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Celebrate Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Echo Arena Liverpool presents a celebration of the iconic album.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and The Bootleg Beatles will be teaming up on Saturday 13 January 2018 to reprise their performance of The Beatles’ iconic Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It follows a sold out tour of UK venues in 2017, and marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most influential album releases of all time.
Organisers are promising a bigger and better production than ever before.
The performance forms part of the Echo Arena’s tenth birthday celebrations, launching Liverpool 2018 – a year long, city-wide celebration of the cultural offer the city boasts a decade since being the European Capital of Culture. It also celebrates ten years since the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performed the first ever concert at the Echo Arena in 2008.
It Was 10 Years Ago Today will welcome the Bootleg Beatles and the 70-piece Orchestra performing the album, arranged by Nigel Osborne live in its entirety. They’ll also play songs from The Beatles’ psychedelic flower power era including Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and All You Need Is Love.
The show will be presented by Liverpool poet and ex-member of Scaffold, Roger McGough, and conducted by Richard Balcombe.
It features new visuals not seen on the 2017 tour, offering a unique look back at the album named by Rolling Stone Magazine as the number one greatest album of all time.
“We’re delighted to reunite the Orchestra with our good friends the Bootleg Beatles and Roger McGough performing Nigel Osborne’s incredible arrangements of The Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper album at the start of the arena’s tenth birthday year,” says Michael Eakin, Chief Executive of Liverpool Philharmonic.
“Liverpool Philharmonic provided ‘the soundtrack to the year’ during 2008 so we’re proud to play our part in getting the Liverpool 2018 celebrations underway, as we did in January 2008, for the start of European Capital of Culture year and the opening of Echo Arena.”
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eight studio album by The Beatles, comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The record was predominantly recorded at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios by innovative producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick. It is widely regarded as the start of McCartney’s rise as a creative force, spawning global hits With A Little Help From My Friends and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Other notable tracks on the thirteen track record include Good Morning Good Morning and the title track.
Upon release, the album stayed at the No.1 spot on the UK album chart for 22 weeks, going on to soundtrack the “summer of love”. The Beatles reportedly debuted the new record by playing it out their friend Cass Ellliot’s window in Chelsea, London.
Catch the magic in full when The Bootleg Beatles team up with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for a celebration of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in full on the 13 January 2018. Tickets are available now through Ticketmaster.co.uk.