Let's be clear, no one will ever replace the legendary Beatles in the hearts of fans. But if you had to choose a tribute band to relive their rock madness on stage, it would definitely be The Analogues. Like true watchmakers, the Dutch have captured the essence of their music and transcribed it without embellishment to the stage. It's pure, it's raw, and if you close your eyes, you can almost feel the ghosts of the Fab Four haunting the place.
Geoff Emerick, the legendary band's sound engineer, says it himself: "I witnessed something I never thought I'd see again once in my life. Incredible". And if the man who knows the Beatles' sound inside out says so, we can follow him blindly. For The Analogues, nothing is more precious than capturing the soul of lost legends. With them, there's no disguise, no physical resemblance to their idols. What counts is the music, and only the music.
With a strong concept to match the Beatles without totally copying them: play on stage the albums that were never presented there. Indeed, John Lennon and his accomplices deserted the stage in 1966, but produced six studio albums up to 1970 and their tragic end. And it's precisely this period that The Analogues covers, from Revolver to the poignant Let It Be.
To do this, the band has done a masterful job, analyzing the quartet's albums in minute detail, relying on existing documents and trying to guess the unspoken by ear. And when they turn up with the same instruments as the original band, the stage can take on a museum-like quality. Key pieces include John Lennon's black and white Rickenbacker guitar, George Harrison's pale blue Fender Stratocaster and Paul McCartney's Höfner violin bass. When you're as steeped in the Beatles as they are, you can't help but produce concerts that take you straight back to the 60s. And that's exactly what The Analogues do, with precision, finesse and humility.
Spurred on by Bart van Poppel, the band's bassist and producer, the small band of die-hard Beatles fans decided to cover their idols. A tribute band, yes, but not quite like the others. If you ask them, these musicians see themselves more as "an orchestra recreating the works of Beethoven and Mozart, but with Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr as composers". The watchword is given, the analysis will be pushed to the limit, and the sound that will come out of The Analogues' guitars will resemble that of the original band!
After touring the Netherlands and neighboring countries, The Analogues grabbed the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album in 2017 and signed their first big gig at Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome, where they played to 17,000 people. That was all it took to build his reputation and propel him onto the stages of Europe. In 2018, it's the White Album they'll be covering, before a run at the Olympia in 2019. Fifty years and one day after its release, they will play the timeless Abbey Road to a captivated audience.
Forced, like many others, to take a break during the pandemic, the band resumes its tour, passing through France in 2022. On the program again, Abbey Road, played as always to the exact note. And the group now has a new project, a wager based on a single question: what would the Beatles have composed if they'd lasted after their sad end? The answer would be a mad musical uchronia, far more advanced than the Beatlesque trend already embraced by others. A science-fiction production that, once again, revives the spirit of Liverpool.