Paul the Beatle brings music of the Fab Four to Holyoke

     Some say the music of one’s youth, the music you listened to during your teenage/high school years, is the music that stays with you the rest of your life. Call it nostalgia or simply familiarity with the songs, it is the music that reaches deep inside and awakens the memories of the past.
     For the greatest generation it might be a Glenn Miller tune, or for someone who grew up in the ’50s, an Elvis Presley song. But for a lot of the baby-boom generation who grew up in the ’60s, it was the Beatles.
     A musical and cultural phenomenon beginning around 1964 with their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles took America and the world by storm. For several weeks in the mid-1960s, the top five songs on the Billboard Music Charts were all Beatles tunes. Many Beatles songs have survived the test of time to become familiar with multiple generations of music fans. Paul McCartney still performs for sellout crowds around the world.
     With this backdrop of a Beatles fan-base, Bob Halligan Jr. and his one-man Beatle show, Paul the Beatle, rolled into town last Friday night, Feb. 15, taking a crowd of 155 music lovers through a magical history tour of the Beatles musical legacy. Halligan, a very successful and prolific songwriter in his own right, donned various costumes during the evening taking on the persona of Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon, complete with spot-on British accents. A multi-instrumentalist, Halligan’s guitar, bass and piano skills were impressive throughout the evening.
     Beginning the concert with the black suit, white shirt and tie look from the Ed Sullivan show appearances, Halligan kicked off the concert with the infectious, “All My Lovin’” and “I Saw Her Standing There,” followed by the lovely ballad, “Yesterday.”

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