Fri. Feb. 8  

It's only with us for three short nights at the Colonial Theatre ... ah, but looking back at the Beatles were they not only with us for a short time, too? What it is is "The Beatles Experience: Rain," a show that's up closes tonight Friday February 8. If you haven't noticed lately tribute shows are becoming increasingly popular, some tongue-in-cheek some not. Lez Zeppelin does Led Zeppelin, TOOLfist does Tool, Slipkid (featuring Extreme's Gary Cherone) does The Who. There's hundreds of KISS tribute bands stalking the land, a few Pink Floyd replicants. Our local Beatlejuice (which started with Brad Delp) has made a career of playing a great Beatles set. We even covered a Motorhead and Nirvana cover band night at the Middle East for the Phoenix not long ago. At any rate, this whole "imitation band" thing has risen of late (yes, boomers getting older, missing what they once had or wished they'd once had and trying to get as close to it as possible) and it's not getting the critical brush-off it used to. Old thought: Well, they're not original enough to do their own. New thought: They're playing the stuff we know and love and we'll never get to hear the original band do it (or do it so young and looking so good), so what the heck. We have not seen "Rain" yet, though we plan to. The Denver Post calls this “the next best thing to seeing the Beatles,” The Oregonian says, “The bank contains better musicians than the Beatles – but then, they’d almost have to be in order to recreate so well the sound.” Mmmm. Dunno about that. But we're told The Beatle Experience boasts a song list of nearly 200 tunes, ranging from ballads like “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude” to classic hits including “Revolution,” “Come Together,” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” For the four longtime band members, the music is first and foremost. "Rain" prides itself on  attention to detail, with the ultimate goal of delivering a perfect note-for-note performance. Keep in mind, the Beatles didn't play a whole lot of their catalog in concert. They gave up on those days, frustrated by the limitations of stadium sound back in the day. (Yes, Paul McCartney resurrected many of them when he's toured the world.) So, we're not sure how this will feel. Can giddy and weird mix together and be pleasurable? Possibly. Can this not make us feel anything but old? Probably not. But we'll take a chance on a night. Tickets: $57.50 - $33.50.

106 Boylston St. 617-931-2787 www.broadwayacrossamerica.com