Let It Be - Beatles Cover Band

In a uniquely delightful weekend pairing, SeaLegs at the Beach brings a classic rock tradition to Orange County known as Brunch with the Beatles, featuring the band Let it Be. The show takes place every Sunday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm from Spring through Fall and has audiences dancing in the sand and singing along as they enjoy the best in food and drink at SeaLegs—delicious fare that includes bottomless mimosas. 

Let it Be is comprised of an impressively talented group of musicians. They are well-versed in all things Beatles, from the group’s rich history to the melodic execution of the band’s most classic tunes. Along with a survivor of the Sunset Strip Summer of Love—Rick Bagby on vocals and keyboards—the lineup includes Jerry Krumm on bass guitar and vocals; Marcus Gerakos, lead guitarist extraordinaire who doubles on the George and Paul vocals; John Borack on drums, who has written an outstanding book on the Fab Four, titled The Beatles 100: One Hundred Pivotal Moments in Beatles History; and the multi-talented Stephen Alva on guitar, vocals, and saxophone. In addition to their residency at SeaLegs, Let it Be has also performed at the City of Cerritos Summer Concert Series and various venues and private functions throughout the southland.

Now in their fifth season at SeaLegs, the historic beach eatery along Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach, Let It Beexpertly perform original takes on the entire scope of the Beatles’ considerable contribution to rock history. The intent is not to simply reproduce what has been recorded, but to breathe new life into the music that is so familiar to millions of fans. The band does this by ignoring many of the conventions of the cottage industry now known as “the tribute band.”

The first convention tossed aside is the theatrics of costumes, wigs, and sets reproducing the Beatles’ look, in favor of a fresh interpretation of their classic songs. Let it Be’s performance of the songs sometimes gives the audience the feeling of hearing them for the first time. The other broken convention of the tribute band tradition is to master all two hundred of the band’s song bank. Rather than keeping to the most popular songs, Let it Be also dives into the deeper tracks. At any given show you might hear “Eleanor Rigby,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “Hey Jude,” but you’ll also experience difficult-to-master live versions of songs song such as “Good Day Sunshine,” “Good Morning, Good Morning,” “Hey Bulldog,” and “Glass Onion.” Many of these are songs the Beatles never performed in concert.

The third and most important break with tribute band tradition is to create a feeling of audience participation that places the listener inside the heart of the song being played. Let It Be cleverly cloaks the invitation for fan participation by calling their appearances “all-request shows.” This brings the audience into the center of the fun like a sudden three-dimensional immersion into the sonic world of the most famous band in rock history. It also makes the experience less historic and more completely in-the-moment. This may seem comparable to a jukebox approach to the band’s set list, but it is far more than this: the audience becomes engaged in the performance in a new, inclusive way, and the music that resides in our collective souls is brought to a new life with the Pacific Ocean, the California coastline, and the Bolsa Chica wind as our witnesses.

At the Sunday brunch show this writer attended, one die-hard Beatle fan knowingly asked for John Lennon’s 1966 psychedelic romp, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” a song the Beatles never performed in concert due to its technical complexity. But on this pre-caffeinated morning, Let It Be brought the song to an amazing, ragged-but-right new life and I swear, it felt like the beach was lifted eight miles high off the ground into another land. And the band was able to repeat this success with songs such as George Harrison’s “I Want to Tell You,” and classics like “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane.”

Every Sunday morning, SeaLegs at the Beach featuring Let It Be is the place to be for a phenomenal experience of fun, food, drink, and all things Beatles.