McCartney Times

Liverpool is marking the 50th birthday of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album by asking a dizzying array of performers to reinterpret the songs in the city.From choirs to cabaret performers and musicians to artists, each will stage an event inspired by a different track.The album – released on 1 June 1967 – regularly comes towards the top of lists of the greatest albums ever made.The Liverpool festival takes place in May and June and is split into two halves – one for each side of the LP.Side one Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Mark Morris Dance Group will stage the premiere of Pepperland, with a score inspired by Beatles tracks and performed by a chamber music ensemble With a Little Help From My Friends – Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller will unveil two public art commissions on the themes of friendship and self-sacrifice Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – French pyrotechnic specialists GroupeF and US electronic composer Scott Gibbons will put on a light show that’s billed as “part performance, part storytelling and part pyro display” Getting Better – DJ Spooky will create a performance and audio-visual installation asking whether the world is getting better Fixing a Hole – US artist Judy Chicago, known for her epic installations, will create her largest work yet – a mural on the side of the grain silo on Great Howard Street She’s Leaving Home – Liverpool youth theatre company 20 Stories High will take over people’s living rooms in Toxteth to stage a new play about home and housing Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite – Aintree Racecourse will host an event inspired by John Cage’s anarchic Musicircus involving thousands of local people, performers and musiciansSide two Within You Without You – Leading Indian musicians will perform in the traditional splendour of St George’s Hall to reflect the song’s Indian influence When I’m Sixty-Four – Sixty-four choirs of all ages from the city will come together to perform a mass sing-along of the track on BBC Radio Merseyside Lovely Rita – Cabaret performer Meow Meow will lead a colourful procession featuring a 300-strong brass band up Hope Street, ending in a “thought-provoking installation” Good Morning Good Morning – Theatres, clubs, galleries and music venues will open their doors at the crack of dawn for one day on 9 June Reprise – An unnamed “leading artist” will perform incognito in a surprise venue, also on 9 June A Day in the Life – Writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce and film director Carl Hunter will screen a documentary being shot over 24 hours on 1 June, the album’s actual anniversaryThe first event – based on the first track -will act as an “overture” and will take place from 25-27 May, with the rest of side one being staged from 1-5 June.Side two will take place from 8-11 June – except A Day in the Life, which will be the finale on 16 June.’Celebrating the city’Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said the festival would be “thought-provoking, sometimes cheeky and always entertaining”.At the event’s launch on Wednesday, he said: “We’re not about wrapping The Beatles’ heritage in aspic or, if you like, turning The Beatles into a Disney-style theme park.”But we have to celebrate the place, the city, that gave them their inspiration and helped them write their fantastic work.”

Source: Liverpool to reimagine The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper in eclectic arts festival – BBC News