Tribute Band a Hit

By Steven Petherbridge

 Beatlemania descended on Lisbon Tuesday night as the Abbey Road Band played to a capacity crowd at the Lisbon Opera House. The group is the THE Beatles tribute band for fans and purists of the iconic group, and Beatles fans of all ages had a good reason for coming out.

“The music is just incredible,” said Cathryn Ste. Marie of Wahpeton, “and it’s fun to see the audience getting into it. They are much better than I thought a tribute band would be.” 

From the opening notes of I Want to Hold Your Hand to the finale of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Abbey Road Band performed with an almost shocking tightness and authenticity. The enthusiastic crowd spanned several generations, with Beatles fans of all ages singing along to their favorites, and then dancing at the foot of the stage for the Twist and Shout encore. During All My Loving the band encouraged the crowd to ‘go wild’ like fans did during the Beatles 1964 American debut on the Ed Sullivan show, which served to give the song an even more authentic feel as the crowd broke into screams at just the right times.

 “If you looked around tonight there were eighty year olds, thirty year olds, eighteen year olds, and ten year olds,” said Don Lerdal, the bands musical director who plays the parts of George Harrison. “It’s timeless, absolutely timeless. It doesn’t matter what generation you’re from, everybody likes the Beatles.”

 “Even though they are a lot older than them (the Beatles at the time of recording) I think they do their voices quite well,” remarked Dustin White, a sixteen year old Beatles fan from Gwinner.” I think they are one of the better tribute bands that I’ve seen.”

“They’re a good representation, agreed Charles Ellefson, an 83 year old attendee from Milnor. “I don’t know if they’re as good as the Beatles, but they sound real good to me.”

The set list was varied, with an excellent sampling of the obvious radio hits such as She Loves You, Day Tripper, Love Me Do, Cant Buy Me Love, and Lady Madonna being mixed with deeper cuts like I’ll Be Back, This Boy, and If I Fell. The only variation from Beatles music was a stirring rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine.

Band members Monte Madison, Fred Gondzar, Don Lerdal, and Tony Johnson were able to reconstruct the classic sounds seemingly with ease, using keyboards on some of the later or more difficult material such as the horns and bells on Penny Lane. True Beatles fans themselves, the group has chosen to forego the wigs and period costumes and to instead concentrate on the music and on recreating each note live. The event was sponsored by the Sheyenne Fine Arts Association. “This is the first concert event held in our Opera House,” stated Association President Connie Radcliffe, “and it has been a great success, a full house.”

The Abbey Road Band’s current  tour started in early October in southwestern Montana and has taken them thru Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, and then  finally to North Dakota where they will finish on  October 23^rd. They will again be issuing a Ticket to Ride in this area at the Eagles Club in Valley City on December 4^th.