Friday night was Rutlemania'sclosing night in Los Angeles. The show is currently headed to New York. Rutlemania is a multimedia extravaganza produced by Eric Idle with all of the Rutles songs performed by the cover band "The Pre-Fab Four".
Interspersed between (some rare) clips from All You Need is Cash, and Can't Buy me Lunch, the songs from the film are performed live, like a musical. The theater audience was also entertained by dancing girls, flashy lights, tea, bubbles and the spectre of Leggy Mountbatten.
In the shadow of comedy, people tend to overlook pure musical talent. It is too easy to dismiss a comedian's music as novelty songs. Neil Innes'music stands up against some of the more screedly-eedly Beatles music, and definitely out-does a lot of bands that rode the coat-tails of the British invasion. It is easy to forget how often some stoner nerds watched that movie. It has a place in our lives and our hearts that is no less genuine than any other music. It is definitely more genuine than most pop music and bubblegum tunes. The music really did mean something to a generation, and it was an unexpected treat to hear it performed live.
"The Fab Four" appearing as the "Pre-Fab Four" did justice to every song. People had to be reminded that they were not lip-synching. Every song was performed live, and spot-on. Tight does not begin to describe how clean this band plays.
The Fab Four closed out the night with two Beatles songs -- Get Back and The End. We overheard someone say, "That was the most meta concert experience I've ever had."
Local musicians Abby Travis and Falling James were in attendance, along with Fred Willard. LAist spoke with Fred Willard, but did not get his impressions of the show, because somehow they were too busy discussing Fernwood Tonight sketches.
At the little afterparty, LAist mostly spoke with Martin of Mods and Rockers. He is quite the raconteur. When he gave me his business card I felt like I had won an award. Prepare yourselves, there are big plans afoot for this coming summer's Mods and Rockers Film Festival.
Eric Idle hung out in the lobby during the intermission, and after the show he stood there and signed every single autograph and posed for every photograph for every fan until they were all gone. That was truly impressive. They adore him, and he clearly does not take that for granted.
