Since George Harrison held the world’s first charity concert in aid of the people of Bangladesh in 1971, it has become a guaranteed way to raise money, and what better way to do it?
Liverpool locals Alan Kenny and Nadeen Kemp have formed Nadal Promotions and have put together four different gigs for James Bulger House, the first one, a 60’s themed night, took place last Friday in the famous Cavern Club on Mathew Street.

First on stage was the all girl band, The Beatelles, who make sure you see The Beatles from a different point of view. Most of the songs are played as you would expect them to be, with the one notable difference of being sung by girls. It’s just a very different experience, but the harmonies are so good and spot on.
The Beatelles played songs spanning the whole of The Beatles career, from the early Twist And Shout and Can’t Buy Me Love, to the really rocking Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey (which, incidentally, is the longest title of a Beatles song) and a truly heartfelt version of Oh! Darling, that made me want to hear the original on repeat. This is what a good tribute band does: it reminds you how good the music is, and makes sure you go straight home and put it on.
How do The Beatelles remind you of the fabness of The Beatles? They change the songs around just enough to make them even more sexy, so the track Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? sounds as inviting as ever, and the aforementioned Oh! Darling is just mesmerising. Helter Skelter is another song the girls have changed and again the changes are brilliant; changes in the tempo of the song, highlighting the lyrics and just making listening to it a totally new experience.
After taking us through the highlights of The Beatles catalogue, the girls ended their set with A Hard Day’s Night, establishing just how good their harmonising and musicianship is. Have a listen on their myspace and see where they play next at www.myspace.com/femalebeatlestribute.

Then it was time for another tribute band; The Kinx. The band not only sounded like the Kinks, they actually looked like the guys as well, with all authentic 60’s gear and clothes (including very tight, stripy trousers).
As the singer said, the only difference between them and the real Kinks was that this band actually turned up.
Here, as with The Beatelles, the dedication to the music shines through and we were treated to such classics as All Day And All Of The Night, Waterloo Sunset, Sunny Afternoon and Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, and many more great songs from the Kinks career. Amazing to think that this band has only been together for two years, the performance was so believable and very enjoyable, you just couldn’t help smiling as the band went into a long jam over the track Lola. The band stayed in character for most of the set, providing a true 60’s feel to the night.
Go to their website to check them out on www.thekinx.com.

Next on was The Shakers, a really tight sounding band, who many have referred to as the ultimate Merseybeat sound experience, and with good reason!
The charisma and sheer joy of playing that oozes from this band is amazing and you just can’t help singing and clapping along. The set list was a mixed bag of all things 60’s: There were of course the obvious Beatles classics such as I Should Have Known Better, Please Please Me and Twist And Shout, but also songs that Lennon and McCartney gave away for other artists to record, amongst these A World Without Love (Peter and Gordon) and Bad To Me (Billy J Kramer). These songs were given new life and once again reminding us that Lennon and McCartney really knew what they were doing, even in those early days. The set also included It’s All Over Now by The Rolling Stones and Love Potion No 9 and Needles And Pins by The Searchers.
This band is a must see (or should that be hear?!) and if you’re based in Liverpool (or don’t mind a bit of driving) you’re in luck: The Shakers are on every Thursday at The Cavern Pub and every Sunday at The Cavern Club.

No 60’s night would be complete without an original band, and Nadal Promotions got The Undertakers to play a set that truly cemented the fact that the 60’s was a great decade for music. Although there have been some replacements during the years (the drummer in particular looked suspiciously young to have been playing with them in the 60’s) this couldn’t distract the audience’s attention from the fact that this band really knows how to rock. Sure, the voices sounded a bit strained at times, especially during Lucille and Long Tall Sally, but that was really just a part of the experience and the great efforts turned in by the sax player and the lead guitarist were just memorable! Other songs in the set included Hallelujah I Love Her So, Matchbox and The Letter, all good, solid, 60’s hits that got the crowds dancing and singing along.

So how do you round up an evening like that? You put on Searchin’, a band more than capable of delivering the songs from the 60’s era. From the almost sickly sweet Teenager In Love and Daydream Believer to the more rocking Some Other Guy, Money and the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit Bad Moon Rising. We were also treated to the classic When You Walk In The Room and everyone went ahead for a sing a long to both Brown Eyed Girl and Do Wah Diddy. An excellent band to end the evening with and luckily they were more than willing to provide a few encores for the crowd that just didn’t want to call it a night.

Next charity gig will be a Metal Night at The Bumper in Hardman Street on Friday 02/10. Also, there will be an Acoustic Night on 16/10 and a Mixed Bag on 25/10.
Further info at www.myspace.com/nadalpromotions

Written by Ida Ottesen