Korean office band to perform at the Cavern Club

From the practice room “Abby Road” in Mapo-gu, Seoul flew out songs of the Beatles. “Let’s Go!” With a brave-spirited chant, four men performed the legendary band’s song “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Don’t Let Me Down,” which is a famous song of the band’s final live performance at the rooftop concert, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” where George Harrison’s guitar riff draws in the audience.

It was “The Apples,” a Beatles tribute band, that played these songs. It consists of four members, Pyo Jin-in, a psychiatrist and broadcaster, who stars as Paul McCartney, Lee Jong-min, a math teacher, who stars as John Lennon, Lee Doo-hee, a researcher of a medical device company, who stars as George Harrison, and Park Seo-joo, a drummer, who stars as Ringo Starr. These four men have played together for the past 10 years with their love of the Beatles as a common denominator.

The Apples to perform at the International Beatleweek 2022, which will take place in Liverpool, England, from Aug. 24 to 30. Having a history of 40 years, the festival will be joined by more than 20,000 fans of the Beatles and the family of the Beatles, including Mike McCartney, Paul McCartney’s brother. The Apples is the only South Korean band, among 60 bands, to have been invited to the festival.

The Apples got an invitation to the Beatleweek mostly thanks to its performance held in 2019, celebrating 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ rooftop concert. One domestic broadcaster organized an event to commemorate the original band’s rooftop concert on the rooftop of the broadcasting company’s building. The band perfectly imitated Paul McCartney’s bushy mustache and John Lennon’s reddish brown colored hairy coat.

The Apples will perform eight times during a four-day festival. The running time will be 45 minutes. The band has played a 40-minute performance two times, but this is the first time the band gives performance four days in a row. However, the Cavern Club is not the final destination for the Apples.

“In the latter days, the Beatles performed with the orchestra. One day we want to perform many wonderful songs of the Beatles, like ‘A day in the life,’ with an orchestra of 40, 50 musicians,” said the Apples’ member Pyo Jin-in.


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com