The Fab Faux's Saturday 27 December show is now sold out.

A company called DiscLive have procuded CD's of bands recorded at this years Abbey Road on The River Festival. You can find out more at their website. [here]

Exclusive news of next weekends Fab Faux show's... attendee's can expect a few very special guests to introduce the band. We can't say who, but here's some clues: a former Beatles promoter, a Beatle girlfriend, a sixties performer who had a big hit with a Lennon & McCartney song, a famous producer, a different famous producer's son and finally a popular NY DJ!! If you're lucky enough to be going to one of the Bowery Ballroom shows on 26, 27 or 28 December, you're guaranteed a splendid time! Tickets are still available... go to www.thefabfaux.com for details.

On 6 February 2004, The Fab Five are having their own 40th Anniversary of The Beatles US arrival concert with Liverpool UK natives Terry Sylvester of The Hollies/Swinging Blue Jeans and Joey Molland of Badfinger. First, The Fab Five will be re-creating The Ed Sullivan Shows, with every song they ever played live on the show. Then they will be backing Terry & Joey. "Next to playing in The Cavern next year", say the band, "it's a dream come true! Plus, it’s a mini-Beatles expo and the radio station sponsoring it is giving away a trip for 2 to England. Cavery City Tours are donating passes for a Magical History Tour of London for the winners, too". For more information see our Fab Five page here.

The Repeatles will be playing the Silja Symphony cruise ship en route from Stockholm to Helsinki on New Years Eve. They have also been recording original material under the alter-ego The Repeats. Among the songs are a tribute to Liverpool "Mathew Street Beat", "Queen Of Karma" and "It's Not Me". The album will be released on The Repeats own label in early spring.

Following our exclusive announcement in October, today's Daily Express (Night & Day column) announces that Backbeat is to become a West End play starring the original cast. See the full article here.

Black Olives have been selected as one of the five best unsigned bands in the UK and will play the Final of the 2003 Artist Development Awards for UK bands made available by the London Centre of Contemporary Music in association with Rough Trade Records. The final will take place on Tuesday 2 December in London. See more details here.

Dirk McQuickly is currently touring the US and Canada... Yes Eric Idle continues his Greedy Bastard Tour in Edmonton, Alberta tonight after a brief break for Thanksgiving. For more information on this see the Pythonline website [here]. You can even see a picture of the former-Rutle with Mark Rashotte of Canadian tribute band All You Need Is Love! [here]

While we're on the subject of The Rutles... Eric and Neil Innes (Ron Nasty) both appeared with the other members of Monty Python at the Concert for George last year, which is now available on DVD... and is highly recommended. We like it so much, we've got a link for you to buy it from Amazon.co.uk right here!

News of upcoming gigs for two bands who have just returned from Latin American Beatleweek in Argentina...

Det Betales present 'A Hard Days Night' at Jeppe in Oslo. 20 shows from November 20th- December 20th (Wednesday- Saturday). email betales@betales.com for tickets... but be quick - they're selling out fast!

The Beatalls have announced four new dates including the Cavern Club, Liverpool on December 11th and 18th. Click here for full details.

Nottingham Beatles Day was a great success as ever! The Fab 4, Andy Birkett from The Beatalls and Rubber Soul provided the entertainment. See pictures and set lists here. Congratulations to Chris Raisin for organising this fab event!

Of course, you won't need reminding again that Let It Be... Naked hits the shops tomorrow (Tuesday in the US). The Fab 4 included two de-Spectorised versions of the album songs at the Nottingham Beatles Day - Get Back and Don't Let Me Down.

Itchycoo Park will be playing with Lawrence 'Macca' Gilmour on an incredibly brief tour of Liverpool! You can catch them on 6 December 2003 at the Jacaranda as part of the Beatles Charity Christmas Party in the afternoon and then in the Cavern Club around midnight! Lawrence and Itchycoo Park are both great acts, and regular guests at Liverpool Beatleweek, so try and catch this new collaboration if you can!

Less than a week til Let It Be...Naked and The Cavern Beatles have contacted TWIL to tell us that they have been including the Rooftop concert in their show this year. The band play at the Theatre Royal, Windsor (01753 863444) on the 16th November and the Ryan Centre, Stranraer (01776 703535) on the 18th so you can celebrate the release of Let It Be... Naked with The Cavern Beatles! Check out our new gigs section for listings for this and many other bands.

The BBC seem to be on a Beatles Tribute band frenzy! The Beatlemaniacs appeared on the hugely popular children's TV show Blue Peter on Friday 31 October. The Teeside group, who are also TWIL's Band of the Week, recreated The Beatles performance from Ready Steady Go!
Just in case any US Beatlefans were jealous that Cavern City Tours have announced an extra Beatles Weekend for April 04, those nice folks at Abbey Road On The River have announced that they too will hold an extra event. AROTR Florida will commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Beatles arrival in America, and record breaking appearance on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9th 1964. The festival will feature American English, Tim Piper and Working Class Hero, British Export, Beatlemania Live, Lawrence Macca and Mark Staycer among others and will take place from 7-8 February 2004 at Universal Studio's City Walk, Orlando, FL. More details when we get them...
There's just over two weeks until the Beatles' Let It Be... Naked album is released. If your band is doing anything special to promote this album, please let TWIL know!!

TWIL exclusive! It was 'lights, camera, action' for The Cavern Beatles last Wednesday as they were filmed in the Cavern Club, Liverpool for a new BBC programme Bill Oddie's History Hunt. The Goodies star was supposed to join The Cavern Beatles playing the mouth organ on Please Please Me, but due to technical difficulties (someone lost the harmonica!), the band played the song without him. Cavern George aka Rick Alan told TWIL, "The audience was a bit confused by the Cavern Beatles un-rugged and scruffy soundcheck which went on a bit too long cos the band was enjoying it so much!" The Cavern Beatles performed 6 songs including I Feel Fine, It Won't be Long and Day Tripper. The programme is scheduled for transmission before Christmas - watch this space for details!
UK TWILer's TV Alert! Tonight's BBC2 documentary 'Holidays In The Danger Zone' visits Kazakhstan and includes a segment on the region's best Beatles tribute band who played at Beatleweek in August, The Kazakhstan Beatles. I recall that the band were being followed by a TV crew when they visited Liverpool so look out for a few familiar faces. BBC2, 11.20pm.

BBC Radio Four aired a programme on Saturday entitled Nothing's Gonna Change My World, which was a look at The Beatles legacy in today's world. Ths programme included a large segment on the Liverpool Beatles Convention - you can hear the programme on the BBC's website until the morning of Saturday 8 November, but I have also transcribed it. [BBC website] [Transcription]
The Fab Faux have announced three dates at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC on 26, 27, 28 December 2003. For more information visit the Fab Faux website, here.
American English are playing a special New Years Eve show at Cubby Bear North, Lincolnshire, IL, USA. Click the here for more details.

Lucy Carter who attended the Stella screening of Backbeat at Abbey Road Studios last weekend has sent us a review and a picture from the event. [See it here.]
And of course, news of the day is the birth of Paul and Heather McCartney's first child, Beatrice Milly. Congratulations Paul and Heather from The Word Is Love!

Black Olives have changed the date of their next gig. It will now take place on 15th November at the Brook Green Hotel, London. They have also announced two further dates: see the Black Olives Mainpage for more info.

Joyce and Joe Brazino have sent me a review and some photos from Tony Skeggs' gig in NYC last week. You can see them and more info on Tony and his upcoming solo album on the new Tony Skeggs TWIL minisite [here].

Last weeks International Pop Overthrow in Liverpool was a huge success with 90 bands playing at the Cavern Club from Monday 13th to Sunday 19th. The Word Is Love was there all week and you can see photos from the event here.

Black Olives play a gig at Wild@Pop in Soho, London tonight. Visit Black Olives website for more info. [www.blackolivesmusic.com]

The International Pop Overthrow takes place in Liverpool next week. Water (the orginal alter-ego of The Backbeat Beatles) will be playing at the Cavern Club on Wednesday at 8.30pm. There are no advance tickets - entry (£5) is on a first-come-first-served basis. Other Beatleweek related artistes appearing over the weekend include Den Pugsley of The Overtures with Tony & Anthony Rivers (Wednesday 15th, 11.15pm) and Tony Rivers & The Castaways/Harmony Grass (Thursday 16th, 11pm), and Paul 'The Amazing' Kappa (Saturday 18th, 2.30pm). Bronco Bullfrog (Sunday 19th, 9pm) are also highly recommended as they feature TWIL Yahoo Group member Andy Morten!! TWIL will be at the International Pop Overthrow all week, so things may be a little quiet around here...

Calling all fans of The Backbeat Beatles! Would you be interested in receiving regular updates about The Backbeat Beatles and their original material alter-ego Water? You'll get exclusive news for both bands and will be able to attend private 'invite only' events including a very special Christmas celebration in Liverpool. If you would like more information on joining the Backbeat Beatles mailing list, or about the secret Christmas event, email me ninatwil@gmail.com

Cavern City Tours have announced that they will hold a Beatles Easter Weekend featuring UK and South American tribute bands. The event, which is a perfect solution to those post-Beatleweek blues, will take place in Liverpool between 9-11 April 2004. Bands confirmed so far include Ringer, Tripper, The Beatalls, The Prellies, The Beatlemaniacs and The Mersey Beatles, plus two South American bands to be announced. For more information see the Cavern City Tours website.

The 3rd Latin American Beatleweek takes place from 7-16 November in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This years event features Argentian bands alongside bands from England, Norway, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Germany, USA and Paraguay. For more info, see our Conventions page.

Other news round-up: [click on subject to see full article] Australian Beatles Festival next year :: British Invasion featured on North Fulton.com ::

John McNaught from Itchycoo Park has contacted TWIL with the exclusive news that they will are currently working with Lawrence Gilmour on a special show. He told us: "We met Lawrence in Liverpool and after one beer too many have decided to start rehearsing a McCartney/Beatles show with him, since he's now back in Scotland. It's early days yet, but we've got a Christmas show in Glasgow booked." Thanks John; keep us informed as the project progresses!

Yesterday's New York Times had an article on Tribute Bands, including a quote from American English's Eric Michaels. [Read it here]

Have you recovered from Liverpool Beatleweek yet? Well, I hope so because next years event is already in advanced planning stages! You can see what CCT have scheduled so far on their website, here.
The Fab Faux perform the White Album in it's entirety at the Irving Plaza in NYC next week. The Sunday performance is completely sold out, but tickets are still available for Monday 29th via Ticketmaster.com
The Littleton Independent mentions a concert to be held on Saturday 27th featuring The Best of Beatlemania. Read the interview here.
And The Fab Four (CA, USA) have an write-up in the Oskaloosa Herald prior to their appearance at the George Daily Auditorium on 27 September. Read it here.

There is a new website for the Beatles Christmas Charity party (see news of 19 August). See pictures of last years event and keep updated as more is confirmed for this years at www.seedism.com

Just a quick catch up with some of the news story's post-Beatleweek... the Liverpool Echo [here] announced the export of the Cavern Club brand with plans to opens clubs in Adelaide, Marbella, Rio, Sao Paulo, New York and Miami. The Liverpool Daily Post [here] reported on the Mathew Street Festival, saying that it was the biggest festival to date, and the BBC [here] covers the story of Gill and Paul Shedden; the couple who officially opened the MSF following their wedding at the Town Hall. They met at Beatleweek several years ago! And wonderful news for Instant Karma fans - Jon Keats and his wife are celebrating the birth of their first baby, Rosie. Congratulations to you both, from The Word Is Love!

Black Olives have announced a date at the 12 Bar Club in London on 3 October, but don't worry if you can't make it... you can watch it live on the internet! Check out the Black Olives Mainpage for more information.

The New Zealand band The Zeatles have relaunched their website which now has video clips including I Saw Her Standing There performed at the Cavern last year, as well as a great new design. Check it out at www.thezeatles.com

Last week saw yet another successful Beatleweek for Cavern City Tours, with 52 bands playing for six days and nights all over Liverpool. Stealing the show for their amazing performance of The White Album at the Royal Court Theatre on Monday night were The Fab Faux... if you live in the NYC area make sure you go and see on of their Irving Plaza shows on September 28th & 29th. The audience left the Royal Court utterly speechless after the Faux's amazing live rendition of Revolution #9. Despite my best efforts to see every band playing at the festival, I only managed to see 40... among those I enjoyed BR69, Black Olives, The Beatalls, Hare Georgeson, The Return, Repeatles, Aussie Beatals, Banned on the Run and Mad Dogs. Reviews, set lists and pictures are in the Beatleweek section, and will be added to so keep checking back! Congratulations to CCT for a great week,thank you to everyone who complimented me on this years programme and extra special thanks to all the bands who travelled so far and worked so hard to entertain us so wonderfully!

The Fab Faux have added an extra show at the Irving Plaza, NYC in September... you can now see The White Album in it's entirety on 29th or 29th... or both! See ticketmaster or thefabfaux.com for details.

With just two days to go until the start of Liverpool's Annual Beatleweek, everyone's getting hyped up for the big event! BR69 are a band of Brazilian 16 year old students who are eagerly anticipating their first trip to the festival. Felipe, Luiz, Pedro and Xande will be performing in the Cavern Club which will no doubt be one of the highlights of the week for the band. I'm sure they're going to leave Liverpool with many new friends and fans!

Want to celebrate Christmas in style? Well following the success of last years charity Beatle bash, Lucy Carter is organising this years party. Taking place on December 6th at the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool, it will feature music from The Prellies and local brothers Jimmy and Tony Coburn, as well as guest appearances from lookalikes Max 'Ringo' Frudd and Rich 'John' Sherman and Beatles promoter Sam Leach. Tickets are just £5 and all proceeds go to the Linda McCartney Cancer Centre & Macmillan Nurses. Email Lucy for tickets.

The recent North-Eastern US powercut left 1964... The Tribute stranded at Cleveland Airport and forcing them to cancel an Arkansas show. Read the article, which is jam-packed with Beatles song cliches, here!

Wyoming based band '62 are featured in their local press prior to their debut attendance at the Liverpool Beatles Festival next week. Read the full in-depth article here.

A round up of all the recent news in Beatle Tribute Land...

Of course, Abbey Road on the River took place last weekend, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer were promoting on the event. See their preview here. Another local paper, Clevescene, featured an interview with performer Lawrence Macca [here], while the Mansfield News Journal has an interview with his couterpart, Tim Piper [here]. Ontario's Belleville Intelligencer reports on local band All You Need Is Love who played at the event [here].

Meanwhile, South Indian musician Saroop Mathew organised an evening called The Beatles Story featuring live music played by some of Chennai's best known musicians. News Today gives a glowing review, here.

Wonderwall have an extensive feature in North Carolina's ESP Magazine ahead of their trip to Liverpool to back Jackie Lomax at the Cavern. [here]

Beatlemadness 3 took place over the weekend in Kentucky, when a rock group paid tribute to The Beatles accompanied by the Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra. Read the review.

Finally, London-based paper News Shopper is previewing The Cavern Beatles' show in Croydon on Tuesday 19th. [here]

A couple of recent news items from Indiana based press... The Palladium Item featured the concert given by Forever: The Tribute at Glen Miller Park on 25 July 2003 [here] while the student-run Purdue Exponent gave a rave review of the new Legends of Yesterday show, which celebrates not only the music of The Beatles, but also that of The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. Read it here. See our new Legends of Yesterday page for more information.

Metroactive Music has an article about Kate Pierson of the B-52's and her work on the new album 'From a Window: Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney' . Read the article here, or go to our page about the album which includes a link to buy it from Amazon.co.uk.

Rubber Soul were featured in West Virginia's Charleston Gazette, prior to their summer concert on Saturday 7th June. See the interview here.

Sgt. Pepper's Only Dart Board Band would like to thank all those who came to their three show residency at the Cavern, Liverpool on the May Bank Holiday. It was an unforgettable weekend for the "Flab Five" who then took a Magical Mystery Tour to Germany where they played a festival in Homberg (sadly not Hamburg!) to a crowd of over 3000. Upcoming major gigs include headlining a National Trust Concert at Montacute House in Somerset on July 18th followed by a main stage appearance at the Ashton Court Festival, Bristol on the 19th. A busy weekend culminates on Sunday 20th July when they headline the "Dickstock" alternative festival near Shaftesbury, Dorset. The Dart Board Band then return from a brief holiday to headline (again!) at the Fowey International Regatta in Cornwall on August 23rd. See the SPODBB TWIL page.

The latest Fab Beatles newsletter is now online on their website. Catch up with the band at www.fabbeatles.com/newsletter.htm

Following the build-up in the Duluth Budgeteer, The Duluth News Tribune has a review of Yesterday's concert with the DSSO. Read it here.

The Duluth Budgeteer News reports that Yesterday will be playing a selection of Beatles songs with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra on Saturday 7 February. Read the full article here.

The programme for this years Liverpool Beatle Week has been announced. For all the details check out our Beatleweek page.

Yesterday will be playing at Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ on Saturday 1 February, reports the Press of Atlantic City. Full details here.

Wish – a classic rock group from Oregon will perform ‘Abbey Road’ on Saturday. The set will be followed with more Beatles related music – Wish will play a set of solo Fabs songs. Read the article here.

1964 – The Tribute are featured in a piece in the Washington Times ahead of a show in Birchmere on Sunday 19th January. Read the article here.

Ian Watts from The Beatalls contacted TWIL from Germany where he is currently touring with Johnny Silver. It sounds as if the tour is going well and Ian is enjoying playing 'Paul' for the European audiences! We will bring you a full report when Ian returns to Nottingham.

The Fab Faux will be playing two nights at the Bowery Ballroom, New York on February 25th and 26th. They will be performing Rubber Soul and Revolver at each show, both in their entirety! If you're in the NYC area make sure you get yourself down to Bowery & Delancey!

Jean Catharell's Liverpool Beatlescene site has a great review of 1964 - The Tribute at Carnegie Hall on 10th January. Read it here.

1964 - The Tribute will be appearing on Good Morning America this morning. (ABC - USA)

The Fab Beatles will be featured on Carlton/Westcountry news on Tuesday 21st January promoting their upcoming show commemorating the 40th anniversary of The Beatles appearance at the ABC Cinema in Exeter. EXTRA'S WANTED! Put on your fab and groovy clothes and come and join the fun. email for details. On Friday 28th March 2003 The Fab Beatles will reproduce The Beatles 1963 ABC Exeter show, along with 3 other sets, at the Barnfield Theatre, Exeter. For tickets call: 01392 270 891