Sun Kings Do Beatles Best

I went to see and hear the Sun Kings yesterday at the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival. As I expected, they recreated the Beatles in a way that even Sir Paul can't when he goes on Tour.

There are five members in the Sun Kings, and despite a couple of attempts at early Beatle haircuts and a set or two of round John Lennon glasses, the guys don't try to replicate the look of the Fab Four. But they really do get the sound down perfectly, note for note and vocal nuance for nuance. Whether it's the early Yeah Yeah Yeah sound, the mid period ballads, selections from Sgt. Pepper or, yesterday's show-ender, One after 909, the guys have obviously carefully and meticulously recreated the real deal.

I was standing next to a couple and they were singing along. I joined them. The woman of the couple, like me, knew every word and we sang back and forth through a couple songs.

It was fun, exciting--even a bit emotional to relive that feeling. I also felt a little old, as the vast majority of my fellow audience members looked like they could have gone to high school with me. We love our Beatles, yes we do....

There are tribute and cover bands aplenty out there reproducing the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan and others, but somehow the Beatles' music represents something that is timeless and monumental. I don't know if there will be bands like the Sun Kings in 50 years when everyone who grew up with them will be gone, but it's possible that the grandchildren of those original fans may still want to hear the authentic sounds of whoever's reproducing this catalog in 2062 for the Beatles Centennial.