The White Album Concert

Editorial

The White Album is widely regarded as one of the best LPs ever released. Sure, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is more experimental and influential, but The White Album is (arguably) the Beatles at their best. Released in 1968 following an abandoned 'meditation retreat' to India and the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, the album caught the individual members increasingly going their separate ways. While the studio sessions were fraught and the album signalled the group's impending demise, it's still a landmark record. Melding blues, rock, soul, eastern influences and more, it spawned classics like Revolution, Helter Skelter and Back in the USSR.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, some of Australia's favourite musicians have come together to play the album live. Josh Pyke, Tim Rogers, The Living End's Chris Cheney and Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson are alljoined by a 17-piece band for one of the most ambitious renditions of the LP ever attempted. A unique mix of pop culture and Australian rock with the Sydney Opera House as a backdrop, The White Album Concert is a very fitting tribute to a landmark release.
Mikolai, June 2009