Attend The Analogues concert on Arte concert

Don’t miss the legendary tribute to the Beatles by The Analogues live on Arte concert this Wednesday, December 13.

On the occasion of The Analogues’ current French tour, Arte concert is broadcasting live their concert at Salle Pleyel (Paris) this Wednesday, December 13 at 8 p.m.

The editorial team was present at their concert at the London Palladium and also spoke with Jac Bico, guitarist of the group.

Flashback. Many people consider that Sunday October 13, 1963 corresponds to the big bang of British pop-rock. And they’re certainly not wrong. Because the appearance of the Beatles on the stage of the London Palladium, for the first time in their history, is the starting point of what will be called Beatlemania, where fans and the press together will agree to say that it was the stone cornerstone of the founding of the pop church. Sixty years later, almost to the day, The Analogues, not without apprehension, remembered this date and especially this legendary venue in the heart of London: an elegant place, as vintage as the instruments of the musicians on stage.

That evening, the atmosphere, which could have turned to easy nostalgia, was more about discovering these titles taken from the period from 1966 to 1970, the period when the Fab Four had definitively left the scene. Or rather rediscovery. Listened to 1,000 times, everyone knows the arrangements of each song with surgical precision, each note, each instrument. And the Analogues know it. Hence the meticulous care in the choice of material.

Because the group is not simply a group doing covers of the Beatles, bowl cut and Epstein suit, far from it. They work on the repertoire of the “Liverpool Four” as we work on Beethoven or Mahler, following the score to the nearest eighth note. Hence these amazing concerts given since their beginnings ten years ago, expressing concern for respect for the original work. The musicians perform classical pieces with period instruments, as one would do for baroque music.

Going beyond all the clichés that can be attached to the Fab Four, the Dutch push the accuracy of the reconstruction and execution of these now… classic pieces to the maximum, in a minimalist decor in order to focus on the music. Because the power of the repertoire is simply enough in itself.

With Swiss precision, the musicians making up the band arrive at 8 p.m. Right from the start, the famous chord of “Day Tripper” makes everyone agree, it’s going to be hot, show! And even great. The famous riff accompanied by its unstoppable groove launches a concert that will not stop until 32 tracks later. On the program, tracks from the last six studio albums, from Revolver in 1966 to Let It Be in 1970, including Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) The Beatles (White Album, 1968), Yellow Submarine (1969) and Abbey Road (1969)…

With all that this can entail of jaw-dropping songs, some have acquired, over the decades, the much envied status of “cult songs”. But the Analogues know their score. Nothing escaped them: “I remember endless discussions with the other members of the group to find out if it was this or that chord, or this or that guitar, it was lively but we ended up finding the right one. solution. Because it does not appear in all the studio sheets, although they are very well documented, continues Jac. But it was more difficult, because certain arrangements combined different and sometimes complex chords, so we dissected everything to find the best possible assonance.” Transcript work carried out with meticulous care.

The grand finale arrives, where the group attacks the best songs – although each fan has their own – such as “I Am the Walrus” with string section and brass section, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, the surprising “ Glass Onion”, the final sequel to Abbey Road, ranging from “Golden Slumbers” to “The End” or the futuristic and always relevant “Tomorrow Never Knows”. The Analogues have no brakes, and the exemplary reconstruction of each title, without even mentioning the quality of the final sound, truly astonishing, is an event every time.

Find this article on The Analogues in full in WECB n°157, available on newsstands and via our online store.