Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute
They were voted the Number One Tribute Act in Las Vegas by The Fremont Street Experience.
They are the longest running show ( 3 years) at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City.
They are Legends In Concert’s Featured act in both Las Vegas and Branson, Missouri.
And they are the Favorite Tribute act of Paul McCartney and Bill Medley and yes, even the late Toby Keith.
The group we are speaking of is – Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute.
They encompass all eras of The Beatles music from the Hamburg days through the Shea Stadium performances and Sgt. Pepper.
Don Bellezzo who portrays John Lennon in Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute band talked with us about his group.
Q – Do, how did this group “ Come Together”? Who put this group together and whose idea was it to base it out of Las Vegas?
A – I did. I’m the founder. I put together Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute. It was a few years after I graduated from college. I went to Loyola University in Chicago. When I was there I used to play in the coffee shop by myself. Sometimes I’d play with another guy and we would play different songs by different people- the Eagles which took a little more harmony, Neil Diamond, Neil Young and The Beatles.
Whenever I would do a Beatles song everybody usually acted tremendously ‘cause of the sound and my look.
After I graduated from college I went to work for my Dad for a few years in his business and I decided I wanted to do music as a career.
So, in the middle of the 90’s I started the group Yesterday with a couple of guys that I knew locally in Los Angeles. I’m originally from Chicago but then I moved to L.A. when I was about 10 with my parents.
And so we started playing locally. Then an agent saw us and he started booking us nationwide. Some of those guys weren’t as serious about doing it like me so I replaced a couple of them . I met somebody else who wanted to put us into the Las Vegas show Legends In Concert. So, I moved to Las Vegas and we played in that show.
In the process I met Barbara McKeowan. She’s a producer. We kind of work together and put the show up on even a higher level.
Also in that production co. Yesterday Productions, Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute is the main thing but we also created British Explosion which was The Beatles and the Stones.
Then we also did Legends Of Yesterday which is The Everly Bros., Buddy Holly and The Beatles.
Q – What is Barbara McKeowan’s role in Yesterday Productions? Did she put up money?
A – Yeah. She put up some money and then she also had a lot of creative ideas on the show using backdrops. It was her idea to do The Beatles and the Stones together which we did for a little bit. And then The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and The Beatles. She came up with a lot of great ideas.
Q – Why did you get such an enthusiastic response when you sang a Beatles song at this coffee shop? Is that because you both look and sound like John Lennon?
A – Yes. That is correct. Sometimes I did a song that was more of a Paul song like ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. That’s Paul singing lead but I would sing it ‘cause I’m a tenor, a very high voice. Lennon is also a tenor but Paul is a little bit higher tenor. Paul is what we call a lyric tenor, a Pop –Rock lyric tenor. Lennon was more like a Pop-Rock dramatic tenor, kind of like a first tenor, second tenor.
Q – Sounds like you studied music in college.
A – Yes, I did.
Q – You speak like someone who dissected every little thing in a Beatles song.
A – The funny thing is I don’t read music so I don’t look at a staff and notes. I just listen to the songs and I can figure ‘em all out actually fairly quickly without bragging. I really could.
I listened to ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and I knew how to play it in less than 5 minutes just from listening to it.
Once in awhile I didn’t know who sang what part because sometimes when they sang together I wasn’t sure. I knew what the two notes were but I wasn’t sure who did what. That’s where I had to look at a video. Then I noticed there was a little bit of a pattern that went on that more often than not when they were singing together, John and Paul on ‘If I Fell’ and songs like that Paul would sing the higher part and John would sing the lower part. But sometimes I would say a quarter to one third of the time somebody would go up high briefly and not hang up there but go up there and then come down.
It was Lennon like on ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ like on the high note on ‘Hand’. That’s John. It’s not Paul. I didn’t know that. I saw it on the video more than once.
I noticed the pattern sometimes where John would go above Paul like on ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.
Q – When you’re listening to a Beatles record are you hearing not only the vocals but the rhythm guitar, lead guitar and bass guitar as well?
A – Yes. I’m hearing everything. First of all I listen to the song to hear what key it’s in. Then I know the chords. Then I listen to the vocals and the melody of course. And then I know what the harmony is. And then when the two guys would sing together as I told I wasn’t sure who sang what when they blended together on the top but I figured that out by looking at the video.
Q – You said you can’t read music but you studied music in college. Didn’t they teach you how to read music in college?
A – Well, I wasn’t a music major. I was an English major. I studied music more by just playing.
Q – What were you hoping to do with a degree in English?
A – Well, I wasn’t sure. So, I just took English and got a Bachelor of Arts Degree. I took a couple of vocal classes. That’s kind of what I did with music. A guy helped me out with singing but not much. So, I developed it all naturally.
Q – How many auditions did it take to get the right guys for this band?
A – The Internet helped out quite a bit. It didn’t take a lot because I got some recommendations from some other people. One of the guys moved to Vegas with me. I met somebody else in Vegas. I already had the show booked but the one guy didn’t want to move to Vegas.
When I moved to Vegas I met somebody else out here and then they were in the show. It just came together. Whenever I needed to get something done I somehow how got it done. (laughs).
Q – You mentioned that Barbara put up some money for the group, but is there another money person behind the group?
The equipment and costumes are probably pretty expensive aren’t they?
A – Well, each guy pretty much owns his own costumes. So, there’s a guy named Russ Lease out of Ohio and he made the Beatle stuff. So, we just order from him. You can buy the black suit for $250. You can buy the Shea Stadium jacket for about $200 or $250, the tan one, the sport coat. I had a seamstress out here make the Sgt. Pepper outfit. That was about $400. It wasn’t tremendously expensive.
Q – What was it like to have your photo taken with Paul McCartney? Did he sit in the audience and watch your show or don’t you know?
A – I don’t know. I didn’t know he was there and I don’t know how long he was there.
When we were playing at the hotel in Las Vegas, the Tropicana, I was told Paul McCartney is here and he wants to come backstage. I thought he meant there was a guy who did Paul McCartney, a Paul McCartney impersonator who wanted to talk to me so maybe he could be in our group, be in the cast. That’s what I thought.
And so I said, ‘A Paul McCartney guy?’
He said, ‘No. Paul McCartney’.
I said, ‘You mean the real Paul McCartney?’
He said, ‘Yeah. He’s here in town’.
In Vegas they were doing that ‘Love’ Show.
He came backstage, but he had a couple of guys with him. They must have been his bodyguards or drivers. He didn’t come alone. And, we met him.
Q – What did he say to you?
A – We didn’t talk long, but he liked what we did. He said, ‘You chaps are doing really well. You chaps do a good job. Keep up the good work’, and we took a picture with him and that was it basically. We shook hands. It wasn’t long but it was great.
Q – You just have to wonder what’s going through his mind if he’s in the audience and watching someone onstage portray him.
A – I know. You know what? Thank God we didn’t know he was there. I don’t do Paul anyway. It would’ve been really rough on the guy who does Paul. ( laughs).
You’re right. Who knows what he’s thinking. He probably likes the fact that we’re doing a tribute to The Beatles. It helps him in a way. He doesn’t need our help but, you know what I mean. It keeps the Beatle thing alive but, he does that on his own anyway. He doesn’t need us. I don’t know what he thinks, but he liked it. He gave us a good endorsement.
Q – Do you tour only in the U.S. or do you go overseas?
A – I’ve been to Japan about 6 or 7 times. Hong Kong. Canada. A little bit in Mexico. They love The Beatles in Japan.
Q – I imagine they would. By now everybody has heard The Beatles music right?
A – That’s right. Yes. The other group that’s really popular in Japan is The Rolling Stones. That goes over big too. I noticed that.
Q -How many gigs a year does ‘Yesterday” play?
A – Probably about 50 or 60 maybe.
Q – Since you base yourself out of Las Vegas, do you have a steady gig at the Tropicana?
A – No. We did that before. Then we were playing downtown on Fremont Street at the Golden Nugget Casino, but the Covid thing kind of ruined it. So, we haven’t done that anymore. Once in a great while but not like before. Mostly we play nationwide. Besides there’s more money in it nationwide playing all these different theatres, fairs and festivals.
Q – Isn’t there more expense involved in getting to gigs nationwide?
A – Yeah, but Barbara charges a lot of money so we’re good. (laughs).
Q – Some tribute groups will have two sets of equipment, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. Do you have to truck your equipment from Las Vegas to anywhere in the U.S.?
A – When we play any place they provide the backline. The venues provide the drum set and a couple of guitar amps and keyboard.
Q – And so you come with your guitar….
A – And costumes. Now, we do have a set of backline in the South, in Old Dixie. We have one set in Pensacola( Florida). Once in awhile if somebody has a problem with a backline in the South and that’s usually where I’ve encountered it, not anywhere else, if it’s not really far away we’ll supply the backline.
We have drums, two guitar amps, bass amp, and a keyboard. But, I would say 90% of the time or more, maybe 95% of the time the venues provide the backline.
Q- Why would the South have a problem with providing the backline?
A- I don’t know. Not all the venues in the South, just a couple of ‘em that I ran into.
Q – Other than Paul McCartney did you ever meet anyone else associated with The Beatles?
A – In Paul McCartney’s band there’s a guy named Brian Ray. He’s that blonde-haired guy. He plays rhythm guitar and sings harmony. I met him when we were in Albuquerque.
We got on the bus together to go to the car rental place. I talked to him and asked him some questions that I never asked Paul McCartney because I was in shock that it was him and we were talking a little bit and he left.
So anyway, II asked Brian some questions.
On the Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles first performance, when you listen to it, they’re a half a step lower than the record. Like ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ is in G Major, but they’re playing it in G Flat. So I always wondered about that.
I asked him, ‘Do you think that The Beatles tuned down a half a step?’
He said, ‘No. They never did that on purpose. It probably was a tape transfer from 1964 which slowed it down a little or it could be that they just hit a note on a piano on The Ed Sullivan Show and it was flat and they tuned lower’.
He said they never purposely tuned down.
He said even now, when we play Paul McCartney does all the songs in the original key.
That’s what he told me.
I always wondered about that.
©Gary James
Official Website: yesterdaybeatlestribute.com
