Over 55 years after they broke up, The Beatles still have a hold on the culture like nobody else. Paul McCartney still sells out stadiums at 83, new books and remastered albums are constantly being released, and not one but four movies about the Fab Four are coming in 2028.
Sean Michael Dargan feels that love for The Beatles when he takes the stage with his tribute band, the Madison Mystery Tour. While other Beatles cover bands dress up in costumes and moptops, the MMT focus on the music, with its five core members backed up with a 16-piece orchestra.
The Madison Mystery Tour is returning to the Barrymore Theatre on May 2 for “The Beatles Singles,” playing some of the band’s most famous singles and most obscure B-sides. Dargan, a fixture on the Madison music scene for years, talked about why it’s still so much fun to play The Beatles.
How did you find yourself in a Beatles tribute band?
I love The Beatles. Always have. They were the first band I really, really loved. I stole all my sister's records. But I hadn't really planned on doing a Beatles tribute, The Beatles tributes that I knew all dressed up like The Beatles and pretended to have a British accent. I didn't really want to be any part of that sort of scene. But these guys just play The Beatles like they play their own stuff, and they try to play it note for note.
How did you hit on the idea of “The Beatles Singles”?
The original premise of the band, which started over 10 years ago, was to play every Beatles album on its 50th anniversary. To be blunt, we ran out of albums and we needed something to keep playing.
The singles idea was just another way to build a show that's a little different than what we've done in the past. It’s the same canon, obviously, just more of a smattering across time. We’re doing A-sides and B-sides, so we’re getting all kinds of flavors of The Beatles.
What’s your favorite A-side to play? And what’s your favorite B-side to play?
A-side – “Let It Be,” and it’s for a purely selfish reason. I’m a guitar player, and no one's gonna confuse me with Paul McCartney on the keyboard. But that's the one song in the world that I actually perform on piano. So it's just a gas. I'm really nervous when I sit down. And I haven't felt nervous about playing, you know, in a rock setting in 40 years. So it's kind of a fun experience.
For B-side, it’s got to be “You Know My Name, Look Up the Number.” It’s just the weirdest song, and we do a really credible version of it. (Keyboardist) Steve Morgan and I take the Paul and John parts and go back and forth. It’s just an absurd song, and it’s really fun to try to pull off.
What’s special about these Barrymore shows?
The five of us are the core band, but when we do these Barrymore shows, we have an orchestra. We're doing “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which has huge orchestration, and we’re doing “I Am the Walrus,” which has huge orchestration.
Still, to this day, as soon as the orchestra kicks in on whatever song we’re playing, I get chills. It’s so cool.
