The Bootleg Beatles

Ten years after the last curtain had fallen on 'Beatlemania' and the Bootlegs Beatles' odyssey had begun, their international reputation had grown immensely, mainly due to the band's many successful concert tours abroad. In the UK though, the band needed a new direction. A master plan was conceived to recreate, city by city, the Fab Four's final British tour ('65).

However, theatre bosses and promoters didn't warm to the concept, so the band took destiny into their own hands booking the nine-date tour themselves and the annual event that has become The Bootleg Beatles Christmas Tour was established. Within three years the tour had become 40 dates strong, including regular sell out performances at the London Palladium, The Liverpool Empire and The Albert Hall - venues The Beatles themselves had graced 30 years before

Having seen the Bootlegs' storming set at the '94 Glastonbury Festival, Brit Pop band Oasis caught the BB's show again that Christmas at Southampton's Guildhall. Noel and Liam Gallagher were so enamoured with the group that they asked them to be the support act for their record-breaking 1995 Earl's Court shows - culminating with both bands sharing the stage for 'I Am The Walrus' (Captured on the video There and Then) - and then the following summer joining Oasis again for their massive outdoor events in Loch Lomond, Cork and Knebworth. These gigs and an appearance on the cover of the NME, heralded the Bootleg Beatles' breakthrough to a new contemporary audience, something unheard of for a 'tribute' act. Since becoming regulars on the festival circuit, The Bootlegs have played Wembley with Rod Stewart and Elton John, shared the bill with The Corrs, David Bowie and Iggy Pop and filled Tokyo's Budokan Hall in their own right.