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It started off interesting and nice, it ended up feeling like a classic night with more than its share of magic. Friday night at Los Angeles’ legendary Hollywood Bowl, the Bowl’s orchestra, with Cheap Trick as house band and assorted guest vocalists in tow, paid tribute to the 40th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The location of the show was as historic as the show itself. It was at the bowl that the fabs played a legendary show, later released on LP, on their 1964 tour. The core of the evening was an attempt to recreate the disk in its entirety. A historic evening, conductor Edwin Outwater called it. And he wasn’t far off. Geoff Emerick, who worked on almost every Beatle disk, and engineered Peppers, was in the booth doing sound. Guest vocalists included Aimee Mann, Joan Osbourne (of “What if God Were One of Us” fame), Rob Laufer who appeared in Beatlemania, and Ian Ball of British rock group Gomez, who incidentally hails from Liverpool. Cheap Trick were the perfect choice for house band as the Beatle connections are multiple. More than a few have called them the “punk rock Beatles”, and their melodic sense is keenly informed by the Fabs. Robin Zander, easily one of the greatest and most underrated voices in rock,. has regularly shifted from McCartney to Lennon timbre on Trick disks; they’ve covered several Beatle tunes; Fab producer George Martin produced one of their disks.And they even recorded three tracks with Lennon for his last disk, sessions that were shelved reportedly because Yoko didn’t like. Shame she had no taste because if you heard those three  tracks you know they put Lennon back on track. Cheap Trick was augmented for the evening on rhythm guitar and sweet vocals by singer/songwriter Bill Lloyd, formerly of country duo Foster and Lloyd, but also a highly regarded solo artist in his own right whose pop songs owe much to the Beatles as well. The evening opened with a Beatle overture from the orchestra before Cheap Trick bounded onstage for a stout rendition of Magical Mystery Tour, which they had previously covered. Each of the vocalist followed with a tune, highlights being Ian Ball’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” and Joan Osbourne’s take on the criminally overlooked “The Long and Winding Road”. Another great moment was when CT’s Rick Nielsen explained they wanted some artists to throw a curve and brought out Chicago industrial maestros, Al Jourgensen and Sin Quirin, better known to fans as Ministry. The duo fronted the band in a tonsil scraping rendition of “I Want You” which while not popular with all, certainly moved things to another plateau for most. But in all honesty, this first half, while entertaining, was tight and tentative. Everyone seemed a bit nervous. Then they took a break. When they came back to tackle Pepper’s most everyone had changed outfits, and the vibes Something took hold and the whole evening shot onto another plane. Kicking off with a rocking version of the opening title track, Zander soon shared vocal duties with others, the remaining singers standing in the back around two mikes like overqualified backup singers. One highlight was George Harrison’s “Within You Without You” where the band and orchestra were joined by seven Indian musicians who helped create an otherworldly sound perfectly capturing the original. The closing “A Day in the Life” was a perfect close, or so it would have seemed. The musicians left the stage to thunderous applause that didn’t stop until they returned to top themselves with a phenomenal version of “All You Need is Love”, sharing vocals all the way. The singers seemed to catch a ride on the positive vibe of the songs which climaxed on this last track.

Sgt. Pepper has never been performed live.. Until now. Luckily those in charge did it justice.