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| Home > NYC > Concert Review: The Fab Faux |
| Concert Review: The Fab Faux | | Date Created: Sep 30, 2004, 03:37 PM |
I'm not much of a concertgoer, but I had heard about the Fab Faux , a Beatles tribute band enough times, that when asked to go their New York appearance, I decided to give up the relative safety of my room and head on over to the Bowery Ballroom for a night of Beatles music played exactly the way it was on the albums. Now, I'm not much for clone sounding music. I often prefer it when an artist does their cover of a song their own way. It brings a sense of originality to a performance, and you get to hear the singer perform in their own real voice. In my opinion, if you are going to sing like someone else and try to sound exactly like they did on an album, then you've got to be even better than the person was in the studio. If not, sing the song in your own way, and you can keep the sound from the album. Fortunately, this band did a bit of both.
With band members made up of various "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "David Letterman" musicians, the sound was top notch, and the music was a perfect recreation of the Beatles sound, which in this particular show covered the "Psychedelic" era. Songs from 1966-1967, arguably the highlight of the Beatles' catelogue. With songs like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Magical Mystery Tour", "Fool on the Hill", "Rain", and many, many others, the Fab Faux knew how to put on a show and keep the crowd (mostly people around my own age!) very happy. I was most impressed with the voices of the Drummer, Rich, and the crazy, happy Bass player, Larry, as well as with the skills of Jimmy Vivino. The latter did a breathtaking rendition of "Within You/Without You". playing on a live SITAR! One of the few times you'll ever see that instrument on stage! The band did it's job in keeping the performances true to the original recordings of the Fab Four, and admirably succeeded very well.
The Beatles had stopped touring in 1966, due in part to their music becoming more and more complicated and harder to play live. The Fab Faux, on the other hand, is able to take that nearly 40 year old music and represent it, not only live, but with startlingly sharp vocal recreations of the original group. This worked because these boys actually had better voices than the Fab Faux. In some cases, they did do their own thing with the songs, and that made me happier.
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