Last Saturday, December 8, was the anniversary of John Lennon's death. Here in Minnesota, there's a long standing tradition at First Avenue, an institution of a music venue. Local musician Curtis A pulls together a bunch of people to put on a Beatles tribute concert. With a little help from his friends, of course.

My dad was one of those people! He plays cello with the group, even wrote his own arrangements for the songs he plays! Dad's been helping out since...I think he started in 2002? It's been an off and on thing, but it's pretty awesome. He made arrangements for Strawberry Fields, I Am The Walrus, and Love Is A Warm Gun.

So the story goes, Curtis A started this back in 1980, when news broke that John Lennon had been shot and killed. Within a week of Lennon's death, he had gathered enough people to do a Beatles tribute concert. And First Ave was the spot! This year was concert number 39, and they haven't missed a single year! I saw them a couple years back, and I was standing in -6°F cold, waiting to get in. People are serious about this concert!

setting up and doing a sound check

My dad stopped by before the show and told me that the sound check registered 115dB coming out of the monitors on stage. Not the main speakers, the monitors! It's a very good thing I bought construction-grade hearing protection! These guys get LOUD!

Since my dad was part of the band, I was allowed backstage with him. I got so say hi to a couple of the other performers (there were a lot involved), shared a few of my pics with Curtis' wife, and take some awesome shots along the way. Behind the stage, however, is something kind of awesome.

This wall is full of set lists from the bands that have performed there. A lot of them were bands that I didn't recognize, but I definitely recognized this one:

They also had the venue plan from when GWAR performed taped to the breaker box. This ine in particular is noteworthy to me, because this was the last show for Flattus Maximus! He was found dead on his tour bus after the show.

Crazy little bit of history, you know?

Anyways, dad didn't go on stage until much later on in the program. His first song was Still My Guitar Gently Weeps. My brother also joined in, playing string bass for the song! One of the guitarists (who I swear looks like Mick Jagger) had a killer guitar solo in the song.

You can even see my brother on the string bass in this one, too!

The show as a whole has kinda turned into this weird party/celebration of John Lennon's works over the years. They read some of Lennon's poetry, Curtis dropped some witty jabs at the topics of the time, and smoked as much weed as he could during the intermission and then announced it to the audience. He's been self medicating for a while now, it's become a bit of a running joke.

The whole club was completely packed, including a large standing room only section right in front of the stage. It always has been, and always will be. It's kind of funny now, the people that show up come from a wide swath of backgrounds, ages, and genders. Guys and gals, young and old show up for this concert. Because let's be honest. It's just good music!

Gonna leave you guys with one selfie of the show. I took this backstage with my dad. These concerts are great, and I really should see if I can help out one of these years. I can't play an instrument, but I can sing! I should probably look into that at some point...

Do you like my content? Follow my other channels!