Becoming John Lennon is a lifelong love for Steve Landes
In an electrifying performance, the renowned Beatles cover band, Rain, continues to mesmerize audiences with their faithful renditions of the Fab Four’s timeless hits.
From the iconic “Abbey Road” to the beloved “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Rain delivers an authentic experience that transports fans back to the swinging 60s.
Lansdale native Steve Landes, a lifelong Beatles fan, plays John Lennon in the show.
“I think one of my favorite parts of this particular version of our show has been recreating the “Let It Be / Get Back” rooftop performance as a part of our second act,” said Landes, who joined Rain in 1998. “With that special being so popular lately, on Disney+ and Blu-ray now, it’s been fun to replicate a part of The Beatles’ career that’s been in front of people’s eyes so much lately.”
At 17, Landes joined “Beatlemania” and further developed his musicianship, touring the world with the show.
After “passing the audition” with the existing Rain band members in 1998, his career was set. On one of his travels to England, he found himself at Liverpool’s Casbah Club, owned by pre-Ringo Beatles drummer Pete Best.
Encouraged to get on stage, Steve belted out lead vocals to The Beatles rocker “Slow Down,” while Best sat in on drums.
“Well, as you might imagine, I probably listen to The Beatles more than anything,” Landes said. “Not just for research for the show, but just because I love them. Their music brings me energy; inspires me. I’m also a fan of the music that inspired them, the oldies stuff from the ’50s and early ’60s: Elvis, the Everly Brothers, R&B.”
Landes and Rain return to Philadelphia May 9-11 at the Miller Theater. Tickets are available at www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
Starting out as a pop band called Reign, when they’d play clubs, they’d have to do the typical four sets per night, so they’d do a couple sets of their songs, a set of the Top 40 songs of the day, and then, being fans of The Beatles, finished the night with a set of Beatles music.
Pretty quickly the original songs fell by the wayside and they became known for their authentic performance of Beatles’ music.
They wanted the band name to reflect the fact. Fortunately, there’s a Beatles song called “Rain” — the U.S. B-side to “Paperback Writer” — so it only involved a spelling change instead of a whole new band name.
The band continued to evolve from there, especially when, one by one, the original band members left the band, and the remaining one, Mark Lewis, filled each spot with the cream of the crop cast members from the stage production of “Beatlemania.” The band was, at that point, the top Beatles sound-alike look-alike band in the world.
“If I were going to say one more thing about our show, I’d say that it’s a very positive, upbeat show, one that leaves people with a good feeling,” said Landes. “I think a lot of that has to do with the positive peace and love message of The Beatles’ music: ‘all you need is love’ and ‘take a sad song and make it better.’ And I think these are messages that we need in this world more than ever.”
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