Beatles News Roundup

THE BEATLES 'LOVE' PRODUCTION RETURNING IN AUGUST

The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil is set to make its post-pandemic return to Las Vegas' Mirage Hotel & Casino on August 26th. The show is now celebrating its 15th anniversary, with tickets available at cirquedusoleil.com/love. The Beatles LOVE performs Thursday to Monday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. through October 2nd; and Tuesday to Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. beginning October 5th. Tickets start at $79.

Since opening on June 30th, 2006, The Beatles LOVE has performed to more than 10 million audience members and has earned three Grammy Awards. (Press release)

We asked George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, if George would be as impressed with The Beatles LOVE production as everyone else is: “Yeah, I do (laughs). I know he was really excited about it and he kind of pushed for that project to happen. It was something he really, really wanted to happen, and so I'm sure he would have enjoyed it.”

Yoko Ono admitted that apart from being one of the show's producers, she's actually a huge fan of The Beatles LOVE: “I went to Las Vegas a few times on behalf of John (Lennon). I was totally amazed how good it was! I thought it was great, and I think it's great. You should go to Las Vegas to see it (laughs).”

RINGO SENDS OUT BIRTHDAY INVITATION

As expected, with his 81st birthday coming up next week, Ringo Starr posted a message to fans about his annual upcoming Peace and Love birthday initiative, a tradition he started in 2008 after being asked by a reporter what he would like for his birthday and the former-Beatle answered, “Peace and Love.” Since then, he's invited everyone everywhere to think, say, or post #peaceandlove at 12 Noon their local time on July 7th to fulfill his birthday wish “and encircle the planet in a wave of Peace and Love.”

Ringo's message said, “I’m inviting everyone who wants to join the peace and love celebration for my birthday at Noon your time wherever you are, 7-7-21 — you can post it, you can say it, you can even think it — but it would be really cool if you go 'Peace and Love' at noon on my birthday — so let’s spread peace and love on my birthday — c’mon everybody!”

Past birthday events usually found Ringo and wife Barbara Bach meeting with fans in whatever city they're in, a tradition that began on July 7th, 2008 when he convened with fans and friends on the streets in front of the Hard Rock Café in Chicago, passing out cupcakes and joining the crowd for “Peace and Love” exactly at 12 Noon. (Press release)

Ringo Starr told us that although he's nothing but proud of his Beatles days and all the good that came along with it, he lives for the now and doesn't feel the need to constantly relive the group's history: “I did all that in the ‘60s. We are The Beatles, we made those records, and now we’re ‘Ringo,’ and I do what I do now, y’know? That’s how it is. Y’know, I don’t sit here, y’know, dwellin’ on the past. I’m trying, like, to get on with today. That’s what I do.”

PAUL McCARTNEY TALKS VEGETARIAN EVOLUTION

Paul McCartney spoke about the ease there is today in becoming a vegetarian. McCartney, along with his daughters, Mary and Stella McCartney, have just collaborated on the newly released Linda McCartney‘s Family Kitchen.

“Macca” explained that when he and late-wife Linda became vegetarians it seemed like the dark ages for culinary imagination: “It’s like chalk and cheese: it couldn’t be more different now than it was back then. When we first started it was very difficult to get good vegetarian food. Once, Linda and I went to dinner with her dad who was visiting London from New York, and he took us to a very posh hotel and we explained we were vegetarian. The guy serving us was totally puzzled and didn’t look too happy at all, and then brought out a plate of steamed vegetables, which we weren’t too happy with either!”

He went on to say, “But that’s how it was, and then fast forward to now, where you can go to restaurants like abcV in New York. The food there is incredible — all of the menu is vegetarian and vegan — and the people who serve it are bright, young, cool-looking people who are really invested in the food and in what they’re doing.”

McCartney is quick to remind people how happy he is that being a vegetarian is almost second-nature these days: “I often sit there with whomever I’m with and say, 'Do you realize how amazing this is for me?' From being lucky to get a plate of steamed veg to this, a real restaurant with a menu that tastes great, looks great and is very healthy. It’s been a huge change, and every time I go into a restaurant like that it makes me very happy.” (PaulMcCartney.com)

A while back, Paul McCartney recalled how he went from a three-meat meal a-day carnivore to a hardcore vegetarian and vehement animal rights spokesman: “My original thing was actually just an animal lovers point of view. I actually was on a farm and watching the newborn lambs gamboling in the spring sunshine, and I was eating leg of lamb — and the two didn't compute. So I just thought, 'Y'know, I should try to stop this.' And that was over 20 years ago, and ever since, I've not been interested in meat — or fish — for that matter.”