Tribute to the Fab Four coming to Marion Ross Arts Center

A Beatles tribute band will be back in the A.L.M.N. next week for a show intended to pay homage to the legendary artists.

“We’re all rabid Beatles fans and we just thought it would be so much fun,” Joe Covert — the Paul McCartney of tribute act A Hard Day’s Night — said. In addition to playing Beatles music, the group also plays dress-up, including the outfits featured on the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

“We really wanted to replicate the sound and energy of a Beatles concert, and that’s why we decided to go the full nine yards,” Covert said.

Covert said the group is passionate about the Beatles’ music and the Beatles’ touring years inspired the tribute group early on. A Hard Day’s Night will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.

The band lists over 65 songs as part of its touring repertoire. Some of them were no-brainers.

“One easy way to decide is if the song was a monster hit,” Covert said. “… The band has 27 No. 1s, so that’s a lot of songs.”

Other songs on the set list include songs the fans are passionate about as well as ones that inspire the band members themselves. For Covert, those include “Got to Get You Into My Life,” George Harrison’s “Taxman” and John Lennon’s “In My Life.”

It wasn’t a No. 1 hit, Covert said of “In My Life,” but “I think it has the best keyboard solo for any Beatles song.” The group does it every night they perform.

But what may change from performance to performance is the audience’s ages.

“Demographically, very, very few bands have the broad appeal of the Beatles,” Covert said.

He notices it when the group plays a New Year’s Eve bash at Brit’s Pub in Minneapolis every year.

“We’re all middle-age guys who love the music, and we’re playing to good-looking 21-year-old kids who know every word to every song,” Covert said.

Then, there are gigs that draw the Baby Boomers in.

But no matter who it’s for, the show is always one thing: authentic, Covert said. You will hear a song put on like the Beatles would have put it on: no autotune, no pre-recorded music.

“To me, authenticity is No. 1,” Covert said. “We go out there and we let it fly every night, you know, and that’s magic — it’s real. There’s nothing fake about it.”

The group also does other acts, including shows featuring music from Bobby Vee and Brenda Lee and Buddy Holly, along with ’50s and ’60s revue shows.

Still, “You would say our bread and butter is the Beatles tribute,” Covert said.

Tickets, please

Who: A Hard Day’s Night

What: Beatles tribute

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Marion Ross Performing Arts Center, 147 N. Broadway Ave.

How much: $20