They're back...at the Genesee

Where: Genesee Theatre, Waukegan.
When: 8 p.m.

March 10.
Tickets: $33-43.
Details: Genesee Theatre Box Office, noon to 5:30 p.

m. Monday through Friday.
Ticketmaster: (312) 559-1212.

But, once upon a time, there were just four skinny kids, their music and the screaming fans who made them worldwide icons. That is the moment in time Gary Grimes and his bandmates attempt to capture with "1964 ..

. The Tribute," returning to the Genesee Theatre at 8 p.m.

Saturday.
Grimes, who has played the role of Paul McCartney since the band was founded out of Ohio in 1984, said the revue focuses on "the touring Beatles" -- both the music and the image.
"Four guys on stage with the same suits, same haircuts, same boots .

.. We've always been true to the early Beatles, the touring years, 1964, '65, '66," he said in a phone interview, adding that once the band stopped playing concerts in August 1966, "they became less 'the Beatles' and more these four different guys.

"
Asked if the early Beatles were more enjoyable than the innovative but studio-bound and jaded group from 1967 onward, Grimes expressed empathy for the erstwhile Fab Four.
"I think the world was more fun for them, and then as things started piling up -- the politics and religion and the wars -- I think they grew up," he said. "You have to remember, they were kids.

They were 24, 25 years old, and they grew up before our eyes."
Grimes and his bandmates -- Mark Benson as John Lennon, Tom Work as George Harrison and Terry Manfredi as Ringo Starr -- grew up listening to the Beatles and knew they had tapped into an enduring phenomenon when they pitched their act to a group of booking agents in the late 1980s.
"We actually played more shows in Canada than the U.

S. our first two years," he recalled. "(Then) we played 20 minutes in front of these college buyers, and we got 90 bookings .

.. There were all these brand new kids ready to get into the Beatles.

"
Though "1964" is in the official title, Grimes said his group stretches beyond that date in the Beatles catalogue.
"In the last three years, we've been incorporating songs like 'Eleanor Rigby' (and) 'Got to Get You Into My Life,'" he said, adding that the quartet, like the Beatles, has included a horn section for some performances, including earlier this year at Carnegie Hall.
But a typical set list, he said, would include gold standards like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "From Me to You," "Thank You Girl," "I'll Follow the Sun" and "A Hard Day's Night," songs that could be performed by the four Beatles without the studio experiments of George Martin.

"I like to say it's the 'touring Beatles,' with no costume changes, no backgrounds, no special lights," he said. "Just bring your kids and see what it was like when it was just four guys on stage.