What comes to your mind when you hear the term “cover band”? Here’s what I think of: a group of musicians who make a living off of someone else’s talent and creativity. And when I hear “Beatles cover band” I think of the need to find a left-handed bass player, wigs, Sgt. Pepper jackets and a drummer with a big nose.
So what if I told you I saw the world’s greatest Beatles cover band last Saturday night in Chicago and they blew my mind? First of all, let me clarify a couple of terms. A “tribute” band does the wigs and Sgt. Pepper jackets. A cover band simply plays the music.
And the world’s greatest Beatles cover band, the Fab Faux, is not made up of musical wannabes. The band’s leader is Will Lee, the bass player on the David Letterman show. The lead guitarist is Jimmy Vivino, musical director of the Conan O’Brien show. The three other members of the band are highly accomplished session musicians. Collectively, they’ve played on over 1000 albums. To get the sound right they bring along string and horn sections. One of the horn players is also in the CBS Orchestra on the Letterman show. Not bad, eh?
What the Fab Faux did Saturday night was play the albums Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band straight through. Because of their other commitments, they don’t play a lot of gigs, and most of the time they play around New York City. They come to Chicago once a year (next year they are doing Magical Mystery Tour). They are recreating music live that the Beatles never could perform live because of the technological restrictions of the late 1960’s. And they are flat out awesome. For example, as I thought about the albums they were going to perform on Saturday night, I wondered what they would do when they came to George Harrison’s “Indian” songs. When the time came, Jimmy Vivino picked up a sitar, Rich Pagano, the drummer, played a tabla and they effortlessly ripped through the songs. Incredible.
If you want a sense of how good they are, here’s a Vimeo link to them doing the medley on side two of Abbey Road a while ago. You get the idea. Here's how good they are -- I drove from Grand Rapids to see them and picked my friend Jim up at the airport, who flew in from Kansas City to see them. But that was nothing. We sat next to a guy who flew in from San Francisco to see them.
So, having seen both Paul McCartney this summer and now the Fab Faux, I’d have to say “faux” in their case means a flawless recreation of the original. Don't hesitate to fly somewhere to see them if you get the chance. And let me add, for the price of two seats in the back row of Comerica Park in Detroit at the McCartney show I sat in the third row at the Fab Faux and then hung around for the “meet and greet” after the show. Here’s proof -- if you've ever watched the Letterman show you'll recognize at least one of us in this photo (Will looks like he couldn’t have been happier, doesn’t he?):
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