Beatles tribute band makes return to Warren Cultural Center

Last Friday marked 37 years since John Lennon, co-founder for the sensational music group The Beatles, was shot to death outside his Manhattan Apartment. It also marked the return of Beatles tribute band The Britins to the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield.

The Britins played the WCC in the early summer of 2012. They’re one of the most sought after Beatles tribute bands in the nation, mainly playing dates in the midwestern region. In Iowa, they’ve played the Clay County Fair in Spencer and have also frequented opera houses around the state.

Mike Shumway plays rhythm guitar, sings and plays keys in the Britins, which began in 1977. He has been in the group for 21 years and remembers coming to Greenfield in 2012. Rick Bertoni, the band’s bassist, has been with the band since it’s inception.

“Opera houses around Iowa are always smaller, more intimate venues where we’ve always found really good success, especially meeting a lot of new faces who haven’t seen a Beatles tribute band before,” Shumway said. “We always kind of look forward to our road trips south this way.”

Friday’s concert featured two parts, each showcasing different costumes that portray different eras of the Beatles, the first from their Ed Sullivan days and the second from the Sgt. Peppers days. In the first set, the band even performed covers of “Roll Over Beethoven” by Chuck Berry and “Act Naturally” by classic country artist Buck Owens.

“We’ve probably got about a half dozen costumes. For the majority of our crowds at shows nowadays, we get a lot of compliments for how we bring back the Beatles that were part of their childhood from growing up,” Shumway said. “It just brings back a lot of memories from when they first saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show through the later 60s.”