Anyone else play The Beatles Abbey Road Medley?

[RichardW]

My band is working on The Beatles Abbey Road side two Medley (You Never Give Me Your Money to The End). We play a lot of Beatles music generally and are excited about the prospect of doing this series of songs justice. My observation from the bass perspective is that McCartney's line is not tremendously difficult; the vocals are a real challenge (we've got four singers, myself included). We're prepping for a gig in April and I'm pretty confident we'll be ready.

I'm just curious if anyone else covers the Medley in a band and, if so, your experience and observations about playing it.

 

[oldrocker]

Nice!!

These guys have a go at it - The Fab Faux:

 

[mapleglo]

^ That was excellent!

 

[biguglyman]

Yes. In a band called Revolver (www.originalrevolver.com) that used to do Beatles tribute shows. We now do a bunch of 60's-70's stuff. We're just now starting to work up another Beatles show with a new keyboard player and the "Golden Slumbers" medley will be part of it. I gotta learn Something too... whew.

 

[LBS-bass]

My band is working on The Beatles Abbey Road side two Medley (You Never Give Me Your Money to The End). We play a lot of Beatles music generally and are excited about the prospect of doing this series of songs justice. My observation from the bass perspective is that McCartney's line is not tremendously difficult; the vocals are a real challenge (we've got four singers, myself included). We're prepping for a gig in April and I'm pretty confident we'll be ready.

I'm just curious if anyone else covers the Medley in a band and, if so, your experience and observations about playing it.

We used to play it, actually starting with Bathroom Window and then going into Golden Slumbers, etc. People would freak out when we'd finish Bathroom Window and then keep going into that medley. Sadly, we had to drop it from our set list when our keyboard player decided he didn't like being in a band.

I agree with you that Paul's parts are not difficult. The vocals weren't too horrible either, but I worked really hard on it to get everything in synch (vocals plus bass). Good job taking this one on; most bands wouldn't even attempt it I don't think.

 

[Lesfunk]

Never played it in a group.
Friends of mine used to play it out .
I have learned it in my home just for fun and McCartney worship

 

[nixdad]

My band is working on The Beatles Abbey Road side two Medley (You Never Give Me Your Money to The End). We play a lot of Beatles music generally and are excited about the prospect of doing this series of songs justice. My observation from the bass perspective is that McCartney's line is not tremendously difficult; the vocals are a real challenge (we've got four singers, myself included). We're prepping for a gig in April and I'm pretty confident we'll be ready.

I'm just curious if anyone else covers the Medley in a band and, if so, your experience and observations about playing it.

Good for you for taking this on. I'd like to hear the end result when you're ready to share!
I'd love to add this to our setlist, but if we ever chose to take this on, we'd have to do it in chunks of 3-4 songs and then put it all together over time. We typically only rehearse 1-2 times a year (everyone but me is in multiple bands, so scheduling is an issue,) so there is no way for us to do this all at once.
Good Luck, and please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Nedmundo]

No, but the drummer from my last band has played it. He was part of the house band for an open mic, and would thus sit in with various musicians and bands. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but one night he offered to sit in with a band that was there without their drummer. They said they didn't think it would work, because they wanted to play side two of Abbey Road. He said fine, and just played it from memory having never played it before. He's a truly amazing dude.

 

[RichardW]

A few clams, but a solid and respectful performance I'd say. The crowd was really into it, which was nice.



One of the biggest surprises to us was how the tempo of the original is a lot slower than you think. It's very easy to go too fast, which I think we did a couple of times.

 

[gkella]

My band is considering it but from Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weught and The End.
If we get that down perhaps we can work backwards to You Never Give Me Your Money.

 

[buldog5151bass]

We do it, also starting with Bathroom Window. Like a lot of Beatles, either you have at least three good singers, or don't try it.