“Some people say, ‘If you close your eyes, you sound just like them.’ I say, ‘What are you closing your eyes for? These suits are expensive,’ laughs Mark Benson.
In a recent phone interview, Benson, Akron resident and faux John Lennon, explains how he’s kept one of the most popular regional Beatles tribute acts on the road for nearly four decades.
“Yeah, this whole thing is kind of my fault,” he laughs about starting his band, 1964 The Tribute, which on Sept. 22 plays at the Lorain Palace Theater.
“When we started this thing, there was no tribute industry. So we thought, ‘This is gonna be a Baby Boomer thing, and we’re gonna do an oldies party at a class reunion about once every six months just in Akron, Ohio,’” Benson says.
A brief period of time proved him very wrong.
He says by the group’s second year, they were able to go full-time, leaving their “regular” jobs behind.
“There wasn’t any age group that didn’t like this,” he says about the audience.
For nine years, they played coast-to-coast at colleges across America and Canada.
“We were the perfect ‘parents’ weekend’ band,” he laughs about their college years.
From there, the band started performing at arts centers before hitting Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, one of Benson’s favorite venues.
Eventually, the band began performing at New York City’s historic Carnegie Hall, where The Beatles played during their first year in America in 1964. (You can see where the band got its name.)
“We’re going back there (Carnegie Hall) (in) February for the 60th anniversary of The Beatles performing there,” Benson says. “I said, ‘Call Paul and Ringo — they haven’t been back in 60 years.’”
Benson hasn’t met the remaining Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr yet, but he says he knows the latter has seen his band perform before.
“He tends to come in after the lights go down and leave before the lights come back on because he doesn’t wanna steal attention — if anybody knows he’s there, then nobody’s paying attention to the show,” he says.
If you’ve never seen their show, you should know the group focuses on The Beatles’ touring years only. Why? For starters, it helps to narrow down The Beatles’ hefty catalog.
“We choose from ‘Revolver’ and before — the first seven American releases. There’s such a wealth of music in those seven albums. It’s just ungodly.”
Plus, he points out that it was a particularly exciting time to be a fan when The Beatles were still on stage.
The band has chose not to include screens or other multimedia elements in their shows.
“Back in the day, when you heard a song, you got to interpret what it meant. Now video is hard to separate from a song,” he says.
Benson is the last original member of the group, so he’s brought in new members over the years.
“I tell everybody that comes into this band, ‘This is an easy gig; we only have to be as good as The Beatles,” he laughs.
Though he needs to bring in an occasional new face, they stick around as long as they can.
“We’ve got people that, when we first met them, weren’t married, and now they’re bringing grandchildren to the shows. It’s incredible.”
Benson says while the traveling aspect of his job can get tiresome, the music keeps the band motivated.
“I think the music has kept us all in good physical health and young of mind to keep doing this,” he says.
Lucky for him, he chose to impersonate one of the world’s most universally loved bands, keeping him booked and busy.
“Everybody says once the Baby Boomers die, this will be over with, but I don’t see that,” he says.
He points to “Get Back,” the eight-hour Beatles docuseries released on Disney+ last year.
“It was hugely successful,” Benson says. “Name one other band from the ’60s that has that kind of pull even to this day.”
He also gives credit to current and new tribute artists, who he says strengthen the industry.
“There’s a 19-year-old kid in Nashville who taught himself left-handed and is playing in tribute bands as Paul McCartney. There’s a whole new generation of young guys who are so into this. So I don’t see it slowing down.”
“There’s almost no kind of Beatles show you can put together that people won’t wanna see.”
1964 The Tribute
When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22.
Where: Lorain Palace Theater, 617 Broadway.
Tickets: $39 to $69.
Info: lorainpalace.org or 440-245-2323.
