Andre Barreau is on a rush to get on a plane. Bassist with the Bootleg Beatles, Barreau has been with the group since their inception thirty years ago. This is the band’s second trip to Australia and they’re living up to plaudits for being one of the greatest tribute bands the world has ever seen. This time around the band, who at certain shows are joined by an orchestra, play songs that run the gamut from The Beatles’ very beginning through to their swansong LP, Abbey Road.
Before they flew to Australia, the Bootleg Beatles played a gig at the Glastonbury Festival. Old rivalries run deep and they were up against The Rolling Stones.
“We did it literally the day before we came out,” explains Barreau “We were on at the Acoustic Tent, but its not really ‘acoustic’, at same time as the Stones were playing … we could hear ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ half a mile away.
For the record, Barreau has always liked ‘The Beatles and The Stones’. Returning to Queensland to play is fitting; George Harrison had a home on Hamilton Island for a long time and occasionally entertained the locals himself.
“I knew he had a property up there. People are always telling me stories about what a kind soul George was. Someone told me last time that they were on Hamilton Island and a busker was playing. When the busker had a break, George got up and did his four or five best songs. I constantly hear stuff like that.”
“We met George at Dave Gilmour’s 50th birthday party in the late 90’s at Fulham Town Hall. It was the most ridiculous guest list ever: Bryan Ferry, Kate Bush, and Mick Jagger. I didn’t think George would show, but he did. We met him afterwards and he said ‘who was the bootleg Brian Epstein, he got all the money!”
After their bassist had hit a couple of ‘odd notes’ on ‘Free As A Bird’, Harrison offered the band a few pointers and admitted: “You know the chords better than I do, I only played them once and forgot about them.”
Paul McCartney met the band a decade ago at the Queen’s Jubilee Concert. He told them that the next time they play he’d come along and heckle.
Barreau sees their work as similar to an orchestra paying homage to the classical greats.
“We play things like ‘Hello Goodbye’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, things they never actually did on stage. They stopped touring in 1966. For us, it’s like an orchestra… who might recreating the work of Bach. We’re doing exactly the same. We’re trying to recreate the recording … and we try to get everything right and get the building blocks right.”
The band have some amazing career highs. Oasis took them on tour in the mid-nineties and invited them on stage to play ‘I Am The Walrus’. They re-created the ‘rooftop’ concert from Let It Be in Savile Row… before the council shut them down: but their biggest compliment came from the Beatles’ producer George Martin.
“He said, they’re very happy because, when we play, the standard [of our show] is so high… that’s the headmaster giving you your degree at the end of the course. “
Sean Sennett
The Bootleg Beatles play:
TWIN TOWNS SERVICES CLUB, TWEED HEADS – Friday July 26th, 2013 – Bookings: 1800 014 014
KEDRON WAVELL SERVICES CLUB – Saturday July 27th, 2013 – Bookings: (07) 3359 9122
THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE – Sunday July 28th, 2013 – Bookings: (07) 3852 1711
DEE WHY RSL CLUB – Wednesday July 31st, 2013 – Bookings: (02) 9454 4000
BANKSTOWN SPORTS CLUB – Thursday August 1st, 2013 – Bookings: (02) 9722 9888
THE GOV, ADELAIDE – Friday August 2nd, 2013 – Bookings: VenueTix (08) 8225 8888
ASTOR THEATRE, PERTH – Saturday August 3rd, 2013 – Bookings: Show Ticketing (08) 9370 5888
