Temecula Theater Celebrates British Invasion With 'Beatles vs. Stones'

The following was submitted for publication on behalf of the Temecula Theater:

On February 9, 1964, the Beatles appeared in the United States for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show, captivating 60 percent of the American viewing audience. Before you could say “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” Beatlemania had swept the country. One week later, News In Brief put it this way: “There are rumors abound that the [Beatles] are Britain’s revenge for the Boston Tea Party.”

The Beatles were quickly followed by The Rolling Stones, who were perceived by the American public as a much more ‘edgy’, scruffy and even dangerous band. This image distinguished them from the Beatles, who were more refined, classy and even parent-friendly. The Rolling Stones appealed more to an ‘outsider’ demographic and popularized, for young people at least, the rhythm and blues genre.The Rolling Stones would become the biggest band other than The Beatles to come out of the British Invasion.

The British Invasion was one of the watershed developments in American popular music history and is credited with inspiring the free speech movement and countless other social changes. With the 50th anniversary of the British Invasion, this raises a question which has fueled arguments since both bands were covering Chuck Berry songs. Who’s better? The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?

On Sunday, January 11, the Old Town Temecula Theater will host two shows of “Beatles vs. Stones - A Musical Shoot Out” with these two legendary bands engaging in an on-stage duel courtesy of renowned tribute bands Abbey Road and Jumping Jack Flash. The show consists of alternating mini sets with both bands coming together on stage for an encore. The shows are at 2 pm and 7 pm.

Fans must choose between “Sir Mick Jagger” fronting the Stones through their sweaty rhythm & blues anthems, or the Beatles mining their beloved catalog of indelible classics.

Since 2011, Abbey Road and Jumping Jack Flash have been going head-to-head throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico in casinos, clubs and performing arts centers, cranking out the hits of the Stones and the Beatles. The show is presently playing a long term residency at the Harrah’s Laughlin showroom. During the show, band members exchange tongue-in-cheek barbs about the rivalry between the bad boys of London and the lads from Liverpool.

“In fact, the Beatles and the Stones were fast friends,” said Young Hutchison, who plays “Keith Richards” in the show. “But if you were a 60’s kid, you had to be one or other – not both.”

The two bands have always been close. The Stones’ first hit was a Beatles song called “I Wanna Be Your Man” and it was George Harrison who recommended that Decca sign the Stones after the record company passed on the Beatles. Mick Jagger inducted the Beatles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Abbey Road promise a 30-song, hit-packed chronological three sets, opening with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and the Beatlemania years, to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band, before building through the band’s “flower power” period.

Jumping Jack Flash will perform three sets of crowd-pleasing rock and rollers guaranteed to get even the most devoted Beatles fans on their feet dancing.