1964 the Tribute

Updating the original Beatles

1964 the Tribute strive for authenticity in their portrayal of the Beatles, but not everything they do is the same. Two areas that differ are sound quality and set length. Mark Benson, who portrays John Lennon in the band, says in the original Beatles live performances in the 1960s, the fans were lucky to hear the music. "You have to credit the Beatles with revolutionizing the sound-reinforcement industry," says Benson. "Back then they had these little speakers that you couldn't hear anything out of. The way concerts were amplified had to be changed." Benson says fans who saw the original shows notice the difference. "People will come up to us and say, 'I saw the Beatles in '64 and the only difference is I can hear you,'" Benson says.

Another difference is the set length. The Beatles did two 30-minute sets in their early shows and never did encores, while 1964 the Tribute performs two 45-minute sets. "We tried the half-hour show initially, but it didn't go over well," says Benson.

Members

The members of the group decided which member would portray which Beatle based on the instrument he played. "I was a guitarist, so the natural thing was the John or the George character," says Tom Work, who portrays George Harrison. "The way I got into it was, the fellow playing John Lennon [Benson] joined a band that was a local Beatles tribute act. This was around 1981. After about a year, he got his buddy [Grimes] to join and play Paul, and I was friends with him. About a year later, he got me to join and play George." Over the years, the lineup has included:

The current lineup is Mark Benson, Tom Work, Mac Ruffing and Bobby Potter.

Gary Grimes died after a long battle with brain cancer in December 2010 at age 60. His death was hard on members and fans. A memorial service was broadcast online. Mark Benson performed "In My Life" at the service.

Mission

The band's mission is to accurately re-create the 1964 Beatles invasion of America. Members play a set of all early Beatles music, with some middle Beatles thrown in. Sometimes the group's costumes reflect the Beatles' early period, and sometimes members wear replicas of the Shea Stadium concert apparel from 1965. The "concept is performing a show that gives you an idea of what it was like to see the Beatles when they were touring," says Benson. "It's definitely a music gig, but there's an acting element to it," says Work. "None of us is really an actor per se. I probably come closest because I've done some plays, just in community theater. But there's some acting. You need to adopt the body language, the speaking voice. Those two things, I guess, for this kind of a role are two aspects that resemble acting. Everything else is more musicianship and vocal impersonation — singing, I mean." The group separates its life onstage from offstage. "We didn't want to be them, just wanted to portray them," says Work. "No one really considered wearing those boots around all the time or the tight pants or having hair that looked like that. We were musicians before, professional, full-time musicians. We didn't start doing Beatles until we were 30." The members are getting older, but are doing better than ever.

PBS Soundtrack CD

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. I Want to Hold Your Hand
3. From Me to You
4. Love Me Do
5. Please Please Me
6. Do You Want to Know a Secret?
7. All My Loving
8. This Boy
9. And I Love Her
10. Act Naturally
11. Eight Days a Week
12. A Hard Day's Night
13. I Should Have Known Better
14. If I Fell
15. Can't Buy Me Love
16. Nowhere Man
17. Twist and Shout
18. Roll Over Beethoven
19. I Feel Fine
20. Paperback Writer
21. In My Life
22. If I Needed Someone
23. We Can Work It Out
24. Yellow Submarine
25. Yesterday
26. Help!
27. Day Tripper
28. She Loves You

Disc 1

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. I Want To Hold Your Hand
3. Love Me Do
4. Please Please Me
5. Do You Want to Know a Secret?
6. All My Loving
7. This Boy
8. Till There Was You
9. Eight Days a Week
10. A Hard Day's Night
11. I Should Have Known Better
12. Nowhere Man
13. Can't Buy Me Love

Disc 2

1. Twist and Shout
2. Roll Over Beethoven
3. I Feel Fine
4. Michelle
5. And Your Bird Can Sing
6. Taxman
7. I'm a Loser
8. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
9. Yellow Submarine
10. Yesterday
11. Help!
12. Day Tripper
13. She Loves You
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
15. Long Tall Sally

Nine Hours in November

1. It Won't Be Long
2. There's a Place
3. I'll Follow the Sun
4. If I Fell
5. Boys
6. Slow Down
7. Kansas City
8. Bad Boy
9. Don't Bother Me
10. And I Love Her
11. Any Time at Al
12. You Can't Do That
13. I'm Down
14. Rock and Roll Music

Starhand Visions

Original material by Gary Grimes. Other members are on the album throughout it.

1. They're Here...
2. The Arrival Theme
3. The Illusion
4. From the Light of Change
5. Hold On
6. Hold On to Love
7. Daydream Lover
8. Marla Star
9. Take Good Care of Her Heart
10. Would You Say No?
11. Tell Her I'm Home
12. You Are My Heart
13. Because of You
14. I Can't Live Without Your Love
15. Feel the Fire