The Beatles had no problem arranging records with orchestration for live performances.
Not to mention at the beginning of the song, too.
Gotta be the Bach of chickens, then.
(I refuse to apologize for the pun.)
In the early 1990s I visited, two or three times, the Cavern Club…in Tokyo, where 4 Beatles impersonators sung many of their hits.
There were a lot of songs, IIRC, that they would ignore if requested, including a lot from the Sgt. Pepper album, very likely because to do these songs justice they’d need more instruments and other noisemakers etc.
I remember particularly they’d do the Sgt. Pepper intro song, then after the “Billy Shears…” cue, the spotlight would go to the drummer who would sing “With a little help from my friends.”
Preston and the Beatles knew each other long before he was invited to play in the Let It Be/Get Back sessions, so there’s probably no reason why they couldn’t have teamed up with him in 1967.
Pete Townshend learned it the hard way that it was difficult to transfer a heavily produced album to the stage when the Who toured with “Quadrophenia”. From all I’ve heard, it must’ve been a nightmare of a mix of live music and prerecorded tracks, and Keith Moon had to wear earphones all the time to keep track, which he hated. I mean, trying to discipline Moonie’s drumming sounds like a crazy idea indeed. IIRC, they soon gave up the whole concept of the tour and changed the play lists, ditching the most difficult cuts from Quadrophenia.
Speaking of The Who, they’ve been using local orchestras on the last couple of outings with generally good reviews. A real highlight of the show is when Katie Jacoby comes out for the violin solo for Baba O’Riley. I don’t think Pete in his wildest dreams ever thought he’d be sharing the spotlight with someone like her.
Ah, the Blue Man Group’s Rock Concert Movement #78: The fake ending.
It’s better than #237: Taking the audience on a Jungian journey into the collective unconscious by using the shadow as a metaphor for the primal self that gets repressed by the modern persona and also by using an underground setting and labyrinth office design to represent both the depths of the psyche and the dungeon-like isolation of our increasingly mechanistic society which prevents people from finding satisfying work or meaningful connections with others.
I’ve been to the Liverpool Cavern many times. If there’s just a solo guitarist or pianist/keyboardist, they’ll take a lot of requests. When there’s a full band, not as much. The Cavern Club Beatles put on a show which is costumed, but they just play a fixed set list. From Pepper, they did the trio of Sgt Pepper/With a little help/Lucy in the Skies, then moved to some Magical Mystery Tour stuff. They returned to the Pepper album towards the end of the psychedelic era set to play Getting Better
Oh, I realize that, but it still has to be a challenge for someone who doesn’t read music to recreate something played only a handful of times in piecemeal fashion 30 years prior. Doing it all by ear, not to mention having to create new arrangements that can be done live, as well. Just curious how much of a challenge it was for him. It came up in Get Back doc that they didn’t really score their work, but just relied on it being memorable enough to recall it later when they played it for the fellas.
Well, I can’t really speak for him, but I have done a lot of recordings where I played that part enough times to record it well, and never did it again until I had to tell someone how to play something like it. When I come back to them and want to teach the part to a band mate, remembering what I did is easy when it comes to normal instruments. If I did it once on bass or guitar or keys, I can do it again or at least tell you the basic idea of how to do it. It might take me a minute to remember it, but I can figure it out pretty quickly. I’m not amazing on any of those instruments, but I can play them competently enough to be somewhat entertaining. Knowing western music theory and where I’m most likely to have broken those rules makes it fairly easy to hear what I’m doing, to myself. The last time I read music was in the 70s, but I use and refer to the theory ideas all the time, even if the musicians I work with usually can’t read music (and sometimes, I just say it’s chromatic).
So, from my experience I expect remembering the changes, melody, etc. is probably pretty easy for him. The parts I find hard to reproduce are my analog synth patches/parts. I haven’t fooled with that instrument nearly as long as I have with the ones mentioned earlier, and it’s a lot more complex than any of them.
Cheap Trick has performed the Sgt. Pepper album live. They were accompanied by an orchestra (& guests).
considering how many decades it took to figure out the opening chord to Hard Day’s Night you can understand how hard it is to play studio music live. The Beatles should have been tasked with keeping nuclear weapon secrets.
The Cheap Trick Sgt Pepper project was a great idea for the band but Robin Zander’s vocals kind of ruin it for me–just too “shouty” would be how I would describe it. I guess it’s unfair to expect him to be able to belt out those songs in true Paul McCartney style. (heck, even Paul has trouble doing it these days)
So long as we’re talking about covers, behold “Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans” – and the rest of the Sgt. Pepper album – with the lyrics changed to match Star Wars IV as performed by Palette-Swap Ninja.
PSN has also done it live, with a lot of help from Awesöme Orchestra Collective in Berkeley.
Not really. Ringo just needs the right size mallet.
Now I’m thinking the Muppets could probably do a pretty good Sgt. Pepper’s.
Well, if we’re doing this, I give you “A Day in the Life” à la Buddy Holly:
This was how I played in a handful of concerts back when I fancied myself a musician. We’d typically have one practice session day-of, break for dinner, then come back for the concert.
This was generally not difficult music.
I’m not exactly sure how the tour organizers knew who to contact.