Our reporter, Jamie Bowman, was lucky enough to take in the hottest show in town this festive period.

Here’s his verdict on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Immersive Experience, which sold out in just 90 minutes.

PICTURE YOURSELF IN A ROOM by a river, with dozens of speakers, some down low, some hung high…

We are at the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building at the Royal Albert Dock where Tate Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool have collaborated with Apple Corps Ltd. to present a remixed version of The Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album played in Dolby Atmos.

Billed as a ‘Christmas gift to the city’, the event is big news for Beatles fans: free tickets were snapped up immediately and the band’s enduring legacy is there to see in the range of ages and nationalities that troop reverentially into the darkened room and take their seats to listen to a collection of songs recorded more than 50 years ago.

So what exactly has changed? Much of the subtlety in The Beatles’ music was lost in the original mixes due to the technological limitations of the time which determined that one of the greatest albums of all time was recorded in mono. Subsequent stereo and 5.1 mixes tried to improve the sound unsuccessfully over the years but now the astonishing clarity of the special mix, brings to life all the nuance, invention and innovation that the band brought to the album in 1967.

© Brian Roberts

Take the opening title track for example. Producer Giles Martin has said that in attending to the new album’s mix he was aiming for a “3D mono” rendition which sounds pretty accurate as Paul McCartney’s fluid bass lines combine with Ringo Starr’s whip crack drums and John Lennon’s and George Harrison’s distorted guitars to startling effect.

Everything sounds vibrant, sharp and absolutely brimming with the confidence of a band seemingly at the top of the game. Lennon, the senior member, was just 26, and while his fragile mental state had been exacerbated by his drug use, forcing him to cede leadership to McCartney, he still contributes songs as diversely brilliant as the unsettling folk horror of ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!’, the dreamy psychedelia of ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ and the transcendent genius of ‘A Day In The Life’.

Indeed it’s Lennon’s songs on the album which perhaps benefit most from Martin’s tweaking. The carousel whirl of Mr Kite!, Ringo Starr’s three beat drum salvo before the chorus of Lucy In The Sky and the relentless rhythm and dazzling fanfares of ‘Good Morning Good Morning’ are all transformative highlights.

But McCartney and Harrison are no slouches either. Lovely Rita and Fixing a Hole seem indebted with new purpose and drive while Harrison’s oft-derided Within You Without You sounds magical as its tabla drones phase around the room and through your ears.

© Apple Corps Ltd

“The surround sound works so well on the songs with those additional instruments especially the Indian influenced ones,” said Paul Abbott, holder of an MA in Popular Music, bassist in Liverpool punk pop band Good Grief and one of the lucky ticket-holders. “It’s a bass-heavy mix which is no surprise given McCartney’s ongoing influence but the bass playing is brilliant. His presence is very much felt but when John’s voice comes in it’s entrancing.”

My first memories of hearing Sgt. Pepper’s revolve around sitting in my father’s car, aged nine on the way to the rubbish tip. Dad would play the album on a tape, recorded from the original vinyl so the quality was never great but the magic shone through and I was memorised as he explained the stories behind each song and the myths, legends and lies about the LP’s production. I would try as hard as I could to hear the bit only a dog was supposed to be able to hear or attempt to translate the album’s frightening run out (Are they really saying ‘been so high’ and ‘never could be any other way’?)

All these memories came flooding back as the experience reaches its climax with A Day In The Life. Featuring a 41-piece orchestra, three pianos being pounded at the same time and, yes, a 15 kilocycle dog whistle, I feel like I can hear every single one as that famous single note reverberates and resounds around the room, our ears, our heads much like it did 52 years ago.

Following the completion of Sgt. Pepper’s in the early hours of April 21, 1967, the Beatles hurried from Abbey Road Studios to Mama Cass’ apartment in Chelsea, where they flung open the windows and blasted an acetate of the album into the misty London morning at top volume.

In the surrounding buildings, windows slowly opened as neighbours leaned out to listen to the Beatles’ newest songs. Now at last we know how they must have felt.

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