Giles Martin on ‘The Beatles Love’ as It Prepares For Its Final Bow
by Best Classic Bands Contributors
Beatles LOVE “Sgt. Pepper Reprise” (Photo via Cirque Du Soleil; used with permission)
On April 9, 2024, Cirque du Soleil and Apple Corps Ltd. announced that The Beatles™ LOVE™ , the groundbreaking production celebrating the music and legacy of The Beatles through the artistry of Cirque du Soleil, will conclude its historic Las Vegas run to more than 11.5 million guests since 2006, at The Mirage on July 7, 2024 as the resort begins its transformation into the Hard Rock Las Vegas. Tickets to performances through June 29 are on sale now here. Tickets for the final week of performances in July will be available in the coming weeks.
The diverse group of artists includes 11 original company members from the show’s inception.
The following story is excerpted from The Last Great Beatles Summit: LOVE’s Lasting Legacy, written by Jeremy Louwerse and Stacey Gualandi. It originally appeared in Chic Compass magazine.
“There was Paul, and then Ringo, Yoko, and Olivia (Harrison), but then you looked up in the sound booth, and there was George Martin with his sleeves rolled up next to his son Giles!”
Chris Carter, the host of “Breakfast With The Beatles” on SiriusXM, is waxing nostalgic about the 2006 historic Grand Opening of Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles’ LOVE show at the Mirage Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Looking back, it would be a night never-to-be-repeated.
The original idea for LOVE was borne out of George Harrison’s… desire to do more with the band’s legacy. [He was] close friends with Cirque founder Guy Laliberte.
When Harrison passed in 2001, his wife Olivia made George’s original vision a reality.
By 2006, the $130 million production, created by Dominic Champagne, would be Cirque’s fifth permanent showpiece in Vegas.
“You didn’t know what you were going to see,” Carter says. “We did know there was going to be this whole new treasure trove of [music] mixes coming out, but you didn’t know what they were like.”
The mastermind behind those mixes was the Beatles’ long-time producer George Martin.
On this momentous occasion, it marked the passing of the torch to Martin’s then 36-year-old son Giles. Following in his father’s footsteps to “reimagine” Beatles music was an enormous responsibility for the up-and-coming producer.
Together, father and son created the 90-minute show’s soundscape, combining… the visual sensation of Cirque du Soleil with his own interpretations of the Beatles’ most popular songs. Ultimately, he would have to play his tracks for the living band members.
George Martin and Giles Martin (Photo: Capitol Photo Archives/UMG. Used with permission.)
“My dad… came to Abbey Road… and wasn’t sure about some of the riskier things I had done,” Giles reminisces.
“When Paul came in, my dad wouldn’t let me play the riskier stuff [but] Paul said, ‘You know, I think you should go further.’”
Giles then played McCartney the versions he had been working on.
“Paul said, ‘This is what you should be doing. This is what I want to do; let’s make a difference here.’ Ringo felt the same way.”
In Las Vegas months later—with the music compilations about to be [released]—two generations of Martins walked the Grand Opening red carpet.
“I was very nervous about how it would be received,” Giles admits.
It was [also] the biggest reunion of Beatles royalty in attendance since the band’s breakup, including McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono, Cynthia and Julian Lennon, Olivia Harrison, plus members of their inner circle.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were among those in attendance at the Beatles Love 10th anniversary performance in 2016 (Photo: MJ Kim; used with permission)
“It’s the first time really that I’ve seen Paul and Ringo and Yoko and Olivia and Dhani and Sean and the families all together watching the show,” Giles says.
As the VIPs sat in the more than 2,000-seat theater-in-the-round, surrounded by speakers in the seats, on the floors, and everywhere else, the lights went down, and the music took over.
“[With] the standing ovation, I kind of knew we’d done it, and I knew that we made something really special that would last for a long time,” says Giles, [who has gone] on to remix several Beatles albums.
“I suppose I’m part of the family in respect to being trusted with their material, and that’s something I never take for granted,” he says.
“LOVE was a life-changing experience for me. I’m still not certainly one of them, but I’m really, really happy they still ask me to work on their music.”
Watch the 2022 official trailer of the production
Related: 2016’s 10th anniversary of Beatles LOVE by Cirque Du Soleil
The Last Great Beatles Summit: LOVE’s Lasting Legacy was originally published by Chic Compass magazine and is reposted here with permission. The article can be read in its entirety here.
The Beatles Love soundtrack album, produced by George Martin and Giles Martin, is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here in a variety of formats. Father and son earned Grammy Awards for the album.
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationI have to say, when I originally heard about the “Love” project, I wanted no part of it. I don’t know that I thought of the concept as sacrilege, but I’m one of those people who values the Dr. Ebbetts recordings – the ORIGINAL Beatles, preserved in amber.
Several years later I heard a “Love” mix of “Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows” and was dumbstruck. It was the coolest thing I’d heard in years.
Just when you think everything has been done with the Beatles, they pull you right back to the first time you heard them.
Fresh and new and awesome.