Originally, the two concerts in the Ziggo Dome were supposed to be farewell concerts of this super group (which The Analogues rightly are, given the footsteps that the members have set separately in Nederpop). Since 2014, they have played Beatles albums in full that the Fab Four themselves never played live in the 1960s. The Beatles’ studio experiments were not yet possible to perform live at the time. 50 years later, The Analogues made that live experience possible with the albums ‘Sgt. Pepper’, ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, ‘The White Album’ and ‘Abbey Road’ can be reproduced in detail with exactly the same instruments. It turned out to be so successful that, in addition to theaters, the Ziggo Dome could also be filled four times, and performances abroad were also organised.
Between 2014 and 2020, they followed exactly the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ albums. Since these had split up in 1970, 50 years later, The Analogues would also have a point. Until the corona pandemic came and their entire theater tour and these two Ziggo Dome shows had to be moved. Surprisingly, during the pandemic, The Analogues had the same idea as Paul McCartney; it inspired them to make an album of self-written songs entitled ‘Introducing The Analogues Sideshow’. A side project separate from their Beatles project. Because during these postponed shows in the Ziggo Dome, the music of The Beatles would of course be central again.
Unlike the previous times at their concerts in the Ziggo Dome, this evening there was a support act. A very clever choice was made for a Beatles cover band that plays the material from before 1965, while The Analogues do the work of the studio years after that. The Beatbox hails from Italy and was dressed up as their great examples. Something The Analogues never do on purpose. Early classics such as ‘She Loves You’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Twist & Shout’ (just like The Beatles used to be played last) came along at a brisk pace. . Played soon, but to hear those classics with a light Italian accent is a bit remarkable. As well as that the ‘George Harrison’ of this formation actually looked more like Ringo Starr.
Striking about the concert of the main act was that they started with a song that you would expect as an encore: ‘All You Need Is Love’. It all seemed to be picking up steam for a while. Jac Bico’s guitar solo went a bit wrong and the sound didn’t seem to be properly tuned yet. That would eventually pick up. For a moment it looked like they started with blocks of all the full albums they’ve played in recent years. First up is a block of ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. Just before the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ block, four random songs were played, the most surprising of which were ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘In My Life’. Since the announcement stated that the period 1966-1970 would be played, and both songs were from 1965. Musically there was nothing to criticize, because especially ‘In My Life’ caused goosebumps when Diederik Nomden played George Martin’s piano solo.
It wouldn’t be the only surprise. Despite playing a cross section of all previous theatrical programs of the band with accompanying graphics in the background. But that’s how the illustrated video at ‘Piggies’ was adapted by making a statement with Putin’s head at the end. Previously, ‘Back In The USSR’ was already featured, while Paul McCartney no longer plays that song live since the war in Ukraine.
But where at McCartney’s concerts the ‘Abbey Road’ medley of ‘Golden Slumbers’, ‘Carry That Weight’ and ‘The End’ is really the final chord, four encores are added to The Analogues. Founder and drummer Fred Gehring emphasized at the time that ‘Hello, Goodbye’ had been chosen as the title song as a farewell, but that they decided to continue with it due to the corona pandemic, and that they now see ‘Hello, Goodbye’ as a restart. “As long as you keep coming, we’ll keep going,” he said. Given the full Ziggo Dome (and the evening after as well), that audience will be there for a long time to come.
It was to their credit that they really focus on the Beatles material this evening, and that nothing came up to promote their own album, although that would probably also attract enough audience. Since they will continue anyway, it might be an idea to also do some club shows with their own material? The name is now established, and it could easily be used as a ‘sideshow’ next to their Beatles shows.