London's Yuri Pool brings Lennon back to life

Admit it. You don’t believe that John Lennon has been dead for 30 years. You don’t do you? Good because it’s not true.

Except that it is of course. It has been that long since his voice was silenced. Except that it hasn’t been, not by a long shot. Not because of the Beatles CD reissues. Or the reissues of the reissues (yes they’ve put out the blue and red compilations again). Or even the iTunes launch. Lennon and McCartney for that matter are constantly finding new fans or rather fans are finding them in their parents' record collections, in movies (Across The Universe struck a chord among post-teens a few years ago) and YouTube.

London’s Yuri George Jan Pool knows the pull of the Beatles well. Pool, known as London’s Beatle step-child was the man behind the Coffee Culture rooftop concert a few years back and of course his McCartney Years tribute more recently. The pending anniversary of Lennon’s passing inspired Pool to do for Lennon what he did for McCartney. The result, John Lennon: 30 Years Ago Today takes over Aeolian Hall for two nights December 10 & 11.

Although noted for his McCartney Years show (and uncanny vocal approximation of Mac), Pool says it was actually Lennon that lit his spark for music as a child. “I was reading the flip side of the album and I thought the words ‘rhythm guitar’ sounded intriguing,” he chuckles. “I thought it was such a cool word.” Pool talks of the long shadow of the Beatles legacy as a band and soloists and its impact on young people today and in fact he’s a living example of that -- his D.O.B. is seven years after the Beatles punched out. “I suppose I'm a living example of what I see happening as well,” he says brightly. “I was born when Wings was rounding up." “Its something that’s hard to explain. John didn’t know what he was going to do until he heard rock and roll. Its like strawberries and oranges. You don’t know why you like strawberries or oranges you just do.”

For those who want to sample the strawberries and oranges of Pool’s heartfelt Lennon tribute they’d better move fast. The first show scheduled sold out so fast that Pool quickly worked with Aeolian Hall to add a second. “It’s going to be real concert,” he says, adding that it will resemble The McCartney Years in that sense. “We always want people to go home with the feeling that they’ve seen a concert." Pool says that they looked at Lennon concert footage to prepare, and noted the choice of songs he performed and how we structured the shows. “We came up with a show that will be reminiscent of a possible choice of songs that John might have chosen were he still around today,” he says.

“Our intention is to have everyone dancing by the end of the night.”

John Lennon - 30 Years Ago Today

Aeolian Hall

795 Dundas Street

BOX OFFICE: (519) 672-7950

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10 - SOLD OUT

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11 - 8:00 PM