How a whim aimed at baby boomers became a 32-year gig
When Mark Benson decided to join a Beatles tribute band in the early 1980s, he never imagined the gig would last more than a few months, never mind a few decades.
“We never intended this would be full-time, and I never thought this would be anything other than a baby-boomer thing, playing a party or a class reunion or a nightclub or two,” said Benson, who has been playing John Lennon in the band 1964 ... The Tribute for 32 years. The band has been performing at venues large and small across the country since 1984.
“We were all in Top 40s bands, but none of us played in the same band at the same time,” said Benson, who hails from Akron, Ohio. “We were moving away from Top 40 and thought this would be fun to do to keep performing. We thought it was something we might do once a month, once every two months, but by the second year, we were doing it full time.”
“I don’t think The Beatles have ever gone out of style,” Benson said. “We falsely assumed it was going to be a baby boomer kind of thing, that the people who grew up in that time period would be most for it. There really isn’t any demographic that isn’t represented in The Beatles fan base. It includes toddlers to grandparents.”
One pair of concert-goers stand out in his memory. “It was a grandfather who came to the show with his 7-year-old grandson,” said Benson. “I talked to them after the show. They (had) just finished playing ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ (music video game), and every time we started a song, you could see the kid look up at his grandfather like, ‘Wow. I know this one.’ I’ll never forget it. It was pretty cool.”
By: Paul Feely
Source: New Hampshire Union Leader
