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The Beatles - Love (2006)
by Rene Young

In the first week of November, 2006, I was in Las Vegas on business with some colleagues and our significant others. In advance of the trip we had decided that we'd set aside one evening to go for a nice dinner and then take in a show. After researching our options online, we picked the Top of the World Restaurant atop the Stratosphere Hotel, and the Cirque Du Soliel Beatles show at the Mirage, Love. It turned out that we made excellent choices. Dinner was superb, the service was first class, and the view...well there's no place in Las Vegas with a better view!

I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy The Beatles Love. I mean, I'm a huge Beatles fan...first records, first concert, weekly Beatles Internet radio show at The Dividing Line & all...but I'm not really into acrobatics and dance, and I have to admit I was more than a little apprehensive about the prospect of Beatles music potentially being desecrated by a no-point cash-grab fiasco. But when I read that this show actually had its beginnings through a friendship and mutual admiration between George Harrison and Cirqu Du Soliel founder Guy Laliberte, who met as a result of their love of car racing, and that the music had been specially remixed from original Beatles master tapes by producer George Martin and his son Giles, my interest had been captured. Then I read that the theater featured more than 6,000 speakers - in addition to the house PA system there was a pair of speakers in the headrest of each seat, and one facing you in the back of headrest of the seat in front of you. It began to sound like the music plays an integral role.

In the weeks before our trip it was announced that the soundtrack would be released as an album in November. Some fans expressed their fears that this album would be nothing less than blasphemy. How could those greedy record executive types allow the Beatles music to be disfigured and bastardized like this? Myself, I decided to defer judgment until I had experienced the show and the music.

Upon entering the specially-built theater at the Mirage there was a buzz in the air. The seating surrounds the plus-sign shaped stage, with two giant wide projection screens mounted on the outer walls, one opposite the other, and several floor-to-ceiling sheer curtains dividing the room into four sections. Girls with British accents, dressed in meter maid uniforms directed audience members to their seats and before the show began, shouted instructions about something that was going to come out into the seating area. “I cannot tell you what it is, but you will know it when you see it. You may touch it, but DO NOT GRAB IT” our lovely Rita implored. I’m not going to tell you what it was, other than to say we were glad our seats were just beyond its reach, allowing us to see the whole effect.

All day long, I had the song “Because” in my head, and I was sure it was going to be used in the show. Little did I know that it would be the opener. And as I suspected, it was taken from the Anthology version…just the marvelous vocal harmonization, no instruments. But wait, this was different again. The duration of the pauses between phrases was modified, and a little section in the middle was left out. All went quiet momentarily, and then we heard the drone of a single chord getting louder and louder, until it became identifiable as the last chord in A Day In The Life, only played backwards. The crash of the opening chord in A Hard Days Night segued into the drums from The End, the opening chords of Get Back, a bit of the guitar solo in The End, and into the first verse of Get Back. It all fit perfectly. This was cool!

Oh, and the stage show. There was this Charlie Chaplin type character who sheepishly moped around, holding a small bouquet of flowers, looking bashful, being led slowly around the stage by a couple of other performers. He would return during the finale to add an exclamation point to the statement being made.

The video screens provided a backdrop. You found yourself glancing at the animated sequences being projected on them as often as you could, but you couldn’t stay focused on them because there was always so much happening on the stage, and above it. The opening sequence depicted 1940’s Liverpool and rejoiced in the post-war rebuilding. This was the time when John, Paul, George and Ringo were born. But this was no history lesson. There was no plot to follow or recounting of events in chronological order. It was quickly apparent this was a celebration of The Beatles’ music, no more, no less, in no particular order.

But the music…this is not your mom and dad’s Beatle music (or mine), but then again, it is. It’s familiar, yet new. And for me, it was the star of the show. And that’s the way it should be. If it took a back seat to the stage show, no matter how good it was, it would amount to nothing more than that no-point cash-grab fiasco alluded to earlier. But no, I could have closed my eyes and not seen the stage show at all and still have been happy. But I was happy that the stage show was more of an expression of love for the music than anything else, and it was easy to lose yourself in the emotion.

I’m not saying the stage show was unnecessary or lame. In fact, it was quite amazing in its intricacy and technical prowess. The very stage itself was impressive in the way it changed shape and elevation, and how props and other components entered and left again. Performers appeared from above and below, flew through the air, bounced and jumped around, and danced. Lighting effects enhanced the ambience.

But the music…it’s all about the music. There were many highlights, and hearing it for the first time in that environment was very special. When I heard the bass and drums from Tomorrow Never Knows backing the vocals of George Harrison’s Within You Without You, I was floored. It works perfectly! Then in Drive My Car, they took the guitar solo from Taxman and put it in place of the original solo, overlaid bits of What You’re Doing and The Word, plus the saxophones from Savoy Truffle…how clever! I couldn’t wait to hear it again!

As of November 21st I didn’t have to wait any longer, as the album was released. I picked up the special edition, which not only features the regular stereo CD, but also a bonus DVD audio 5.1 surround sound version. This truly sounds fabulous, bringing new life to this timeless music, again. But I’m not so sure this album will be quite as enthusiastically received by a Beatles fan who had not seen the Cirque Du Soleil show first. Somehow, it seems like a keepsake from a memorable evening and something for the collector. Once I had seen the show I knew I had to have the CD. Since I experienced it in the order I did, I don’t know if the reverse would be true. It would seem to be somewhat of a spoiler to hear the CD and then go see the show later. But I can tell you this. I would most definitely like to go see the show again. There was so much happening at any given moment; there is a lot I probably missed. I doubt this is a show that Cirque could take on the road. The stage is too complicated, and too important to modify in any way that would scale down the effects and props. It’s worth a trip to Las Vegas just to see this show.

The CD feels like a new Beatles album. Apart from the Anthology series, all the albums released since the Beatles broke up over 36 years ago have been compilations or reissues. Even though the strings added to an early version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, arranged by Sir George Martin are the only bit new music on the disc, it all feels new. In addition to other experiments in taking tracks from one song and blending them with other songs, some songs are pretty much unchanged, except to boost certain elements in the mix. These elements were always there, but perhaps unnoticed because they were more subdued in the original. The Martins did a wonderful job. This Beatles fan is satisfied.