The Bootleg Beatles have been paying tribute to The Beatles for 40 years. And I usually think tribute acts are pretty silly and there’s something almost sublimely absurd about being a tribute band for 40 years when the real act lasted less than a decade – but hey, also The Beatles are the greatest. And if someone wants to spread the joy of that I’m sorta okay with it. Also, I saw The Bootleg Beatles sometime in the early 00s on a routine newspaper-reviewing assignment and they were good fun. And talented. So when they were coming back and my son was Beatles fanboy-ing big time I thought why not. We went. I wrote about it. (Again). It was certainly more fun trying to see it through his eyes and hear it through his ears. He was just elated to be out late I think – and we also nearly didn’t make it. Rainy night. Impossible to find a carpark. We very nearly just drove home. But we found a park. Ran to make it. And then, sitting way up the back, we loved every minute of it. It was such a blast.

My favourite bit though was Oscar correcting the woman next to him when she asked him about some of his favourite songs and then she listed her. She apparently had a word or two wrong in the titles. Oscar saw to that. Then turned to me and said, “Dad, that old boomer lady doesn’t’ even really know this band”. Kids today. Blessed to be a parent eh. Phew!
Stubs is an occasional feature here at Off The Tracks – looking back through the ticket-stub box and remembering how the show went down.