Beatles fans enjoy 'RAIN' at Sangamon Auditorium

February 11, 2009
By Luke Runyon
Staff writer

Here is some trivia: What gets an auditorium full of nostalgic baby boomers clapping their hands, swaying their hips, and singing at the top of their lungs?

Now the right answer is the iconic rock band The Beatles, but since half the band has passed away and the other half are pursuing solo music careers, the real answer is the band billed as the “next best thing to seeing The Beatles,” RAIN.

The Broadway hit came through Springfield on Feb. 3 and set up shop in Sangamon Auditorium.

Originally called “Beatlemania,” the goal of RAIN is to tour the country and breathe life back into the songs and style of The Beatles. As stated in the playbill, “RAIN’s intention was not just to cover Beatle songs, but to take it to a new level.”

Blasting through each era of The Beatles’ fame, RAIN complemented each period with classic tunes, performed live. It is a point of pride that the band is able to say that none of their songs are previously recorded and no distortion to their voices takes place.

Just like a real live concert, the band got the entire audience out of their comfort zone and onto their feet. All of Sangamon Auditorium was singing and dancing along to the Isley Brothers’ hit “Shake It Up Baby.” Lead singer Joey Curatolo frequently prodded the audience to sing along to classics like “Yesterday” and “Come Together.”

As the show progressed, each costume and set change was accompanied by a video montage of footage relevant to the era. It was civil rights protests during the Ed Sullivan section, cheesy commercials from the 1960s following that, and ending with the stock footage of hippies and Vietnam war protests.

The production even jokingly reminded the audience that while in the theatre they should not “smoke…anything”.

Throughout songs from The Beatles' early years, footage of screaming girls was shown directly on stage. Spliced between the hysterical teenagers was a camera feed of audience members singing and dancing along. No one in the audience seemed to be as infatuated with RAIN, as those teenage girls were with The Beatles.

Audience member and lifelong Beatles fan, Jansi Hurt, from Jacksonville, said the show resonated pretty strongly with her. “They may not look exactly like them, but if I close my eyes and listen, I can’t tell a difference.”

Hurt, originally from Connecticut, had been at the famous Beatles concert at Shea Stadium in 1965. “I still can’t believe that my parents let us go to it,” recalled Hurt. “It’s so surreal hearing it all again.”

As the costumes got wackier and more colourful, the message became less about fame and more about love and peace.

The '60s finally came to a close and after an encore of “Hey Jude,” the band signed off for the night making sure to thank their fan base. “Thank you! All you ex-hippies!”