British invasion to perform at Brown County Music Center
Brigitte Bardot and Jackie Kennedy set sophisticated fashion trends in the early 1960s. People wore shifts in sea-shell pink and milky yellow, turtlenecks and stirrup pants.
By 1969, the year of Woodstock, consumers had switched to psychedelic prints, suede jackets with fringe and outerwear resembling underwear. The stern early 1960s had given way to cool, sexy and groovy — the term "groovy" having arrived in 1959 but reaching its apex near 1975.
The British Invasion had been pleasing the world, led by the Beatles, who in 1963 had released their first single in the United States, “Please Please Me,” before rocketing to the top of the entertainment world.
And on Saturday,March 12, the current British Invasion band is coming to the Brown County Music Center.
The show will take fine advantage of multimedia, said band member Teddy Grey. Behind the musicians, huge screens will show fashions from the era. During intermission, there's even a major costume change for the performers.
"It's like a high budget karaoke night." The audience is fully expected and encouraged to sing along.
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Five and a half decades after it all started, the world still clamors for that British brand. As rollingstone.com notes, maybe it's just that the Beatles were so superior to music from the early 1960s that kids could at last jump and scream and gyrate for someone besides Elvis Presley.
Today, Grey sings and plays guitar for the band British Invasion, inspired by greats such as the Rolling Stones, Manfred Man and of course the Beatles.
"I learned 38 songs in a month and half," he said over the phone, explaining how his life abruptly changed after he got the casting call.
But he was prepared; he grew up in a home where his dad kept "literally thousands of vinyls" in a special room. "He's an obsessive." Every night, said dad would put on a stack of six records, and the family listened.
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That tradition carries on. Grey, who shares a small apartment with his girlfriend in Astoria, Queens, New York, has dedicated one of their three closets to his own 300-plus record collection. The likes of Australian musician and singer-songwriter Alex Cameron, Brooklyn's Charly Bliss pop band, and Jeff Rosenstock (Long Island musician and singer /songwriter who sang lead with hardcore punk band The Arrogant Sons of B------) reside within. "I could list (my records) for hours."
He's got his own album out, and he plans to tour with the Invasion till sometime in May. Back in his New York apartment, there's been a feline invasion: to replace Grey while he's gigging, his girlfriend adopted a kitten.
If you go
WHAT: The British Invasion band with multimedia "fashion show."
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, March 12.
WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville, 812-988-5323.
TICKETS: On Ticketmaster at https://bit.ly/34a5aEQ.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: British invasion band, multimedia show at Brown County Music Center
