Thousands flocked to the first show of the city of Santa Clarita’s annual Concerts in the Park on Saturday to see Hard Day’s Night — a Beatles tribute band.
Concert-goers “should’ve known better” than to show up close to showtime, as some parked as far as a mile away from Central Park 30 minutes before the first note.
Kyle Lopez, event supervisor for the city, said the concert series usually draws a big crowd for a number of reasons.
“I think one: that it’s free and it’s a great event that can bring out your whole family to,” said Lopez. “There’s something for everybody to do out here. It’s kind of a great unifier for the community.”
Like the band that Hard Day’s Night aimed to emulate, the show attracted an audience of all ages — both teenagers and seniors could be seen singing along to Beatles tracks such as “From Me to You” and “All My Loving.”
Being a Beatles tribute band isn’t always easy. The band has many eras, sounds and looks and some even attempt to cover their whole arc — from early-boy band to long-haired and bearded pop pioneers. However, many just stick to one and the mopped-topped cover quartet on Saturday was no different.
Hard Day’s Night’s setlist stuck to mainly pre-“Revolver” era Beatles — donning the classic black and white suits, Beatle boots and Rickenbacker guitars they were known for during that time.
Their set started off a little rough though, with attendees grimacing to some sour milk notes coming from the pair of vocalists. The cause was ironic — they couldn’t hear themselves. For background, during The Beatles’ early years, they could barely hear themselves due to the lack of monitors, poor early 1960s sound systems and an eardrum-bursting level of screaming fans during their live performances.
While there were no screaming fans on Saturday, it did appear there was an issue with the monitors. Not wanting to spoil the party, “John Lennon” stopped the performance after just a few songs to announce to the audience that they couldn’t hear themselves.
Once the issue was fixed, it was apparent the four were indeed fab and could hit their notes just fine.
Isabel Reyes, an attendee at the event, said she grew up with The Beatles playing around the house. Her brother was a fan and collected their records, as they came out, ever since their first U.S. released album — “Please Please Me.” The record collection, Reyes said, was still proudly in the family’s possession.
“I just liked that (the Beatles) brought these different kinds of music back in the day,” said Reyes. “You know, Motown, oldies, rock and roll, hard rock and stuff. It was something different when they came over.”
This year, Concerts in the Park will feature tributes to Queen, ABBA, Santana, 1990s Grunge, Alt-Rock and Pop-Punk, and Taylor Swift.
“I think the biggest thing is trying to provide a wide diversity that will reach a variety of audiences here in Santa Clarita, and I think every year we try and strive to provide this level of diversity that anybody can come out to at one point or another during the summer,” said Lopez.
For the full Concerts in the Park schedule, visit bit.ly/3JQFoa7.
