The Beatles @ Underground Garage

On Good Friday, the Underground Garage brought back The Beatles' famous rooftop concert as a fundraising event for Blues for Autism 2011. The event was also the UG's second fundraiser for BFA 2011 in the past week! The events were organized by MrDs Magic and Layla Mesmeriser, owners of the UG.

Early in the evening, co-organizer MrD began telling the gathering crowd of his love of the Beatles music. He told us that the original rooftop concert was an unannounced event that took place on the roof of Apple studio. He also told us the concert lasted only 45 minutes, but through the magic of Second Life this concert would last much longer.

The Beatles tribute band's stage was an exact replica of the rooftop of the Apple Building in London. The band was comprised of the four Beatles and Billy Preston on keys, and included Gabrielle Vespucciano as John, Nimue "Nim" Silvercloud as Paul, Chelsie Levenque as George, Gris "Cowboy" Sharktooth as Ringo and Zara Mistwalker as Billy. The band had amazing Beatles replica avatars and presented a great show.

The concert didn't start until 7:00pm but people had began arriving even before 5:00pm. There was a great crowd that once the concert started, stayed near the 60 level until late.

The crowd continued to pour in until the sim maxed out. As they poured in they began donating to Blues for Autism even before the show began.

When the crowd couldn't wait a moment longer, the lights went on and the show began to a volley of cheers, yays, woohoos and wows.

Despite the fact that this was the last time the guys would perform publicly, it felt like they were all here with us playing the music that changed music for generations.

The Beattles played on the rooftop as evening turned into night.

It seemed that everyone who attended this Beatles tribute concert had some type of personal connection with many, many of the songs that were played. And as more and more autism awareness fundraisers are held, we also learn that everyone knows someone who has been impacted by the condition known as autism. There is much to learn about autism and through events like this concert we not only raise money to support autism awareness, but also use the time to provide autism facts.

At final tally, the Underground Garage gang raised another $L43,020!

When the Beatles Concert donations are added to donations raised this past Sunday, the folks at the Underground Garage have contributed over L$160,000. Thank yous to those who donated. Thanks yous to Layla & MrD. And thank yous to the members of The Beatles tribute band.

by Yordie Sands