Beatlemania at Holbrook Country Club

Over a thousand people showed up for Friday night's Strawberry Fields concert. The Beatles tribute band performed a free concert at the Holbrook Country Club. People in the crowd came out in droves toting lawn chairs, blankets, coolers and many wearing a large variety of Beatles attire.

The crowed erupted into cheers as Strawberry Fields arrived in a white Oldsmobile Convertible as they crossed the field and came up on the stage. The band wasted no time in launching into "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" as the crowd sang along to every word. 

The band, which features Tony Garafalo as John Lennon, Billy J. Ray as Paul McCartney, Mark Vaccacio as George Harrison and Gerard Baberine Jr. as Ringo Starr, consists of original members of the Broadway musical "Beatlemania."

For the first half of the show the band wore the traditional black suit, white shirt and skinny black tie ensemble, and for the second half they donned outfits from the late 1970's. The band, during their break, graciously posed for photographs with fans.

Some of the songs performed throughout the night were, "She Loves You," "All My Loving," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Slow Down," and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." The song "Til There Was You" was jokingly dedicated to Mr. Softee and as the band sang many couples got up and began to dance.

After a couple slow numbers Garafalo asked for the crowd to rise and instructed everyone on his count to scream like it was 1964. The crowd responded with a deafening scream and the band launched into, "I Saw Her Standing There."

With everyone on their feet, many concertgoers began dancing with a large crowd gathering at the foot of the stage. A British flag was being waved by one individual and nearly everyone was singing along as large beach balls bounced over the heads of the crowd. Garafalo played this song with an extra large guitar pick which was signed and available for purchase after the show along with t-shirts and other memorabilia.

Some other crowd favorites included Twist and Shout, Penny Lane and of course Strawberry Fields Forever. Concertgoer Diane from Selden commented that she was really enjoying the show and the band's performance along with the fact that the concert was free.

"It's a great time to come out and listen to good music on a nice summer night," she said.

She came with some family members all of whom were enjoying the evening's concert.

The show concluded with a moment of silence for our troops, the moment of silence was then followed by the song "Revelation" to close out the show.