Music lovers from Carlisle who wished they got to see The Beatles live, as well as those lucky enough to do so, are in for a treat at the end of the month.

The Bootleg Beatles are the world’s most authentic tribute act of the Fab Four, having spent over 40 years performing to thousands.

The group, who have just performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the 23rd time, visit Carlisle on the 28th, performing at the Sands Centre.

Discussing the show, Steve White, who plays Paul, said: “We try to tell a story of The Beatles’ career. We use the costumes and guitars and we work throughout the years of The Beatles from the mania-driven era with the mop tops to the psychedelic period and then to the Let It Be, lots of facial hair period. We want to show what it would have been like to see The Beatles during the 60’s.”

Becoming Paul McCartney wasn’t Steve’s initial plan. He continued: “I’ve always been a massive fan of The Beatles and I used to play in a band where we played 60’s covers. We based our image on The Beatles but performed a variety of songs. One fan approached us and asked if we could play at his wedding, but he wanted us to play only Beatles songs. We were all great fans and thought it would have been good to play a Beatles-only show.

“From then we were constantly getting booked to do Beatles shows and, although I played rhythm guitar, people would say to me “you’ve got to be Paul”. This happened on a number of occasions, so the bass player and I decided to swap instruments, but of course I’m right-handed! People began to notice so I decided to try and learn how to play left-handed, once I got a few songs under my belt I became Paul.”

When asked why people are still so invested in the Liverpudlian band, Steve answered: “They were great songwriters and wrote some unforgettable songs. They also set trends rather follow them, if they wore something, others would follow suit, they were quite a phenomenon and will probably never be repeated.

“People absolutely loved them and because there’s no way we’ll see them again, we try to stay very true to form and help others suspend their disbelief for a couple of hours.”

Tickets for the show are still available from www.betterboxoffice.co.uk.