‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)’ began to play and my heart just sank – it could only mean that The Beatles LOVE Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas was coming to an end.
“We’re Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
We hope you have enjoyed the show!
We’re Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
We’re sorry but it’s time to go!”
There was just one more song – ‘All You Need is Love’ (conspicuous by its absence until that point) – and then it really was time to go. It was an elaborate, highly choreographed and spectacular ending to the show, and yet we were gagging for more.
Minds blown, my wife and I shuffled out of the theatre at The Mirage Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, humming tunes and grinning like loons. It was a while before we could even start to comprehend the visual extravaganza that was Cirque Du Soleil does The Beatles.
Living is easy with eyes closed…
The show started out slowly. Pretty much everything after the two-and-three-quarter-minute opening track, ‘Because’, flew by in a frenzy of gravity-defying acrobatics, elaborate set-pieces and high-energy circus acts, all set to an eclectic mix of songs by The Beatles.
Parts of the Cirque Du Soleil show – the first I’ve ever been to, and the only one we went to see in Las Vegas – I remember vividly, like a golden acrobat floating in mid-air, winding a rope around herself, before frantically spinning herself around in time to the chorus of ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’.
To ‘Lady Madonna’ there was an inspired sequence that included dancing in the rain and radio-controlled wellingtons (or gumboots, if you’re a Kiwi like me). It sounds like a fevered dream, doesn’t it?
Of other parts of the show, I’m not sure if they actually happened or if I dreamed about it later – such is the grandiose, dream-like quality of the The Beatles LOVE Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas.
Baby you can drive my car…
Now, looking back, it seems like you can divide our American honeymoon road trip into two – the time before we went to see The Beatles LOVE Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas and everything afterwards.
You see, before we left New Zealand we’d made a special road trip soundtrack filled with driving songs relating to California in some way; after the show, however, pretty much all we’d play on our road trip were tunes by The Beatles.
I wasn’t a fan of The Beatles before I went to Cirque Du Soleil. If you’d asked me my favourite track, I would have told you “I’m more of a Rolling Stones man”. Now, I’d tell you straight up: ‘Come Together’, ‘I Am The Walrus’, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ or ‘Eleanor Rigby’ – all of which feature in this show.
The Beatles LOVE Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas was a definite highlight of my honeymoon. I highly recommend you check it out – even if you’d never consider yourself a fan of The Fab Four. You will be afterwards.
Fast facts about The Beatles LOVE Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas…
- The idea was initially floated in a conversation between George Harrison and Cirque Du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte in 2000. Three years of negotiations between surviving members of The Beatles and/or their widows followed, before all parties agreed to make the show a reality.
- The show premiered at The Mirage on 30 June 2006, with Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, Julian Lennon, and Olivia and Dhani Harrison in attendance.
- Seating in the purpose-built theatre at The Mirage goes 360 degrees around the stage and each of the 2,013 seats is fitted with three speakers, including two in each headrest.
- The show (very) loosely traces the story of The Beatles, from The Blitz and the band’s first taste of success, to super-stardom and the band’s eventual break up.
While you’re here, check out these Las Vegas travel tips.
Leave a Reply