Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

It was just plain fantastic. What a cool show. I heard he was coming to a small nightclub in the area just the night before, so my wife and I went and bought tickets at the door. $15 each, which was a steal.

Anyway, Pete and the band were great. He is a very humble person, quiet and unassuming. After the first song, he was called away from the drums by one of the singers to say hello. He made a quick introduction of the band and then said all the songs they would play he played with John, Paul and George in Liverpool, Hamburg, etc. He mentioned how all the covers were ones they all loved to play. He spoke very fondly of those days and when he (or others in the band) mentioned The Beatles, it was always with a fondness.

L&M songs played were the early version of One After 909 (slightly quicker tempo), P.S. I Love You, I Saw Her Standing There & Hello Little Girl. They did Cry For A Shadow, too, and the following ones off the top of my head:

Besame Mucho
Kansas City
Rock & Roll Music
Twist and Shout
My Bonnie
Long Tall Sally
Slow Down
Johnny B. Goode
September in the Rain
Sweet Georgia Brown

I think the band members are all from Liverpool. They were all great on stage, full of fun and swagger, but very professional. Instruments played were a Fender Strat, Fender Jazz, a Rickenbacker 325 (C58 maybe) in mapleglo, played by the rhythm guitarist. They all shared vocals and had a lead singer, too, who was introduced as a Best, maybe Pete’s son. There was an additional drummer off to the side, too.

The band was very, very tight and sounded great. They played a vintage style that was as close as can be to the Beatles pre-fame sound. It was loud, driving and crisp. And vintage. Hearing that sound live was a phenomenal experience. The vocals were all capably done. I've seen Beatlemania a couple times, and this was a far greater experience--really no comparison.

After the show he came out to meet people. He was as gentle as can be, and very soft spoken. He was almost embarrassed by having people call his name and showing admiration. Pretty darned cool. He signed autographs for everybody in line. I was lucky to be about 10th in line.

Great great time, and highly recommended if he comes to your neck of the woods.

Pete has always been very personable and easy going.

Ah, the atomic beat.... I bet it was great. Thanks for the review, Andrew.

I think the early version of One After 909 is far better than the later one and how cool is it that they did Cry For A Shadow? VERY cool ! (technically not a L&M song... its L&H)

What city did you see him in?

Kris,
I saw him in Williamsville, NY, a suburb of Buffalo. The band mentioned that they were a couple weeks into their tour.

Kent,
Cry For A Shadow was neat in that it was introduced as being written by John and George. Great sound, too. The lead guitarist did a great job here, in fact throughout the show. Oddly enough, he looked a bit like McCartney.

Also, P.S. I Love You was introduced as the B side to Love Me Do. It had been performed in the Pete Best days, so really cool touches for the introductions of the songs.

More info for Pete can be found at:

http://www.petebest.com/

Tony Barrow claims John said to him in 1964, "Pete Best was a great drummer, Ringo Starr is a great Beatle."

As for Andy White, good question. I cant see whether he's still with us or not... All I see is: "White was a studio drummer in the 1950s and 1960s, recording with artists like Billy Fury, Marlene Dietrich, Herman's Hermits and Tom Jones...... By the '90s, White had moved to America and was reportedly living in New Jersey, and teaching a new generation of would-be drummers in the art of Scottish pipe band percussion"