THE BEATLES : EIGHT DAYS A WEEK : Friday 16th September 2016

The Beatles were bigger than Jesus so John Lennon once claimed, and looking through much of the archive footage that comprises the film 'THE BEATLES : EIGHT DAYS A WEEK - THE TOURING YEARS' it is easy to see why he had made that controversial remark. Directed by Ron Howard with the full approval, support and co-operation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison this fan film traces the four likely lads from Liverpool rise to fame from 1962 through until 1966 during which time they staged some 250 concerts, recorded numerous singles and albums, toured the world, were interviewed to within an inch of their lives, made a couple of feature length films, but still remained the lads from Liverpool at heart just out having a laugh!

Ron Howard's documentary tribute starts off in 1962 with the four mop-top lads playing the club scene in and around Liverpool gaining a relatively strong underground audience from their humble beginnings at Liverpool's Cavern Club. As mid-teenagers with a keen interest in music John, Paul and George had been playing together for some years with Ringo being the last to join the ensemble in August 1962. Those early days show how John, Paul, George and Ringo just clicked and became a band of brothers, how they shared everything, and how tightly knit they would become. It would take Brian Epstein who managed them having discovered them at a lunchtime gig at The Cavern Club in late 1961, to tidy up their act, put them in suits and ties, and help propel them into the stratosphere.

With found footage film, new stills and video that has subsequently come to light, and interviews with the likes of Elvis Costello, Whoopi Goldberg, Sigourney Weaver and Eddie Izzard who were there in the thick of it as young kids when Beatlemania gripped the world like never before seen, this documentary provides a chronological account year by year of the band as they played, toured, wrote, filmed and interviewed their way around the world relentlessly for a four year plus period. During this time they played a staggering 250 or more concerts in between doing everything else as well as simply trying to live their lives.

Greeted by hordes of literally tens of thousands of teenage fans (mostly girls who dragged along their boyfriends and often parents) everywhere they went, the four lads were mobbed and hounded by their adoring fanbase and the media. Television was still a relatively new concept and it was their live performance on The Ed Sullivan Show that established their further fame in the US - naturally a highly lucrative market. Record sales got their name out their but it was the concerts that made them real money, and by 1965 their famed US tour took in sixteen concerts in sixteen days including the ground breaking and history making Shea Stadium gig that played in front of 56,000 fans (a record number at that time). Seeing this 30 minute concert digitally remastered and presented after the closing credits of the film in 4K makes you realise how primitive live concerts were back in the day and just how far live performance has come. But for all of that, you can't knock the music, and the lads enthusiasm and their ability to play to an unprecedented audience of that size.

And so Howard's tribute continues to their final full concert in 1966 in San Francisco at Candlestick Park on August 29th, where again in front of a huge capacity crowd the boys sound was drowned out by the screams of wild fans, as their music played through the grounds tannoi system. Tired and just over the never ending spiral of gigs, media attention, travel and recording, the boys unanimously decided to call  it a day from touring. Every decision they ever made as a collective band all in it together was that it had to be an all in unanimous decision, and in touring that die was cast. They spent the next five or so years in the studio with their Music Producer George Martin reinventing themselves, experimenting and releasing studio albums and producing arguably their best work. They were after all, growing up, maturing in their musical styles and ready to take The Beatles in a new direction.

This film is a real trip down memory lane for those who can remember The Beatles back in the day and even the time when the four Liverpool likely lads split and each followed their own musical destiny afterwards. Or, for those who have only recently discovered The Beatles and their musical legacy, it is an insight into The Fab Four - how they came to be, how they clicked together as a cohesive unit, their shared beliefs, their creativity, their defining moments and what made them singularly and collectively. Howard's film will make you tap your feet, make you smile, make you laugh at the freedom the lads had to voice their opinions in a time before social media or the Internet without fear of instant rebuttal. They didn't take life too seriously, just in it for a 'laff' but they and the world got carried along on a tidal wave of fan frenzy, an avalanche of media attention, and a four year firestorm of musical output in just about every sense that was completely unique at that time.

I enjoyed this film, more than I thought I would, never having been a huge Beatles fan and more a product of the '80's with just a passing interest in the music of the '60's. But nonetheless, this new and refreshing perspective sheds welcome light on John, Paul, George and Ringo for me that I found compelling, interesting and rewarding viewing. If I had to pick any fault, it would be that of their personal lives was barely touched up, and with three of the band being married by the time they stopped touring in 1966 this is skipped over completely other than a single still photograph of John & Cynthia Lennon with young Julian. On this I would have liked to see a little more depth - the impact of the concerts, time away from loved ones, travelling with family, The Beatles immediate 'community'. All of that said, catch this film while you can - you won't be disappointed whether you're a Beatles fan or not - it makes no difference - see it for the nostalgia, see it for the history, see it for the music, see it for the legend, see four Liverpool lads having a laff riding the crest of a wave in all their cheekiness, euphoria, charm, musical talent and unwittingly creating a legacy that is still strong today.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-