two-tiered. The knobs are Burns although they could be Hofner knobs.
George has his Gretsch Country Gentleman and Ringo the Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl ‘Super Classic’. They wear black suits with velvet on the collars. The hair is a bit longer, the classic look.
While on the Ed Sullivan Show, Rickenbacker gave John a brand new guitar now known as the Miami
For acoustic guitars, Paul could have an Epiphone Texan and both John and George, Gibson J160’s.
Probably the next costumes would reflect the Shea Stadium look. Here again, Paul has his 500/1 Hofner. John has a black Rickenbacker. George would have a Gretsch Tennessean. Ringo uses the same, Ludwig. George would also have his Rickenbacker 360 12 string. The Boys would wear the so-called Shea jackets. If you don’t know, they were khaki or beige military jackets that were inspired by the Jamaican police they saw during the filming of Help. The hair can stay similar to the Sullivan look but a bit longer.
The next look is the Sergeant Pepper look where the Boys wear the marching band uniforms that appeared on the album of the same name and on the video for Hello Goodbye. Here Paul plays a Rickenbacker 4003. George could use his psychedelic-painted Fender Stratocaster, “Rocky”. John could use his sunburst or natural Epiphone Casino. Ringo could use the hello-goodbye era drum cover. The hair varies in length but all have mustaches. John has the shortest hair having recently cut it for the Film “ How I Won the War, shot in Almeria, Spain. John wears his round specs.
The last major look is the Abbey Road/Revolution video look. Here Paul would play his old Hofner 500/1 with the pickguard removed. George could use a red Les Paul or Rosewood Telecaster. John would definitely use the striped natural Casino. Clothes could have Paul in black trousers with a suit vest. George black jeans with a blue jean shirt. John is usually depicted in the white Abbey Road suit. Paul can either be clean-shaven or sport a beard. George would have long shoulder-length hair with a mustache. Ringo has longer hair and a mustache. John has long hair parted in the middle, round spec, and is either clean-shaven or wears a beard.
Of course, there is the “Roof-Top” look. The Beatles performed their last live set on Jan 30, 1969. It was on the rooftop of their Savile Row offices.
Paul is playing his trusty Hofner which is missing its pickguard since 1966. He has a sticker on it reading “Bass”. John is playing his stripped Casino. George his Telecaster. Paul sports a beard while John is clean-shaven. Ringo is wearing a red raincoat that he borrowed from Maureen.
John Lennon’s caps
He had several caps, some made of leather, others cloth. In the movie Help, we see him wear both a leather cap and a corduroy one in the same “Ticket to Ride” scene. His cap was nothing like the “Greek Fisherman” cap that people try to sell as Lennon caps.
Helen Anderson a friend of John Lennon designed this cap for John. 
The Original 1964 Leather Cap by Helen Anderson.
The cap is soft and comfortable; it is cleverly shaped to sit towards the back of the head, just as John wore his. It seems to suit everybody, regardless of age, race, or gender.
Details
100% Nappa leather cap
Viscose/silk lining, in a paisley design
Leather braid and two leather buttons
Made and hand-finished in John’s and The Beatle’s home city Liverpool, UK
It sells for £159.00
Source: Original 1964 Leather Cap
The little pin or emblem that appears on John’s leather cap is a Ferrari pin as told to me by Helen. When John first got his driver’s license. He chose a Ferrari and the pin was given to him. Helen was at first angry at John but soon forgave him for making a hole in his cap. Similar Ferrari pins can be found on eBay.
The London Beatles store has a few caps but they are not quite correct.
There is also John’s Hasidic Rabbi look that I have yet to see any tribute band adopt this one. It was super cool.
Beatle Amps
Amps can be an issue. Most of the tribute bands will have John and George use
AC30s with their Paul on a Vox T60 or Vox T100. The Beatles later used AC100 also known as Super Beatle amps.
“1964 the Tribute” uses Vox tone lab simulators. They were using the desktop model and now they use the Tone-Lab SE floor model.
Their Vox amps are only props. The cases are gutted. This way they weigh much less and keep transportation costs down.
Tone labs and tubes (Valves) and Valvetronix amps.
The internet is full of great advice and information. It is also full of myths and disinformation. There are many articles stating that the tube(valve) in the Tone-labs is only there for show.
Here is my experience. I bought my desktop version many years ago and was never satisfied with its clean sounds. There was always a hint of distortion. Since tubes fail or weaken after years, I wondered if my tube was at fault. I had another used 12ax7 lying around so I swapped it out. Immediately I noticed a bit of improvement. I decided to buy a new tube and try it out. I had read that the Chinese 6n4 was equivalent. This did not make sense to me but that is another story. So for $8.17 US with free shipping, I took a chance. Well, I couldn’t be more pleased. I can now get a clean amp sound and it has also smoothed out the various distorted sounds. So if your Valvetronix device no longer sounds good, try a new tube. Yes, the tube affects the sound.
Another instrument seen on stage with the Beatles was the Vox Continental organ.
For a more complete view of the Beatles’ instruments, visit my Gear page.
Each Beatle had his own look. In the early days, you’d see some of their ears.
John’s looks are much different. His bang is not combed straight down but is combed across his forehead. He must have used hair spray to keep it there. His bang tends to cover his eyebrows. His sideburns are exposed and are cut to match the bottom of his ear lobes. The sides are not at one angle but several ones.
Paul’s bangs are arched. He has a bit of a part, almost like John’s. The sides are at an angle of about 50 degrees. The bottom of his ears is exposed. In the case of all four Beatles, the hair in the back is always over the collar.
George’s hair is similar to Paul’s but his bang is somewhat straight across. Thing Spock. The front is combed straight down. Later George had his ear completely covered.
Ringo’s hair bang is combed down but longer than George’s. Ringo’s ears are almost always totally exposed. Later on, he grows long sideburns with the rest about the same.
It always makes me wonder why some groups have such bad wigs. They spend 10’s of thousands of dollars on having all the right equipment and suits. They spent a lifetime learning the tunes inside out but they can’t seem to budget for a reasonable wig. Now don’t get me wrong you don’t need wigs, Gretschs, Hofners Rickenbackers, replica suits to reproduce the Beatle sound. Remember in the studio they used all kinds of different instruments.
Here are some of the better-looking wigs.
More Beatle wigs
Outfitter Wigs Some of the best tribute bands get their wigs here.
Here is an interesting wig. Brown retro wig and mustache set
Try to get together with someone that knows how to cut hair and bring along pictures of the
Chinese Beatle suits
Beatle look you want to capture. Wigs can be cut. It might be easier to find a long-hair wig and have it modified.
Boots & mess kits
There are real Beatles boots and all the others. Here are shots of the real boots. They have pointed toes and Cuban heels. The design comes from flamenco dancers. Sometimes we imagine that rock stars have designers working for them when all they have is creativity to use what already exists in a different way.
some boot suppliers are
Anello & Davide The makers of the original boot ( their site is down.) read about the history of the Beatle boot.
Beatle style suits wigs shirts guitars etc.
Don’s Footwear
To get the authentic clothing look go to Beatles Suits. Without a doubt the best place for Beatle suits. Have a look at their clients list. You see just how many groups there are out there.
I have just be advised about this source from Beatle Clothes “Cellophane Flowers” Check it out.
For that early cavern look you could try these guys. Leather Cult.
One other detail seems to be overlooked by many Beatles tribute bands. This detail is very important for the complete illusion and that is how the Beatles held their instruments. 1964 The Tribute, Rain, and The Fab Four all have that worked out. Many right-handed Pauls actually learned how to play left-handed. Many of the Johns have captured the way he strummed with his right hand and how he held his guitar between songs. The Ringos also hold their sticks like Ringo. It’s all-important if that is what you want to do. There are countless videos of the actual Beatles on YouTube and there is no excuse.
Looking for Ab by the C?
The Beatles did lots of shows and if you ever tried to sing along you’d notice they all had a high vocal range. When they played the 1st Sullivan Show they tuned down to Eb. They also recorded the 3rd appearance on the same date, so they were also tuned down. The second show was in concert A440. I can only guess that they did this to make it easier to hit those high notes. George was very sick with the flu. So much so that he passed on the press photo sessions and even on the rehearsals at Ed Sullivan’s. It appears that they did tune down regularly.
Once you try to sing Beatle songs tuned in Eb you may never tune to concert pitch again. Many Beatle tribute bands tune down to Eb for the same reasons.
On a Budget
While authenticity is Divine sometimes we have to cheat. If the Beatles played Fenders and Gibson’s you could easily have the Beatles look at a very reasonable price.
Let’s look at Paul’s bases. There are many knock-offs available including one made by Hofner themselves. It’s the Icon series. Jay Turner makes the JTB-2B/VS. There are many close copies available. The same is true for his Rickenbacker bass. John’s guitars seemed rare until I decided to research it. Please see the results on my Fakenbackers page.
Budget Beatles suits?
I was amazed to find that the Chinese are not only making Beatles instrument copies but I found these suits. I have no idea as to quality but I thought that I should tell you just the same. These were found on Aliexpress.com. Look for Beatles and cosplay.
Guitar and Vocal lessons
I was planning on doing some tutorials on how to correctly play and sing Beatles tunes but there are many good examples on YouTube. Galeazzo Gale Frudua has some of the best vocal tutorials if not the best. Galeazzo website. Another link is to learn some good examples of George’s guitar parts ml Swartz and his Beatle Guitar Secrets.
