The Beatles. The band that inspired many, had worldwide success and set the tone for the landscape of modern day boyband culture. Ron Howard’s film acts as a love letter to the bands touring years. ‘The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years’ takes a new perspective of the four boys well known story, and tells it from a new perspective – the one I didn’t even think about until I saw this film.
This film really does live up to its name as it focuses predominantly on the bands early career, and their exhaustive international touring years between 1963 and 1966. Howard has taken the bands legacy and documented the highs and lows of their success. Through home footage and concert videos, the timeline is pieced together. But the story is captured and explained in the interviews of both the past and present – particularly the recent ones with surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. They talk about the good times and dive into the bad with depth and a sense of honesty.
‘The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years’ is a must-see for those who love pop music. This film looks at Beatlemania with fresh eyes, while documenting the evolution of four young lads and their struggle to establish individual identity. As a lover of pop music, both past and present I definitely learnt something from this. It left me thinking about the current boyband trend, and how much harder it is today for One Direction and other boybands alike. How do they cope with invasions of privacy, a backlog of life choices documented in tabloids and the digital age?
So grab your popcorn, wear your Beatles t-shirt that you bought from H&M a couple of years ago during the ‘iconic bands and artists t-shirts are a fashion statement’ trend and get yourself down to the cinema.
‘The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years’ is out in UK cinemas on September 15, and US cinemas on September 16.
