The first requirement for a would-be tribute artist aka “celebrity impersonator” is having a physical resemblance to someone famous. Next comes the ability to replicate the way they talk.
If the celebrity sings, the tribute artist has to be able to match their vocal range. If the celebrity plays an instrument, the tribute artist needs be able to play it too.
Alastar McNeil will be doing all of that this weekend when “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles” returns to Honolulu for three shows at the Hawaii Theatre. For contractual reasons, McNeil and the other members of the cast are never referred to by the name of the Beatle they’re portraying. Suffice it to say that McNeil plays the lead guitarist, and that he’s happy to be back in Hawaii.
“The previous two tours we were doing the whole ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ album. Now we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ‘Abbey Road’ album,” the youthful-looking Mililani grad said during a recent visit to the newsroom.
On stage with him this weekend will be Aaron Chiazza as the drummer, Paul Curatolo as the bassist/lead vocalist and Steve Landes as the rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist.
THE SHOW is a history of The Beatles — Paul McCartney, lead singer and bass player, John Lennon, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, George Harrison, guitarist, and drummer Ringo Starr — from their days as headliners at The Cavern in 1962 through their appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, the huge concert at Shea Stadium in 1965, and their final years as non-touring experimental recording artists.
McNeil wants it known that he and his mates are presenting a different take on the Beatles’ legacy.
“We play later stuff that the Beatles never played live at all, and when we do the early Beatles, you can actually hear us instead of just hearing girls screaming. We’re on this state-of-the-art sound system,” McNeil said.
“And when the Beatles played those concerts (in the mid-1960s) they only played for half-an-hour. Our show is just over two hours with an intermission.”
In the Beatles’ few years as a touring concert act — their last concert was August, 1966 — the technology itself was minimal. In contrast, Rain is a state-of-the-art multimedia show that augments the cast’s performances as singers/musicians/actors with high-definition visual effects, 1960s-vintage television commercials, and video clips of the cast members in Rutles-mode recreating memorable events in Beatles history.
A keyboardist positioned off-stage helps recreate music that the Beatles never performed outside a recording studio.
“The entire show has so much going on with all the visuals going on behind us,” McNeil added, making it clear that in his opinion the audience experiences more than four multi-talented performers playing Beatles songs. “The entire crew involved with the Rain production is the most top-notch that I’ve ever worked with.”
One of the hardest things for a tribute artist to do is perform with only their voice to create the character. McNeil did that convincingly last week when he sang a Harrison song as guest of radio host Bart Da Silva on 107.9 Kool Gold. Truth be told, McNeil sounded closer to George Harrison than Taron Egerton sounds singing the role of Elton John in the biopic “Rocketman.”
MCNEIL HAD been playing Beatles songs in Hawaii for almost 10 years when he was invited to join Rain. A graduate of Mililani High School, he started out as a member of a Beatles tribute band “with regular guitars” that was known as A Day In The Life. Several years ago they swapped the guitars and drums for ukuleles and a cajon and became Beat-lele.
“We’ve been loving it ever since,” he says.
McNeil has a special affinity for the ukulele; he spent almost eight years making them for the Kanile‘a ‘Ukulele company, and plays a Kanile‘a 8-string tenor with Beat-lele.
Beat-lele recorded and released a critically acclaimed album, “Beat-Lele: An Ukulele Tribute to the Beatles,” in 2017. In 2018, the group went to Liverpool as participants in the International Beatleweek Festival.
“We played in The Cavern Pub, and the Cavern Club, which is connected to it, as well as a bunch of other different venues like the Hard Day’s Night Hotel around the corner. We got invited again and we hope to go back this year.”
Coming almost full circle, it was McNeil’s years of experience playing Beatles music in Hawaii that was his springboard to the national show.
“I was playing in Kelley O’Neil’s with another band, an Irish band, and we did a couple of Beatles songs. A gentleman happened to come in who was in contact with Rain,” McNeil said. “He put me in contact with them.”
Rain was looking for a guitarist with McNeil’s look, voice and instrumental skills, and he was asked to join the touring group. In 2018, he said memorable performances have included a date at the London Palladium and six shows in Madison Square Garden.
McNeil, who looks much younger than 41, wants to write and record his own music eventually — but for now, he said, he loves what he’s doing.
That can include learning more about the man he portrays so convincingly.
“There’s always somebody who’s an expert on some period of Beatles history, and everybody wants to share their knowledge,” he says. “I definitely know a lot more now, but I wouldn’t claim to be an all-out expert.”
He’s often asked whether he’s met any Beatles. McNeil came closest while on tour with Rain, when the group played a show in Vancouver on a day when McCartney also had a date there.
“He played just down the street,” McNeil says. “As soon as we were done with our gig we ran over and watched him.”
RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
>> Where: Hawaii Theatre
>> When: 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday
>> Cost: $48-$78
>> Info: 528-0506, hawaiitheatre.com
