Wish you could have watched The Beatles perform in their heyday? Well, you can experience the next best thing this weekend at Taste of Abu Dhabi, the food and entertainment festival returning to du Arena in Yas Island from November 8-10, with a headlining musical set from longstanding fab four cover band, the Bootleg Beatles.
Hailing from London, the BBs have been together since the 1980s. The quartet have performed as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr for more than 4,000 shows.
On November 8, they’ll be part of a full schedule of performances on the main stage, which will welcome last year’s Britain’s Got Talent contestant Sarah Ikumu and former Girls Aloud member Nadine Coyle.
We caught up with the three acts to find out their career highs, favourite foods, and most importantly, whether pineapple belongs on pizza.
THE BOOTLEG BEATLES
ON STAGE AT: 9.45PM
What’s your favourite song to perform and why?
Gordon Elsmore (Ringo Starr): Strawberry Fields Forever. Ringo at his grooviest!
Tyson Kelly (John Lennon): The early stuff, because that’s what [The Beatles] did live up until ‘66.
Stephen Hill (George Harrison): At the minute, it’s Savoy Truffle. Great brass, great guitar solo and just a great bloody song.
What’s the thing that got you into performing?
Kelly: When I was a teen, I cracked open the VHS collection my dad had of the The [Beatles] Anthology and I watched it and got goosebumps when they sang This Boy. I had never been so inspired to start my own band.
What’s a talent or skill you wish you could to pick up instantly?
Steve White (Paul McCartney): Movie actor.
Kelly: Folding clothes. I’m really terrible at it.
Hill: To be able to speak different languages.
Elsmore: Being able to cook a meal in less than 90 seconds.
Q: Most memorable moment of your career?
White: Playing in the market square of Mongolia to about 25,000 people. Although they don’t speak great English, they sang along to every word.
Hill: Playing The Royal Albert Hall for the first time. It had sold out and I remember being more nervous than I’d ever felt before.
Kelly: Playing Dodger Stadium was pretty cool… Albert Hall, though, may top it.
Elsmore: Doing my first gig with the Bootlegs. I had to drive five hours to get there for 5.30pm and I got told about it at 12 midday!
Biggest gaffe or mistake on stage?
White: I bent down on stage to make an adjustment to my sound pedal and my trousers split in the crotch from knee-to-knee.
Kelly: Many years ago I called the audience by the wrong city and they all booed me immediately as it was nearby, but they were rivals. Then I had to sing them a song all alone on stage.
Hill: You can always rely on a wig or moustache malfunction when you really don’t want it to.
One food you would eat forever if you could?
White: A good old Sunday roast dinner. Very English.
Kelly: Hot movie theatre-style popcorn.
Hill: Indian food! I can’t get enough of it.
Elsmore: Crisps and chocolate. I love the taste of chocolate immediately after crisps.
A food everyone loves that you can’t seem to get onboard with?
White: Curry! Love the look and smell, just not the taste.
Kelly: Salad.
Hill: Most seafood, unfortunately. I know it’s daft, but it’s not for me.
Elsmore: Mushrooms. Love the idea, can’t stand the taste.
Craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?
White: It was a yak or elk’s intestine… an Icelandic delicacy. Not for me.
Kelly: A scorpion in a shot glass.
Elsmore: Snails… Why? What looks edible about a snail? It’s all wrong.
Go-to dish to cook?
White: Jacket potato.
Kelly: Breakfast burrito.
Hill: A tandoori chicken curry.
Elsmore: Baked salmon with spring onions, peppers, cucumber and ginger.
Settle an age-old debate: does pineapple belong on pizza?
White: Yes! The contrast between sweet and sour works for me.
Kelly: Yes.
Hill: No. It belongs on a cocktail stick with a square of cheese on it in 1985.
NADINE COYLE (Formerly of Girls Aloud)
ON STAGE AT: 8.45pm
What’s your favourite song to perform?
Go to Work. I love doing the last verse in that. The dancers and I all come together.
What’s a talent or skill you wish you could pick up instantly?
Home improvements. I’m currently getting some work done around the house and I would love to be able to do the simple things, like drilling in a nail or fixing a small leak.
Biggest gaffe or mistake on stage?
I fell off stage one time. That has to be the worst.
Best piece of advice you were given?
Stay as sweet as you are.
One food you would eat forever if you could?
Please don’t make me choose one food. That is the hardest question I have ever been asked.
A food everyone loves that you can’t seem to get onboard with?
Fois grais.
The craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?
McDonald’s.
Go-to dish to cook?
Caribbean chicken.
Settle an age-old debate: does pineapple belong on pizza?
Sometimes, maybe!
SARAH IKUMU (Britain’s Got Talent, 2017)
ON STAGE AT: 8pm
What’s your favourite song to perform on stage?
One of them is Purple Rain by Prince. When I sing it, it reminds me of my time at Britain’s Got Talent.
What’s the thing that got you into performing?
From a young age, I sang at church, but I was also very nervous doing it... When I was in high school, the teachers used to get me to perform in the school’s X Factor and plenty of local school competitions. My mum also applied for me to go to a national singing competition called Teen Star.
What’s a talent or skill you wish you could pick up instantly?
I wish I could dance, so that I could sing and dance at the same time when performing.
Most memorable moment of your career?
It has to be in August when I was invited to perform at the Apollo in the Hamptons hosted by Ronald Perelman. I got the opportunity to perform with the Roots and got to meet Jamie Foxx, Shaggy, Pharrell, Chaka Khan and many more.
Biggest gaffe or mistake on stage?
I nearly fell on stage wearing six-inch heels.
Best advice you were given?
Take everything with a pinch of salt and always strive to be the best version of yourself.
One food you would eat forever if you could?
Chinese or pizza. All day everyday.
A food that everyone loves that you can’t seem to get onboard with?
Spaghetti. I think it’s boring. I don’t get the fuss.
The craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?
I tasted crocodile meat in Kenya! It wasn’t that bad, surprisingly.
Go-to dish to cook?
Lasagna. I think I could go head-to-head with Gordon Ramsay on this.
Settle an age-old debate: does pineapple belong on pizza?
Yes, simply because it tastes nice so I don’t think we can argue with that.
*Tickets to attend Taste of Abu Dhabi on November 8 start at Dh250.
