The Beatles, perhaps the most influential band of all time, performed two concerts at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Sept. 3, 1964, a date still remembered by many in the Circle City. Recently, the State Fair Commission hosted an event to commemorate the concert with a band called 1964 the Tribute filling in the role of The Beatles.
The event started at 6 p.m. with local radio personality Laura Steele interviewing two people on stage who were at the concert 60 years ago. I might have been the youngest person who went alone, but I understood the importance of hearing the memories and stories from another generation.
After the interview, the first portion started, the listening session for the original 1964 recording. The video actually lined up with the audio but towards the end it seemed like someone gave up in the editing process and started playing video loops. One cool thing about the session was when the audio had to be muted in between voice lines and the songs due to Beatlemania: the phenomenon in which fans screamed their heart out because The Beatles were in front of them.
Luckily, intermissions were provided during the event and soon the second portion started, 1964 the Tribute performing the original setlist. The band did a really good job, they even nailed the dialogue between songs from the original concert. The musician playing George Harrison did make a mistake. However, listening to the live recording, The Beatles also made mistakes.
As time seemed to drag on following another intermission, the third and final act commenced: 1964 the Tribute playing The Beatles’ “greatest hits.” In 10th grade, I loved The Beatles, but was mainly focused on the band’s later material, which I was not expecting to be at this concert, but it would have been nice to hear anyway. Their work is distinguishable but the early material has a distinct sound, almost like its own genre. The greatest highlight from the final act was when they performed “In My Life.” They had everyone get out their “pocket phones” and record, which I thought was a very wholesome and moving moment.
I was glad they allowed video at the concert — my grandma who was at the original concert 60 years ago unfortunately could not attend, but I was able to show her some videos I took. She approved of the event, saying the drummer in particular did a good job at portraying Ringo Starr.
If I were to change anything about this event, it would be the structure and length. 1964 the Tribute did an amazing job, but it was redundant, dedicating an hour to the original audio when it was only about one half an hour long. I would have much rather seen the band perform first and save the listening session for the end.
I feel having the event on the Tuesday night after Labor Day did not help with attendance, but the point was that it was 60 years later, to the day. In 1964, the concert fell on a Thursday which I feel would have been easier to attend. Overall, it was a great historical experience.
