Beatles on the Beach kicked off a day early this year, the action coinciding with the Downtown Development Authority’s latest Art and Jazz on the Avenue event. The weather and the vibe couldn’t have been better for a Wednesday night in paradise: The drum circle thundering next to the Old School Square Pavilion, Beatles T-shirts everywhere, and muralists painting their vibrant versions of yellow submarines, the iconic symbol that popped up throughout this themed edition of Art & Jazz.
But the highlight of the night was certainly the performance by Finland’s She’s Leaving Home, a quartet that had just spend the past 24 hours traveling—first to Sweden, then to Miami, then in rush hour traffic to Delray—for the first of six performances at various Delray locations throughout the weekend.
The players were dead tired, but you couldn’t tell it from their performance, in a pop-up stage across the street from PurGreens. Clad in matching rainbow-striped overalls, they were far from the standard image of a mop-topped, British-accented Beatles tribute. For one thing, the only singer is a woman; for another, they use no guitars—practically a heresy when considering the Beatles all but invented the two-electric-guitars formula.
Instead, bandleader Riddo Ridberg played most of the guitar parts on a keyboard and synthesizer, anchored by a funky foundation of bass and drums that wouldn’t sound out of place in a dancehall. The overall vibe was closer to jazz-rock fusion that anything the Beatles ever recorded: “Come Together,” complete with an elaborate keyboard solo, suggested the piano grooves of Steely Dan; “Lady Madonna,” the standout closer, was positively rollicking.
Vocalist Myyri Ruokolahti infused each tune with an infectious energy; when she observed, “Here Comes the Sun,” there was much jubilance in that reportage, while “Drive My Car” brought out the rock ‘n’ roller buried within the lounge singer.
I, for one, found the group’s novel arrangements of familiar material exhilarating: Rarely if ever have I listened to Beatles tribute band and been unable to identify a song for the first minute. Is it sacrilege, according to those Beatles mimics who devote their vocations to mastering every recording note for note? Probably, but with these joyous experimenters in front of you, only the most hidebound traditionalist could resist tapping their feet and swaying to the beat.
She’s Leaving Home performs all weekend at Beatles on the Beach: at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Throw Social, at 10:30 p.m. Friday at the Blue Anchor Pub, at 11:35 a.m. Saturday at the GreenMarket, at 4:45 p.m. Saturday at the Pavilion at Old School Square, at noon Sunday at Throw Social, and at 4:15 p.m. Sunday at Johnnie Brown’s. For tickets and information, visit beatlesonthebeach.com.
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