With the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first performance on American television coming up in just a few months, Rain was the perfect concert to begin the celebrations. The show began with a video montage taking us back to 1964 with various clips of television shows, commercials, news footage, and music of the era.
Rain began their first set by recreating the Beatles’ first performance on the Ed Sullivan show, and used their multimedia equipment to recreate the show’s set via video projection. For this set, Rain sang early Beatles’ songs such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Yesterday.”
After that, Rain gave a nod to the Beatles’ “Hard Days Night” movie with a set that featured projected videos of screaming fans and even paid homage to their infamous concert at Shea Stadium. Rain’s next set celebrated the Beatles’ most acclaimed album, Sgt. Pepper. In full Sgt. Pepper suits, Rain sang the title track as well as favorites from that album such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “When I’m Sixty-Four.”
After intermission, and another video montage of the Vietnam War, the Space Race, and counterculture life, Rain performed “All You Need is Love” as well as “Strawberry Fields” and the title track from the album “Magical Mystery Tour.”
Finally, it was time for Abbey Road, one of my favorite albums by the Beatles. Rain changed costumes again, and the transformation from the moptops and suits we saw in the beginning to the hippie-inspired garb of the late Beatles was astounding. The attention to detail in the clothing was absolutely amazing. Rain performed “Come Together,” and a set inspired by George that featured “Here Comes the Sun” and “While my Guitar Gently Weeps.”
After almost 2 hours onstage, Rain even performed an encore.
Per my description of the show, one can clearly tell Rain takes great pride in making certain their concerts feature a wide range of Beatles tunes, extravagant costumes, and multimedia entertainment which has the ability transport you to another time. Plus, their mastery of Beatles music and vocals was so spot on it was surreal at times. I highly recommend seeing Rain if you get the chance. It is a fun show for all ages and Beatles fans. Hopefully, Rain will come back to the ever-stunning Louisville Palace soon!
On a more personal note, I’ve seen a lot of Beatles tribute bands over the past 8 years that I’ve been attending Abbey Road on the River (and other Beatles tribute shows), and I must say that Rain has the best Paul I’ve ever seen. His mannerisms were good, his looks were good, but his vocals were amazing! The only thing that was off about him was the fact that he played right-handed!
