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Remembering the Beatles All Star band to pay tribute to iconic band’s albums at Penn’s Peak

Who says you can’t go back in time?

On June 23 at the Penn’s Peak concert venue, a band consisting of iconic rock stars will take fans back 50 years and perform songs from two of the Beatles’ best-selling albums: “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver.”

This concert had been postponed earlier this year due to weather and only a few tickets remain for the event.

The band consists of singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren; former lead singer of Chicago Jason Scheff; founder of the Moody Blues and Wings, Denny Laine; rock guitarist for five decades and former member of Badfinger Joey Molland; and five-time Grammy winner Christopher Cross.

Concert producer Toby Ludwig said, “Flower Power Concerts has been doing Beatles’ tributes featuring some of the greatest voices and musicians available for 20 years now, creating a unique experience that can be shared by all. The songbook of these albums should be our best ones yet.”

Three of the co-stars have direct ties to The Beatles themselves. Denny Laine was a key member of Paul McCartney’s Wings from 1971 to 1981. Rundgren has been featured in three editions of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band and Joey Molland’s Badfinger was the first band signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records in the ’60s.

Rundgren was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame four months ago and has been performing, writing and producing music since the mid 1960s. His hits include, “Hello, It’s Me,” “I Saw the Light,” and “Bang the Drum All Day.”

In an interview with Ray Schweibert of the Atlantic City Weekly, Rundgren said that with the albums “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver,” the Beatles started to peak as songwriters.

“We’re not going back to the beginning of the Beatles, but we are going back to when they were still a performing unit. It was kind of an interesting transitional period for them because they were striving to be taken more seriously as musicians themselves. Their earlier lyrics were ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ and ‘love, love me do,’ - not particularly adventurous.”

Denny Laine explained that the concert will take the audience on a Ticket to Ride, so to speak.

“The Moody Blues met The Beatles in the early ‘60s and were invited to join them on their second British tour,” he said. “The thought of performing some of their classic songs with such a revered cast on this tour will bring back not only those moments in time but also fond memories as a member of Wings. I trust that we will pay due credit to their timeless legacy by bringing back that music to everyone who joins us for this special ride.”

“I mean, it got to the point where it almost didn’t matter what they did,” said Rundgren “The public was going to strive to accept it. And by the time that they got to ‘Rubber Soul,’ the surprising aspect of it was suddenly how broad their songwriting had become. They were writing songs like ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and playing sitars, and all of the other outright experimental stuff that wound up on ‘Revolver,’ like the song ‘Tomorrow Never Knows,’ things like that.”

One challenge that the band faces is what Beatles songs from the two albums do they choose to perform in the show.

“When you look at them, some of the songs on these records are like two minutes long. So, if you played them, they’d be over before you knew it. Part of the interesting aspect of doing this material is that it was done in an age where vinyl restrictions made people think in two-and-a-half, three-minute chunks. Three minutes was like the outside limit for a single that would get radio play back then. If you got to three-and-a-half minutes, you were really pushing it.

“We’re still figuring out the setlists,” said Rundgren, “but we’ll perform many of the songs from the records as well as some of our own hits.”

In previous shows, Jason Scheff has delighted Chicago fans with “25 or 6 to 4 and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.” Christopher Cross performed his classic hits, “Sailing,” and “Ride Like the Wind” and Denny Laine led the group in “Go Now,” the Moody Blues’ first big hit.

The list of songs is constantly evolving as are these five musicians who might even surprise themselves with a rendition of a Beatles’ song they’ve yet to perform on tour.

Reserved seating tickets for the “50 Years Ago Today Tour - a Tribute to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul & Revolver Albums” can be purchased at the Penn’s Peak box office.

Show time is 8 p.m.

From left, Todd Rundgren, Joey Molland, Christopher Cross and Jason Scheff. Missing from photos is Denny Laine. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS